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“Fuck.” I quickly opened our group chat with my friends and saw that all of them were worried about what happened at the clinic that afternoon. It was now past eight and none of them had heard from me. I left my ringer off after class and been distracted since.
“What’s wrong?” Royce asked, putting a comforting hand on my thigh.
“I forgot to call my friends. My phone was on silent and they are worried. I need to call at least one of them.”
“Go ahead.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but it was. How did I explain everything that happened that day? It was so much, and I was still trying to process it all.
I thought about who to call and decided Kalera was the best bet. She’d tell everyone else I was fine and fill them in. I quickly scrolled through my contacts and hit her name, still unsure of what I was going to tell her.
“Oh my God. It’s about time. You had us worried sick, Narina. Are you okay?”
“Yes. Sorry, after class I went to the clinic and forgot to turn my phone off silent, and I was a little distracted.”
“What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Yes and no. Shit.” I dragged my hand through my hair and closed my eyes as the enormity of the situation settled down on my shoulders. “I don’t know, K. There was a mix-up at the clinic. I was marked for insemination not surrogacy, so the baby I’m carrying is mine not someone else’s.”
“Oh my God!”
“Yeah, so I met with the father of the baby, and we are working out an arrangement. I never meant to use my eggs. It was supposed to be someone else’s baby entirely.” I felt my eyes flooding with tears because telling someone else about the situation made everything seem more real.
I didn’t think I had anymore tears left, but I was wrong. Royce pulled me onto his lap and let me cry as I held the phone to my ear, listening as Kalera was silent, trying to process what I was saying.
“Do you need me to come back to the dorm to be with you?”
I heard her new boyfriend, Stefano, in the background grumbling. He didn’t like that suggestion any more than Royce would. I bet the two guys would get along. I only met Stefano briefly when K introduced him to our group, but that was it. We really hadn’t gotten to know much about him because we were all so busy.
“No. There’s no point in that. I’m not going to be staying at the dorms anymore. I’ve got most of my stuff, the rest will be out tomorrow.”
“Where are you going?” She raised her voice a little. Her worry was on full force.
“Don’t worry. I’m moving in with the father of my baby, for now at least.”
“A stranger! You’re moving in with a stranger?” She was yelling at me now and I pulled the phone away from my ear.
“Do I need to remind you, that you moved in with a stranger?”
She got quiet for a second before adding, “Will you at least give me his information so I can give it to Stefano to check him out?”
I looked up at Royce. He was watching me as I bit my lip, trying to figure out how much he could hear. He had an amused smile on his face, so I guess he heard enough because he took the phone from my hand and hit the speaker icon on the screen.
“Put Stefano on the line, tell him it’s Royce.”
We listened as Kalera did what he said and Stefano got on the call.
“Royce, what’s up, man?”
“Apparently your girl is good friends with my soon-to-be fiancé. She’s worried about my girl, so could you put her at ease that her friend is safe?”
Stefano laughed. “What the hell? How did this happen?”
“Ask your girlfriend, mine already gave her the details.”
“Okay. Talk to you later.”
“Later.”
They hung up the phone, and I just shook my head in confusion. “You’re friends with Stefano?”
