The Heart Does Go On

After the talk with Yami, life seemed to get better. I accepted that I was not a failure. I kind of became optimistic about my living situation too.

You see, by living with Gramps and Yugi, it was preparing me for the future. I had to work to pay my rent and bills, and the little money I had left over I had to budget for. It was a fairly good situation, really.

I did miss all the extra money I used to make when I worked for Kaiba Corp, but I just reminded myself that I really would be like Mum if I dwelled on that, so I remained pleasantly optimistic about everything.

Things that also got better were that Kathryn and Duke were speaking again. Kathryn moved onto her next boy, some mysterious guy she wouldn’t tell us about. I suspected it was someone who had a girlfriend who was using Kathryn on the side, Duke agreed.

So now that everything was all jolly again, we were sitting in Duke’s lounge room watching movies.

I got up to go to the bathroom, which earned a groan from Duke and Kathryn.

“What?” I asked angrily, not seeing a problem with it, as I sat back down.

“You keep wanting to go to the bathroom!” Kathryn hissed.

“So? I drank a lot at dinner!” I hissed back.

Kathryn remained silent, which was weird for her. She never backed down from an argument.
After a few minutes of silence, Kathryn grabbed the DVD remote and pressed pause.

Both Duke and I turned to face her, wondering what she wanted.

“Ella, haven’t you been observing some symptoms you’ve had of late?” Kathryn asked me.

“No…” I trailed off, having NO IDEA what the hell Kathryn was on about.

“We were going to go to breakfast today but you were too sick, morning sickness. When we ordered pizza before the smell made you nauseas, that’s never happened before. You’ve also been peeing a lot too. All strong symptoms of early pregnancy.” Kathryn said, no emotions showing on her face.

Duke fell to the ground in shock, whilst I stay silent, a weird, panicky feeling building up inside of me.

“I’m not pregnant! I’m on the pill!” I protested, not believing that what Kathryn was saying could be true.

“Ok, well don’t panic. Closer to your period just take a pregnancy test.” Kathryn said, patting my back.

“Uh, it is period time. It’s 3 days late..” I trailed off, knowing Kathryn would take that badly.

“Well then you’re screwed now!” Duke said, running over to me and patting me on the back in a joking manner.

“Shut up Duke you dick, don’t pretend you know shit about this stuff. 3 days usually wouldn’t be a problem Ella, but those symptoms are worrying me let alone you. I think we should go get a pregnancy test to settle this matter right here.” Kathryn suggested.

“Okay.” I said, my voice void of any emotion. I didn’t know what the hell I should be thinking and feeling.

“Duke, you’re going to go to the closest place that’s open this hour that would sell pregnancy tests. Get 2. Ella can’t go, if the paparazzi see her she’s dead, and then Kaiba would bring her back to kill her. If anyone sees you, you’re Duke Devlin and you’re pimp. Get going, don’t ask questions, if you want to be a good friend to Ella you will do this!” Kathryn said, shoving Duke out the door with an ‘okay okay’

***

The 15-minute wait for pregnancy tests is always shown as such an anxious wait in fiction. Maybe the 15 minutes I had to wait weren’t as dramatic as they were portrayed in fiction, but it still was an anxious wait.

It wasn’t the first pregnancy test I had ever had to take, but these aren’t the things that get better with time or experience.

We had decided to keep them face down on the table, so we wouldn’t be tempted to look every few seconds.

When the 15 minutes were up, Kathryn decided she would be the one to check (a cap was placed over where I had peed, so she wouldn’t need to touch that bit)

She picked them both up, and Duke and I tried to read her face, but it was too hard.

“Um. This is weird,” Kathryn announced, and my heart sank. It meant that they both weren’t negative “One is positive and one is negative.”

“Does that mean you’re half pregnant?” Duke asked, and he actually sounded serious.

“False positives are rarer than false negatives.” Kathryn and I stated at the same time.

“The only way to find out for sure is to get a blood test done. First thing in the morning I’m booking you into the doctors office. We’re going to get everything done ASAP so decisions can be made early.” Kathryn said.

I looked down at the floor. She meant if I wanted an abortion, I should get it done early. I never really thought about this before, I never thought I’d have to.

“I’m also going to arrange an appointment for you to see Kaiba.” Kathryn stated.

“WHAT?” I asked, loudly.

“Ella, the sooner you tell him, the less chances he has to claim the baby isn’t his. As much of a jerk he is, if you are pregnant the baby is his too, and he should be participating in any decision you make.” Kathryn sighed.

“Come on Ella, I’ll take you to bed. This has been a big day.” Duke said, grabbing my waist and helping me up the stairs before I had the chance to burst out crying

***

I tiredly trudged into the oh-so-familiar elevator of Kaiba Corp. It had been over a month since I had last been here, and it felt weird to be back, as an outsider. As someone who shouldn’t be here.

I struck quick conversations with some of the employees, and got off on the top floor, Kaiba’s office.

I swung by Kaiba’s personal assistant, Emma’s desk.

“Hi Ella. Mr. Kaiba is in a meeting currently, but they should only be no more than 10 minutes. Would you like me to get you some tea?” Emma offered.

“That is very kind of you to offer, but no thank you. I will make a quick dash to the toilet though.” I said to her, feeling the urge to pee.

I began to worry at this urge (after all, as Kathryn said it was a major symptom of early pregnancy) and shot into a cubicle, and held back the tears.

I began to attempt my business, when I noticed a stain on my underwear.

Oh great, periods always come at the worst time don’t they?

…

Period.

I’m ovulating. Which means that no egg got fertilized this cycle. Which means that I’m not
pregnant!

I began to silently cheer in the cubicle, whilst doing my business. When I was done, I walked down the hallway and was going to just ditch my appointment, but Emma spoke to me.

“Ella, the meeting is over. You can go in now.”

She steered me into Kaiba’s office, and closed the door behind her. Kaiba looked up from his desk, and I didn’t know what to do.

“Miss Campbell. Please, take a seat.” He said coldly, and I meekly followed his orders.

“What can I help you with today?” He asked me.

“I uh…uh…was wondering if I left anything behind in my room? I’ve lost a few hand outs from school and was wondering if I left them at your house or if I really did lose them.” I quickly blurted out.

I didn’t want to tell Seto the truth of why I was visiting. I didn’t want him to think this was a lame way to get him back into my life, or something else he may come up with. The situation had most likely sorted itself out, but if the blood tests did come back positive, I would tell him.

“No. You look like you’ve been having a lack of sleep though, does this have something to do with it?” He smirked.

“Don’t be a smart arse.” I replied, I didn’t want him to start having a go at my appearance.

“You always looked really cute whilst tired, that’s all.” Kaiba murmured, and I froze.

How am I meant to reply to that? Is it ok if I get up and walk away? Argh, what do I do?

We both sat there silent for a while. I was surprised Seto had dropped his cold demeanor and wasn’t using this as an open shot for insulting me.

I couldn’t take the situation anymore, it was too awkward. I couldn’t only ‘be friends’ with Seto, and I didn’t want to spend any more time in this situation. So I made my way to the door.

“Ella…” Seto said softly.

I stopped in my tracks, but didn’t say a word.

“Maybe if you weren’t so incompetent you wouldn’t lose the handouts teachers gave you. Now you’ll just be wasting time and resources to get more. I suggest you stop being so dumb and take more care with your possessions.” Kaiba sneered at me.

Luckily I had my back to him, so he couldn’t see the smile on my face. Even though he was being rude to me, I knew this was the way Kaiba and I were meant to be.

I gave him the finger, and walked out of his office proudly.