Memories of the past

"But I never said that I could get pregnant".

"Huh?" was the instant response of all three guys, which made Jessica continue, "I can't get pregnant..." She looked at their shocked faces, which made her heart heavy even more. "Is that the reason why you guys were insisting on becoming my mates…"

All three guys were really shocked because of her words; her situation was something that never crossed their minds. It was difficult to believe that the female for whom they had fallen couldn't give birth to their offspring.

They all kept silent, unaware of the fact that their silence was weighing on Jessica's heart with each passing second.

Those words were something that made Jessica recall all those worse memories she tried to forget, which started the day when she went to receive her body checkup report in the hospital, where her gynaecologist told her how her body was not capable of conceiving because of the abnormal growth of her uterus and an extremely abnormal hormonal level, which will make her unable to get pregnant even if she takes help of advanced medical scientific methods.

Those words were definitely a shock for Jessica, who was merely twenty at that time, but her shock lived for a very short time because her main focus of her life at that time was to get successful in her career. She didn't tell her mother about it because she didn't want them to be concerned about something trivial, but the naive Jessica had no idea that this trivial incident would become a haunting dream for her.

As time passed, she was twenty-three years old, working in her dream profession in a successful position, when she received her first proposal from the man she had admired for a long time, her company president.

Everything was so perfect for them that they could be termed a "fated pair" because their families were on equal footing, they studied together at the university, they were in the same field, and the most important was that they both were crushing on each other.

Everything was perfect: the handsome young boy was standing with the ring and a rose bouquet in front of her, and Jessica, who couldn't believe her eyes as she saw her dream come true, rushed and hugged him as she said "yes" to his proposal.

Both of them stood there hugging each other when Jessica recalled something very important and told him about her health condition in a normal way because, from her point of view, it was something not even worthy of talking about after all; it wasn't like she had some contagious disease or was going to die, so that's why it never made her think twice, but that day it did.

She saw that just after listening to her words, his expression changed, which was something she didn't expect; after all, she decided to tell him everything because if he wanted to spend his whole life with her, she thought he deserved to know everything beforehand.

But contrary to her expectation, he became agitated and started asking about everything. Jessica was surprised but still replied to his every question, even when her wrist in his hand started to hurt.

Things started to go south when he suddenly took her to a hospital and asked her to get tested again, which she did too, just because it was him. When the results came out, he lost his cool and his last bit of sanity the moment he realised that she couldn't get pregnant even with the help of advanced medical science.

In that moment, Jessica was standing there looking at him behaving all weird, still trying to help him, but instead of listening to her words, he said, "What is your use if you can't even get pregnant?" in an annoyed, cold voice, which struck Jessica's mind so hard that for the first time in her life she cried in front of someone other than her family.

For the first time in her life, she begged someone not to say those words, as she said that they both together would definitely find a solution, but she still got to hear, "Do you even know how important the bloodline is to my family? What is the point of marrying you if I have to rely on a surrogate mother? You're not the only one woman left in the world that I'm obliged to marry, even after listening to those things."

That night, she remembered how hard it rained because she stood under it for a long time, admiring the crushed rose bouquet thrown in the roadside dustbin, which was attached to a handwritten card that read, "I love you, Jessica. After concealing these feelings for this long, I don't want to waste any more time. Please marry me; I promise that I won't give you any reason to shed a single tear," with tears dripping down her face mixed with raindrops.

Jessica stared at the message with dead eyes, reading it once, twice, and three times to somewhere uncountable times until her expressionless face revealed a big bright smile, which was eerie in a real sense, and she laughed out loud at her stupidity, standing in the heavy downpour for a long time until she got into the taxi that she had called for herself.

She arrived at her home, where she lived alone, in her haggard state, fully drenched, while holding a burning cigarette in her hand that she smoked for the first time. Her eyes looked as if they had lost their spirit when she recalled how pathetic she might have looked in front of that guy. It took her a whole night and more than five bottles of alcohol to get herself to forget and move on from that incident, as she again went to her office the very next day with the same face full of confidence that she always had.

Not more than a month later, she heard the news of her company's president getting married to one of her female colleagues who was working under her. Surprisingly, that news didn't even make her react because that guy was long lost and erased from her memory.

She would have forgotten him like any other girl who got her heart broken only if he stayed low because, using his position, he interfered in her promotion, due to which the long anticipated candidate for the architecture and design department head got assigned as the head of the human resources department. Even though she took her revenge by getting that guy eliminated from the race for the inheritance of the company by helping his brother, but that's a totally different story.

Even after that incident, the Keletec's popular beauty was no less popular than a celebrity, which could be due to her background as well, as she would usually continue to receive a lot of proposals, whether it was from her colleagues or junior interns who would fall in love with her at first sight.

She smiled calmly as she rejected all of them because what she wanted was a marriage, not dating or one-night stands; she wanted a relationship that would give her the assurance that she would not be alone after what happened to her mother.

Some proposed her with a marriage prospect but most of them backed off the moment they learned about her situation. Those who were still persistent after learning about her were usually turned down because she could easily tell that none of them was being sincere with their words because their eyes showed that filthy lust that always made her feel like throwing up.

Years passed, and she turned twenty-seven; her classmates, friends, and colleagues were all dating or married, whereas she was still single when her mother intervened and asked her to go see some of the blind dates.

She initially refused because it felt as if her mother was interfering with her life, but she eventually accepted it because it was something her mother had requested.

She went on a lot of blind dates, and every time she mentioned her condition, the mood changed. She kept on getting rejected so many times that she became so immune to listening to those words that it didn't even make her feel like giving any other thought at all; instead, it was fun to guess and listen to those weird excuses those guys would make.

Even on her last blind date, she got into a fight because when she mentioned her condition and was waiting for a response to get herself rejected, she overheard him say that he doesn't mind marrying her but that he will have to keep a mistress because he needs to have his own child in the family.

Listening to his words, Jessica smirked and said, "I really won't mind if you don't mind me keeping some gigolos at home to keep me company," which caused the man to suddenly start shouting.

(Present) Jessica, who was sitting silently waiting for a reply but didn't receive a single word, realised how big of a fool she was to think that they wouldn't mind. Those guys were beasts living in a forest who were desperate enough to become mates with a woman who already had mates, which clearly shows how desperate they are to get a child for themselves. It was common knowledge that reproduction was a basic requirement for the survival of any species, whether humans or beastmen.

She was blaming herself for thinking so highly of herself that she was certain they were all head over heels for her, whereas she also started wanting all three guys selfishly. Yes, it was their kindness and the way they looked at her—their eyes showed how much they wanted her—that made her fall for them too. But now that she realises it, nothing is free in the world, and maybe their reason for liking her was just because she was a woman too, who could give birth to their children.