ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN

SHIMMER'S POV

It seemed to me like centuries of waiting, until I saw Dylan walking out. Roderick and myself were standing at the entrance leading to Arianna's wing, and I dared not leave the place until I saw Dylan and heard what was going on. I clasped Dylan's hand into mine and looked up into his eyes.

"What did she say?" I asked.

Dylan continued to walk silently towards the family lounge. He was slowly unfolding and putting on his jacket, which he had been holding in his hands when he came out of Arianna's suite. Roderick and I followed him. He sat on a chair with a loud sigh, and slowly shook his head.

"She said she doesn't want to see anyone at the moment. She's already sleep. I made sure she was asleep before I left her room," he explained.

"We will give her all the time she needs," Roderick spoke with concern.

"So what is the problem?" I asked, failing to wait any longer.

"Well, I'll just get straight to the point. She is pregnant." Dylan said.

I felt my heart skipping a beat. Pregnant!! I did not know how to feel about it, not unless if I knew…

"Who is the father of the child?" I asked Dylan.

Dylan sighed and said, "she won't say. Says it's some guy she met and one thing led to the other and…"

"A one-night stand, was it?" my voice was shaky as I failed to believe what I was hearing.

"Doesn't sound like a one-night-stand to me. Or maybe it was. But she knows the guy, and she says the two of them have had feelings for each other for a while."

"Yet she won't say who the guy is?" I asked.

"She won't say," Dylan said.

There was silence. I was not sure how to react. She did not want to say…meaning the guy was not worthy, right? Oh Arianna; what happened? I wanted to wail out loud and destroy all the furniture in sight; to let it out. But I remained in my spot, not moving an inch. I imagined some poor useless nobody making love to my precious Arianna? Oh no! What happened? Or could it be…

"Did he rape her?" I could not help but ask.

"She insists she was not raped. She said she was well aware of what was happening, and she was in agreement with it all," Dylan said in a low voice.

"Oh no," was all I could say.

"Well, its late now. I have a very busy day tomorrow, and Anisha also has loads of assignments. We better get going. Let's take time to digest the information. And let's support her." Dylan yawned and picked his phone, which he had placed on the table earlier on.

For the first time, Roderick said something, "We will support her. First we will need to know who the guy is; and whether or not he is willing to take responsibility. If not, I will stand up for my grandchild. I will take care of the child. I mean we will take care of our grandchild, wont we, Shimmer?"

"We will," I nodded slightly and stood up to also leave the room.

I failed to sleep. I turned and tossed until I could take it no more. Roderick did his best to comfort me, telling me that everything was POK. He had plans of starting a business for Arianna; something in her name, that would help her to stand on her feet and take care of herself and the child.

When Roderick was fast asleep, I slipped out of bed and walked towards the balcony. I was not able to sleep nor to wait for day to come. I dialed a number of one of my friends who ran an abortion clinic. I asked her if she could get me something for a safe abortion. Of course I had to describe everything in detail. I wanted something that would not cause any pain, and if possible, something that I could simply dissolve in water or juice, and hand over to the person to drink without them knowing.

"Why don't you want the person to know?" she asked curiously.

"It's not me. I am helping out my chief of staff here at the mansion. Iris, you remember her, don't you? Iris has a niece who is pregnant and the family has opted that abortion is the best way to go about it."

My friend asked a few more questions, and since I had already made up my foolproof story, I answered all her questions to her satisfaction. She said although it was illegal to give someone the abortion pill without their knowledge, for me, she was willing to do it. Thus as we ended the call, we made an appointment to meet at 10AM of the following morning.

I crept back into bed feeling very relieved. But I still had many questions. Who was that guy? I picked up my phone again and started scrolling through Arianna's social media pages, hoping to find a clue. Most of the pictures on her pages were pictures of herself. She had pictures in all types of poses…in some she was laughing, talking, seated, standing, sleeping, in class, in my office, in her dad's office or Dylan's; and some in Ciera's office. There were quite a number of pictures from Ciera's wedding. In general, Arianna had mostly pictures and videos of herself, and not anyone else. On one platform where she had filled in her personal details, she wrote:

Name: Arianna de Milo

Lives in: Mamma and Papa's home

Relationship status: Still thinking about it…

I let out a small chuckle at all the things that she had written. Then I remembered that I was trying to find a clue. Who was the mystery man? I scrolled through all her posts, and there was nothing at all. There were loads and loads of Arianna's pictures, and some of her siblings as well as Pete, and maybe one or two of mine and Roderick.

Giving up on my search, I put the phone away, closed my eyes and tried hard to sleep.

***.

My morning was very busy. There was an executive meeting which I could not afford to either miss or postpone, and so I had to be in it. I asked my PA to quickly send me the completed spreadsheet which I had previously asked her to work on. She was very efficient, so she told me it was already in my laptop.

Together, we went through the figures and I was impressed by the work which she had done. The two of us walked towards the boardroom, she was carrying my laptop for me. I had to work hard in order to be focused in the meeting. My heart was not in it; but I had to act like I was in it. There was no other option. And to make matters worse, the meeting dealt more with finances, so I found myself having to talk a lot, explaining a lot of things.

Halfway through my presentation, my phone buzzed and I checked to see that it was my friend calling me. I quickly lifted my phone and unlocked it, pressed the silent button swiftly; just in time to see a message flashing. It was from her: "Shimmer, the pill is ready for collection."