BETROTHED TO THE BILLIONAIRE

Valerie’s POV

With her beautiful black hair around her shoulder, she smiles down at me, making a cold spine run down my spine.

She is dead, isn’t she?

Then why am I seeing her and why is she smiling at me?

Did I do something wrong to her and she is smiling instead of reprimanding me?

Am I dead? Why am I seeing a dead woman?

Ryan and I were at the graveyard where she was buried. She is dead but I can’t seem to remember the last thing that happened before I got here.

Is she alive? Is she hiding somewhere just to be safe from that monster she calls a husband?

No, I shake my head involuntarily. This can’t be. I saw her cold feet and a pale body. She was extremely cold all over and heavy. She is indeed dead.

With a low gasp, I try to twirl around so I can flee from the dead but my legs are stuck on the ground. I look down at my feet and they are buried deep in the ground.

I almost let out a yelp in fright but she stretches an arm at me, still smiling brightly. “My child.”

My child?

Despite how much I admire this woman, I do not appreciate what she is doing to me right now. I want to scream and run away from her but I can’t seem to do anything. I can barely move any part of my body.

“Go, my child.”This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

The words echo around the empty place and I find my legs coming out from the buried ground. I turn around slowly to see how truly empty the whole place is.

Where the hell am I? How did I get here?

The whole place is foggy but I am not cold and it baffles me more. I am not even wearing a cardigan and I don’t feel cold.

Am I still alive?

“You have made everything worth it, Valerie”, she speaks again, the bright smile vanishing eventually. Her eyes beam with happiness and I can’t place what exactly is happening here.

I want to ask her questions but I can’t find my voice. There is a huge lump stuck in my throat and my mouth isn’t moving either.

“I love you, Valerie,” she adds, her eyes leaving me and resting somewhere else apart from my face. “And I am glad you are with Ryan.”

I roll my eyes. She made me marry her son, why is she saying this?

“You are going to have a lot of kids running around the house just like I have ever wanted. Thank you.” she points to my belly and I follow the direction of her finger.

When I look back up, she is gone into thin air and I let out a piercing scream in fright.

“Val?” Someone grabs my hand and my eyes are closed. I am scared of opening them to see her again. I don’t want to be dead. I want to live to take care of Ryan. I promised never to leave him again. I don’t want to die.

I don’t want to see his Mother again. I want her to let me be.

“Val, are you ok?”

As I continue to scream, the voice stops me. It is familiar. The same voice that brings tingles to my whole body and calms my nerves.

Summoning up every iota of courage left in me, I flutter my eyes open to meet his intense gaze full of concern, worry and love.

He grips my hand harder and demands. “Are you ok, love?”

I gulp down the heavy lump and nod. Finally, I find my voice. “Yes, I am.”

How on earth can I explain the reason for my strange behavior? How can I tell him that I saw his Mother and his Mother said a lot of strange things to me that got me scared?

He moves away, making my eyes fall on the white ceiling.

Where the hell am I?

I wander my eyes around until I see Mom smiling at me proudly and then Dad.

“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?”

Instead of replying to me, they continue to smile. I become confused and turn to Ryan for answers.

What is happening? Why are they smiling? Why is everyone wearing a light dress when it is snowing outside?

“You are all sweaty, sweetheart”, Ryan points out instead of providing me with answers even though I haven’t asked him why. He ought to be able to read my mind and know what I want answers for.

Such a dumbass!

A towel hits my forehead, pulling me out of my thoughts. Carefully, he wipes my forehead and lets go of me again.

Before I can attack any of them again, someone comes in through the door which has an exit boldly written on top. He is wearing a white coat and there is a stethoscope around his neck.

A doctor? Am I in a hospital? Was I involved in an accident again? Did his Father try to harm me again? Is that why I saw his Mother? Did I narrowly escape death again?

“Mrs. Lorenzo, how do you feel?” The doctor’s loud voice booms into my ears, jerking me back to life.

I try to sit up and Ryan runs to my side to help me up. I am not feeling any pain at all. I just feel weak and nauseated. Then why am I at the hospital? If it was an accident, am I not supposed to be in a bandage or something?

“What happened?” I ask no one in particular and the doctor smiles in reply. “How did I get here?”

“You suddenly collapsed at the funeral”, Mother offers to answer me as she stretches her hands to touch me. Your Father and I were waiting for you guys to come out so we could take you home because it seems you both needed to be alone. Ryan came running and said that you had collapsed so we rushed you here.”

A breath of relief leaves my mouth.

I almost thought I cheated death again for the second time since I got married to Ryan. The first time was when his monster-of-Father almost killed me and made my parents come up with the false story of me having an accident that never happened.

“How do you feel?” The doctor asks again.

I nod. “I’m fine.”

“Do you feel any weakness or bloating?”

I shake my head. “Just weak.”

I guess it’s the stress from the troubles that Ryan and I have been experiencing for a while that led to this. It must be accumulated stress or something less serious.

“Nauseated?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Tired?”

“Yes”, I answer and furrow my brows in confusion. If it’s something less serious, then he shouldn’t be asking me too many questions.

“That will be all. You need to rest a lot, take a lot of fluids and fruits and avoid strenuous activities,” he advises me with a light smile.

I nod again.

He turns to Ryan and shakes hands with him. “Congratulations, Mr. Lorenzo.”

It makes me furrow my brows again in suspicion. He greets my parents politely before heading out.

With my Dad’s silence and unwavering smile, I can no longer contain my curiosity.

“What the hell is happening? Why was he congratulating you, Ryan?” I turn to Ryan with my face in a deep frown of confusion.

A smile creeps to his face as he comes closer to sit on the bed beside me. He holds my two hands and pecks my forehead.

My heart skips a beat.

Am I dying?

He shouldn’t be congratulating him if I am dying, right? Dad and Mom won’t be grinning from ear to ear either.

Then why do I feel so scared of the answer to my question?

“Ryan”, I call him again, impatiently. I need to know what is happening or what has happened. “What happened?”

“You are having a child, Valerie”, Mom replies sharply and suddenly, she bursts into tears.

It takes a while for the word to process in my head and when it does, I avert my gaze to Ryan who nods intermittently. “You are pregnant, Valerie. We are going to be parents.”

My heart skips another beat and I blink and slide off my hands from his hold.

How exactly is that possible when we have had sex only once and it’s been months? How can I be pregnant for so long without knowing?

There is definitely something wrong somewhere and I am sure this is a fake diagnosis just like how his mother was diagnosed with cancer.

“No”, I shake my head in total disbelief, making my Mother look up and halt her tears. “I am not pregnant!” I affirm confidently.

“What?!” They all exclaim in complete shock and I nod my head vigorously to confirm what I just said.

I don’t feel pregnant. Therefore, I am not pregnant, I repeat convincingly in my head.