1 Prologue: Whose is it?

She will forever remember that day! The day that marked the most significant path in her life. It had started as any other day with just a tad bit of apprehension but never anything too disturbing, or so she thought.

She stood outside a huge house with her boyfriend. It was more like a mansion to her, for she had never seen such a glamorous building in her life until she laid her eyes on this one. The two had no idea then that their coming was being readily discussed in the home they stood outside of. The young woman, Thalia, wrung her hands nervously.

She was worried out of her mind mainly because of her bulging stomach, which was now impossible to hide. She nervously rubbed her hand on her tummy as if to calm the baby inside. She wore stretch pants and her signature baggy t-shirt, which did nothing to help hide the very obvious pregnancy.

Like her mood that very moment, the clouds hung heavy, and rains threatened to fall as if echoing how turbulent her emotions were with each passing second. Light thunders bellowed in the background occasionally as if a storm was imminent. This had been the case with the weather the whole of that day, but until that late afternoon when the two arrived, no such rains had fallen, and the weather remained as is, surprisingly.

The wind whipped through her hair, scattering the ink-black shoulder-length all around her face. She reached out her hand nervously to brush it back from her face.

Thalia took a deep breath as her boyfriend, wrapped his arms around her shoulder, patting it gently as if to comfort and shield her. They then stepped into the house together, hand-in-hand. One eager, and the other a nervous wreck!

"Welcome, young master," a maid greeted him but cast a disapproving gaze towards her peculiarly.

"I'll let Madam know that you're here,"

"Never mind, please go back to your tasks; I'll find Mother myself."

The maid bowed and left, still throwing disapproving glances at Thalia for apparent reasons.

Thalia observed similar reactions from all the maids they came across as they moved within the house. This made her already turbulent emotions worsen.

She knew it was 'frowned upon' in their society to have a child out of wedlock, but weren't they exaggerating in their reactions?

'But then, if the maids reacted this way, then what of her potential in-laws?'

Even her mother had-'

She shook the thoughts out of her head and placed one hand on her tummy as if she drew some calmness from her unborn. She craved a little more, though. Inching a little closer to her boyfriend, she felt herself relax somewhat, only for a brief second before she succumbed to her earlier emotions. Unaware of this, the young man hurried excitedly and led the way through the house. They climbed a flight of stairs slowly and stopped at one door.

He knocked gently and entered with her. Thalia was by then so nervous that her heart was drumming against her ribs intently. She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself and rubbed her sweaty hands on her top, to no avail.

When he left her temporarily to walk up to a graceful woman sipping tea in a delicate teacup, Thalia's hand went right back to her belly, a gesture that was the only thing calming her somewhat.

The woman he approached looked like she was in her late thirties, but Thalia knew that she was just well-kept instead, considering the ages of her sons.

Her chic clothes gave her a sophisticated look, and her black hair was coiled in a tight bun on top of her head like one of those prim and server-faced mothers from the telenovelas she had watched.

Thalia noticed the warm smile on her face directed at her son only as the woman placed the teacup back on the small round table and opened her arms for a hug from her son, and he quickened towards her with an equal smile.

The room was slightly spacious, with a single table and two chairs around it. A comfy-looking massage chair sat in one corner as well. The whole room had a full view of their outside back garden, but it looked a little gloomy then because of the weather, but it still had a soothing and relaxing feel to it. She noted as she took in her surroundings.

After this, he stretched his hand out behind him, beckoning her.

"Mother, meet my girlfriend …. Thalia,"

She walked shyly forward, bowed slightly, and stretched out her hand in greeting, "Pleased to meet you, ma'am…."

The older woman's mouth opened in surprise, but Thalia did not miss how her eyes raked over her person and settled on her slightly bulging stomach and the flash of disdain that crossed her eyes but was immediately hidden as she turned to her son.

"Son, what is the meaning of this? Whose is it?" She ignored Thalia's outstretched hand and looked at him as she asked in a disapproving tone, but Thalia couldn't help but slightly snicker at the last question as it was the exact question her boyfriend had asked when she found out about the pregnancy herself.

She dropped her hands and took a step closer to him, a movement that went unnoticed as the older woman visibly got infuriated.

"What do you mean, whose is it, mother? Of course, the child she is carrying is mine, and he is your grandson as well. Will I introduce a girl who is pregnant with another man's child to you?"

"But-" the woman looked bewildered as if her worst nightmare had come true.

"She is not from our circles, and - I - I do not even need to do a background check to confirm this. I have never seen her in any of our functions, and j-j-ust look at the way she is dressed! So shabbily!

Without missing a breath, she continued,

"You got her pregnant before meeting us? That is uncouth! son!" "How could you let her seduce you! Th-is thing here? What girl can you not get? You can even pay for services like this from someone better! Why do you settle for THAT!" She stepped back, placing her hands on her waist as she glared at her son and looked like she wanted to spit on Thalia.

"Is this what you were doing instead of studying? And – couldn't you have done any better than this?!" she gestured toward Thalia as if she was part of the room décor and not an actual human in the room. Never once did she address Thalia directly in any way. She continued her 'one-sided conversation' with her son and occasionally threw dirty glances at her.

She never stopped for him to respond even once. The boy had his mouth opened slightly, the mother angry, and Thalia flabbergasted!

Suddenly, the door swung open, and an older-looking gentleman with equal black hair and eyes walked in. Thalia did not need an introduction to know who he was because in as much as her boyfriend resembled his mother, he was like his father in his build,

"What is going on here?" the man asked in a deep calm voice slightly raised above that of his hysterical wife, but his initial disapproving gaze on Thalia was glaring, unlike that of his seemingly hypocritical wife….

Little did she know that this encounter had already sealed her fate...

The young woman snapped back to the present as the high-pitched but warming voice that was introducing the TV program she was to be on that evening sounded, drawing her from her thoughts.

'I guess this is it…' she thought.

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