Are you pregnant?

His hair is so cute, and his albino complexion is just angelic," Julie gushed as she described Zane's appearance. Her obvious admiration and interest in the guy excited me.

I felt happy that she still doesn't think that every guy is like her father and brothers. She grew up in an abusive and confused family which made her have a little fear of men.

Julie's gushing over Zane likely made me feel as though I had done something good in helping to match my friend up with someone whom she found attractive, which would most likely provide a nice boost to her ego.

"Enough with the Zane talk," I said, attempting to stop Julie from going on about her crush. "You'll get to meet him someday since you're so smitten by him," I continued, causing Julie to laugh and deny that she was smitten at all. Julie admitted that she just thought I had moved on from Josh and was teasing me a little bit about Zane being a potential replacement.

In response, I rolled my eyes and told Julie to stop with her "crazy thoughts."

"I don't need a replacement Julie, "I clarified. "By the way, I may be getting married soon," I added, but stressed that Zane was just a friend and that there was no other relationship between the two of us.

Julie quickly raised her hands, as though surrendering to me and promising to not talk about Zane and I being together. "Fine, I won't talk about it again," she said, "How was your visit to the hospital today?" she wondered out loud, changing the subject.

I informed Julie of all that occurred during my trip to the hospital, including my mother's mixed responses to the engagement, the time we spent together, and the plans for a dinner with Mr. Romanov's mother.

Julie appeared to be amused by the updates and squealed in excitement, stating, "I can't believe you'll be having dinner with Mrs. Romanov. You're so lucky!" Julie's reaction to hearing about my upcoming dinner with Mrs. Romanov made me feel lucky indeed to have such an opportunity.

It's not every day you're invited to dine with an influential family. "I want to ask Mr. Romanov for a house my mom can stay in. He said I could ask for anything," I informed Julie, to which Julie replied, "That's a great idea. You'll tell him about it after your dinner with him tomorrow.

" Julie's grumbling stomach then interrupted the silent room, causing me to let out a laugh as I encouraged Julie to go eat the food in the kitchen. It seemed that Julie's stomach was in need of some sustenance, and it was probably best that she go eat the food before the hunger got to her.

Suddenly I felt nauseous and immediately rushed to the toilet, which Julie followed, holding my hair away and rubbing my back. Julie was quite concerned as she watched me throw up in the sink.

"Are you okay?" she asked after I rinsed my mouth and sat on the toilet. Julie then continued with another round of questioning, worriedly asking me what was wrong.

I was fatigued and felt too tired to stand, probably due to the sudden onset of nausea causing me to rush to the toilet and experience vomiting.

"I have no idea," I replied, clearly feeling quite puzzled and unsure of what was causing my current feeling. Julie, noticing this, continued patting my back before she suddenly wondered if the reason for my current situation may be related to a pregnancy.

"Are you pregnant? You haven't complained about your monthly cramps for like three or two months," Julie inquired, causing me to feel nervous and anxious, leading me to respond more to myself as I denied the possibility of me being pregnant.

"I'm not pregnant," I said, trying to convince myself more, unsure if stress had in fact caused me to miss multiple cycles.

"I can't be pregnant," I said, sounding frantic as I processed and reflected on the possibility of a potential pregnancy from the incident, I had been trying to avoid thinking about for the past two months.

"It happened once," I added, referring to the incident, "and it wasn't with my consent," I said, emphasizing the fact that this pregnancy was clearly not my choice.

Julie held my shoulder and said, "Calm down. You may be just freaking out for nothing. I've read that it's possible to miss a period or two. But even if you're pregnant, remember you have me to support you."

"You don't understand," I said, holding my hair as my mind was filled with thoughts that were creating a lot of stress for me. "If I'm pregnant, it might ruin my contract with Mr. Romanov," I said, voicing my worrying concern to Julie.

Julie then replied, "Firstly, we need to make sure you're actually pregnant before assuming. Even if you are pregnant, your contract ends after 5 months, so you just have to hide it; it's not hard, trust me." Julie then went out to purchase a pregnancy test kit, which would determine what the next steps would be.

After a few minutes, Julie finally arrived, holding a brown paper bag in her hand. She opened the bag, revealing three different brands of pregnancy test kits, which she handed to me.

Julie added that she had purchased three just to be certain. "Who knew these things were super expensive?" Julie said. I performed the tests and placed the kit onto the sink, waiting for the results to appear.

After some time, Julie came to assist me in viewing the results. "Congratulations Layla, you'll be a mom," Julie revealed, which likely caused me to be shocked and overwhelmed by the news, potentially causing me to faint due to my surprise.

**********************

"Cough cough," I coughed, trying to catch my breath and clear my throat. I had almost choked on the water that Julie had poured on me and seemed slightly annoyed by this fact.

"I'm so sorry. I panicked," Julie apologized. She added that she should have merely sprinkled the water on me instead of pouring an entire cup on me, to which I simply replied with, "You're meant to sprinkle the water on me, not dump a cup of it on me." Julie just stared at me and muttered, "Sorry," and patted my back in an attempt to comfort me.