Office Diaries - Chapter 139

“Are you okay? You feel cold,” Alvin asked Jena as soon as she sat next to him.

“Yeah,” she murmured as she nodded. “I just felt a little woozy earlier. But I’m feeling better now,” she continued as she placed her other hand over her bulging stomach.

At four and a half months into her pregnancy, her baby had started moving. She smiled a little as she felt her little one move within her but at the same time, she felt tears in her eyes.

“Jena? What’s wrong?” Alvin asked worriedly as he grabbed a tissue and wiped his wife’s tears.

“Nothing,” Jena whispered as she shook her head. “Must be hormones,” she continued as she stood up.

“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Sam asked.

His small face mirrored his father’s worry as he eyed his parents.

“Nothing sweetheart. Mommy’s just tired,” she answered as she walked towards her son and gave him a kiss. “You go to school with dad okay? Mommy will sleep,” she added and the little boy bobbed his head.

“Don’t you want me to take you to the hospital?” Alvin asked worriedly as he eyed his wife, but she shook her head.

“I’ll just take a rest here. I’ll be okay,” she answered and Alvin turned to his son.

“Sammy, go get your bag. I’ll drive you to school,” he ordered softly and their child followed without fuss.

Alone, Alvin took his wife’s hand as he pulled her closer to his body.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” he asked again as he planted kisses on his wife’s temple, his arms secured at her small back, holding her firmly but gently against him.

“I will be…soon…”

Alvin frowned at her answer. He couldn’t understand why but he felt uneasy again. He wanted to ask more but his son came back to the kitchen, telling his dad to hurry up.

“Be good okay?” Jena reminded the little boy as she kissed her son goodbye.

“I will mom,” Sammy answered as he ran towards the elevator, leaving his parents alone once again.

“Your son’s waiting for you,” Jena whispered, her orbs studying Alvin’s face as if she was gauging his reaction.

“Yeah,” he answered uneasily but he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips nonetheless.

He would get to the bottom of her unusual behavior when he returned home later in the evening.

“I’ll see you later,” he whispered against her mouth and kissed her once more before he turned around to follow their child to the elevator.

For many months now since their wedding, her anxiety over her past returned with a vengeance. First, it was because of Alvin’s resemblance to Sam. She thought it was just an uncanny coincidence, but his family and the guests on their wedding kept on commenting about that, and Alvin himself proudly answered that he was Sam’s father when asked. The next day Sam had an allergy attack and her mother-in-law said she should have known since it was the same as Alvin’s.

With all those coincidences and remarks, her heart took some blows. In her ċhėst, she hoped, she wished that somehow, Alvin was indeed her child’s father not just for herself but also for Sam. But there was this person called “king” whom they said was her son’s father. During their wedding reception, her husband’s college friends made a remark about her son being a love child between her and the person called “king”. She had wanted to ask more and would have if Sammy hadn’t gotten sick and she forgot about it. The fact that Sam was a stranger’s child depressed and confused her once again.

Her mother-in-law gave her another hope yesterday, however, and it scared her. King. Alvin was called king. The idea made her anxious once more to the point of feeling sick. She wanted to find out the truth but at the same time dreading it.

If it wasn’t Alvin who had taken her body eight years ago, she wouldn’t know what to do. But if it was him…

Jena’s lips trembled. If it was Alvin then she would be relieved. Then again she knew the relief would only be temporary. Soon she would ask why? Why? She’d want to know. But she’d know later, later after she returned from the place she should have visited a long time ago.

With a determined expression, she picked up the phone and dialed her sister’s number. As she waited for the call to be picked up, her other hand reached out for the photo nearby, the photo of her with her husband and child, and she traced her fingers on the glass.

“Big Sis? Can you accompany me today?” she asked and in an hour, her sister arrived at the apartment and the two of them went out.

At first, she didn’t tell her sister where they would go until her sister recognized the area and she was upset.

“Jena, I’m not happy with this. I don’t approve of this!”

Jena ignored her sister’s ramblings as she stepped out of the car and walked determinedly towards a facility to one of Seoul’s favorite hangouts. In broad daylight, most of the clubs were closed, but she didn’t care as she marched towards a particular club which was the place where her life changed completely.

“Jena, let’s go home. The sun’s too hot. It’s not good for you and your baby,” her sister wailed and Jena frowned at her.

“If you don’t want to come with me then you can go home,” she snapped as she continued to walk.

Her sister sighed as she took out her phone to send a message to Alvin’s mother. She didn’t go home though. She trailed worriedly after her stubborn and very pregnant sibling.

After a few more minutes of walking, she almost slammed against her sister who suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly seeing Jena’s pallor.

“Big Sis…”

She became alert at Jena’s cracked voice and she frowned.

“Jena, what’s wrong?” she asked again, but instead of answering, Jena pointed at the building in front of them and she frowned.

It was a plain restaurant.

“Big sis, the club’s gone. It’s gone,” Jena wailed and her sister immediately pulled her for a hug, trying to cajole the terribly distraught sibling.

“Let’s go inside,” she suggested as she pulled Jena towards the establishment.

The restaurant was actually a café, serving strong brew to customers who were mostly from the clubs, coming here to sober up after a night of partying.

“I don’t like this place,” Jena’s sister commented as soon as they sat down.

When Jena didn’t answer and just continued to sniff, she reached for the menu and ordered them a glass of lemonade each.

“Do you want to eat?” she asked and Jena shook her head.

“Why do you want to come here anyway?” her sister asked and Jena took out Alvin’s photo from her pocket.

“Because I want to know the truth. I want to confirm my suspicions. I want to be sure if Alvin’s Sammy’s dad. I deserve to know. I know I deserve to know,” she sobbed and her sister reached out to touch her hands.

“Then why not ask your husband directly?” she asked cautiously.

Deep inside, she was already tearing her hair out in frustration. Why in tarnation did her brother-in-law let it go this far? Why wouldn’t he just tell Jena the truth and end her sister’s misery? The way she was seeing things, she knew Jena wouldn’t be angry when she found out. Her sister’s desperately in love with her husband that was why she was being this stubborn.

“Look at what we have here, isn’t it Jena Wang?”

The mocking voice made the elder sister frown and she watched as Jena’s eyes widened in surprise. She had a feeling this was bad, and she was right. The group all looked like they had spent the night out drunk and intoxicated with God knew what, and was now there to sober up.

“What do you want?” Jena asked as she narrowed her eyes on the people she used to call friends.

It had been eight years since she last saw them. After she had woken up at the stranger’s apartment, she had looked for them but the group was nowhere to be found. She had wanted to ask why did they drug her when she did nothing wrong to them, but she was not able to. They avoided her like the plague, and soon Jena had been kicked out of the school due to her pregnancy.

“Oooh, the kitty’s got claws now I see,” one of the girls commented mockingly and Jena’s sister just had enough.

“Hey, you! If you don’t have anything good to say, I suggest you leave,” she said with her eyes narrowed on them.

“Oh, we will. We don’t want to hang out with dropouts after all,” they answered cattily and Jena bit her lip before she spoke.

“Wait,” she called and the group turned to her with their brow raised. “You. Why did you do it?”

“Why did we do what?” one of them, the one who had handed Jena that spiked drink asked innocently as she smiled.

“You know damn well what I’m talking about,” Jena hissed making her laugh.

“I most certainly don’t,” she answered, her smile getting more malicious by the second. “By the way, have you seen Ken?” she asked and Jena frowned.

“Who’s that?”

“Ooooh,” the girls chorused. “Who else? The guy we introduced to you at this club,” the one who spiked her drink answered as her eyes glinted, and Jena was reminded of the guy with eight hands and her stomach lurched.

She didn’t like where this conversation was leading to.

“The one who fathered your bastard child, of course,” she continued and Jena’s breath hitched, her heart constricting painfully. “Have you forgotten how he did you at the restroom? He said you enjoyed it…”