A CHILD

Arianna was taking a sip of her ice cold fruit drink while sitting comfortably on a reclining lawn chair in the garden when she heard footsteps approaching. She turned to the direction the sound was coming from and said a short "Hello."

The voice of a young boy resounded as he laughed merrily. "Look at you bathing under the sun like you haven't been out since forever. Are you the same lady screaming and cursing the darkness more than a week ago?" Dylan teased him seeing how relax she was.

"What? I didn't do something like that?" she denied with a red face.

"Yes you did. You were unconscious when I found you. No heartbeat. My aides at the yacht performed CPR. You started breathing again but still won't wake up. A few hours later, under the doctor's watch, you woke up and begun screaming "where is this? get me out of this darkness", something like that and something like "I can't see anything". Pretty interesting. We thought you lost your vision and also your mind too, so we have to sedate you. You then slept for the next three days straight." Dylan told her.

Arianna fell silent. She has no recollection about that at all. Did she really do that? She must be hallucinating.

"Anyway, I'm glad you didn't lose your mind, or your memory. It was a really close call." he added.

"Yeah. I owe it all to you. Thanks." she uttered. After their first conversation, Dylan allowed her to roam around the house. It's a big help to keep her preoccupied. Her wounds are all healed now. Her eyes are the only ones left to be treated. She wondered if there's still hope.

"Don't thank me just yet. You haven't gotten your vision back." he replied. "My father will be sending some specialists over. I'll introduce them to you later."

Arianna nodded her head. Right now, she wanted to regain her vision so much. She didn't know that later, she'll be refusing the treatment herself.

***

"I want Arianna's contact number." Yago told Roy during a phonecall.

Roy became silent for a while before turning him down. "I can't decide on that. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean you can't decide on that? I'm not asking you to give her back. I just wanted to hear her voice!", Yago roared. Surprisingly, he becomes very short-tempered when Arianna is involved.

"Calm down. It's not that I don't want to give it to you. It's just that....the woman has expressed unwillingness to contact you." Roy explained. "She's being treated right, don't you worry. It's her choice whether she wants to call you or not. We can't force her, can we?"

Yago was incredulous. Why would Arianna avoid him? It doesn't make sense! "I don't believe you." he uttered.

"Well, I'm not lying to you. I can tell my people to ask her again, we'll record it this time, then I'll send it to you. How about that?", Roy proposed. Yago had no choice but to agree.

A few hours later, Yago received the video. Arianna was eating her lunch and a woman's voice was suddenly heard talking to her. "Why don't you call your family if your bored? They might be worried."

Arianna didn't turn to look at the person taking the video. She just kept her head lowered and focused on her meal. "No need. I'm sure Yago had already taken care of that." she replied.

"How about that Yago? Master Dylan has his number. Why not call him for a chat? I'm sure you miss him."

Arianna stopped eating and thought for a while. She then continued on chomping on her meatballs. "Nope. Not yet. I still don't feel like talking to him. I get pretty emotional whenever I remember him. I might...." she cut her words. There was sadness in her voice. It was like she was about to cry. Then she took a deep breath and smiled. "Besides, I'm still upset that he ignored my gift for him. He's so heartless."

"Alright. Just tell me if you want to contact him. I'll get his number for you." the other voice replied.

Arianna then, for the first time turned to the person taking the video. "You're so heartless too, Jenny! Join me for lunch, will you? Don't just stand there!"

That was the end of the video. Yago slumped down his chair and held his forehead as if overwhelmed by exhaustion. Arianna was upset about him disregarding her gift? Well... how did she know?

Yago then reached for the top drawer of his desk. He was about to check on the gift that Arianna gave him but he was struck by a sudden realization. The black box wasn't sitting in his drawer anymore. Where is it?

***

"Where are you taking me?" Arianna asked as Jenny drag her outside the room. "Did something happened?"

"The neurologist is here." Jenny answered.

Arianna could only reply with an " Oh!" as Jenny walked in large strides while grabbing her wrist. She almost can't keep up with her pace. "Can you slow down a bit? What's the hurry?"

Arianna suddenly felt Jenny halted. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about you couldn't see.... It's just that... the doctor is too handsome." she said shyly.

Arianna chuckled. She forgot that Arianna was blind? How ironic was that? It was the reason why a doctor was called here! What a silly woman, she thought.

The women then continued walking. Jenny slowed down her pace this time. The moment they reached the living room though, she almost fell backwards as she felt someone pounced on her and hugged her tightly. She froze at the sudden attack, along with the sound of a girl crying.

"Where have you been? We were worried about you." the woman asked between sobs. That voice, it was very familiar.

"Gwen? What are you doing here?", Arianna mumbled. Did she just say they were worried about her? Was the news of her disappearance been publicized?

"We were called by Mr.Knox to check upon a person with a cortical blindness. My husband is a doctor. I came with him to help." she replied.

Arianna smiled awkwardly. Should she tell her that the patient is standing in front of her?

"Yanyan..." she heard Dylan called her. "This is Dr. Hans Lee. He's a well-known neurologist." Arianna felt someone shaking her hand. It must be the doctor. "... And that's his wife, Gwen Lee... But it looks like you already know each other so we will now skip further introduction." the boy stated before turning to Jenny. "Take them to the medical room. The examination must be done immideately."

Arianna felt someone lead her away. She heard Gwen whispered close to her ear. "What's happening?" But Arianna didn't answer.

Upon reaching the sickbay, the doctor performed an overall health check up first. He took blood samples, excretion test, and even throat swabs! The samples were taken to Dylan's laboratory for diagnostics. He then examined Arianna's eyes. Arianna felt a surging headache as the doctor checked her corneas with a penlight. The light was too much. Her eyes can pick that up, but still, no particular image can be recognized. The doctor then asked her various questions which was kind of annoying. He clearly know she's blind, so what's the use of putting things before her eyes and asking her about it?

After the initial test, they proceded to perform EEGs and tomographic scans. It was tiring, but also amazing that Dylan has been housing such equipments in his mansion!

"This is not an easy case." Hans Lee told Dylan as he watch Arianna rest from a distance. "I'll be honest with you. This is almost impossible."

"You said almost, so there's still hope?" Dylan remarked.

"There's always hope but... the treatment might have to be delayed. I don't know if she would want to continue her treatment if she finds out about her condition. I mean... I can't give you a hundred percent assurance that the procedures won't harm the baby." he explained.

"Baby? What baby?" Dylan asked with furrowed brows.

"Well... Arianna is pregnant."

Arianna was resting from a distant but with her sensitive hearing, she was able to pick up on their conversation. Did the doctor just say she was pregnant?

Arianna held her tummy. A child. She's carrying a child. Her and Yago's child!