After pursing his lips for a while, Daniel inquired, "Are you going to marry the guy?"
"Ah…" Not certain why he would bring up the matter, Zoe answered after a brief pause, "Probably not."
Hearing that, Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Good."
"What's good about it?" Zoe stared at him suspiciously.
Immediately, Daniel pulled a straight face. "Oh, what I mean is that you should get to know each other better beforehand. Marriage is a big deal, so it's best to be careful."
"Oh," Zoe blurted without saying more.
Followingly, Daniel grabbed the glass of water before him and took a sip before hesitantly asking, "Wanna get dinner tonight?"
Staring at him for a few seconds, Zoe straightforwardly asked, "Are you hitting on me?"
Daniel was at a loss for words as he choked on the water he just sipped on.
Without waiting for him to recover from it, Zoe continued, "Then why are you asking me out to dinner?"
"I…" Daniel couldn't come up with a reason.
"Don't you know that asking a woman out for dinner alone indicates that you're interested in her?" Zoe asked.
Daniel didn't know how to respond to that as he held his glass.
Zoe then added, "Don't you have anything else to say?"
"No, I don't think so."
Thereupon, it was Zoe's turn to nervously grasp her glass. "Then… I have something to tell you."
"Hmm?"
Despite spending a long time constructing her sentence, Zoe couldn't figure out how to phrase her words. At once, she grabbed the glass of water and chugged it down before determinedly asking, "Do you plan to have kids?"
Daniel was taken aback. He didn't understand what she was implying.
"If you don't, I want you to accompany me to the hospital in a few days." Zoe tensed her lips and spoke through gritted teeth. For the past two days, she had decided that that night was spent willingly. None of them owed each other anything. Therefore, she wanted to come clean and do whatever she had to do. Even so, he shouldn't be allowed to enjoy his life while she shouldered all the agony. No matter how bad the situation could potentially be, he would still have to accompany her to the hospital.
"You're pregnant?" It took Daniel a full minute to comprehend what she was talking about.
Zoe nodded and took a deep breath before claiming, "I've taken birth control pills, but who knew I'd still be slammed with a matter of such an insignificant possibility? The doctor said that I shouldn't abort it just yet, and I should revisit him in two weeks, so…"
"You're going to abort it?"
"I…" Zoe muttered, "I don't know. I don't think it's right for me to make the decision alone, so I figured I should consult you about it."
Daniel was fazed. He slightly raised his hand. "Wait, wait. Please give me a minute."
Seeing that, Zoe lowered her head and silence grew between the two of them.
After a while, Zoe stated, "I'm not telling you this to force you into making a decision. I simply felt obliged to tell you about it."
"I know, but it's all too sudden. I… I need some time to figure it out."
"I understand. Look for me again once you've thought it through. The surgery is in half a month's time anyway." Having said that, Zoe got to her feet. "I shall head back, then."
Daniel wordlessly dropped his jaw as he peered at her figure. All he could do was watch her walk away. After daydreaming in the shop for half an hour, he eventually got up and left.
In Constellation Tech, Elijah just got out of the conference room and was told by his assistant that Daniel had been waiting for quite a while. Upon entering his office, he saw Daniel sitting on the couch with a stern face. He couldn't tell what he was thinking about. Accordingly, he sat opposite Daniel and revealed a scowl. "Did something bad happen at Crossley Group?"
Daniel slowly shook his head.
Elijah then questioned, "Did something happen with Leanna, then?"
Daniel shook his head again.
"What is it, then?" Elijah asked.
"I messed up."
"With what?"
Daniel pressed the tip of his tongue against his teeth and revealed, "Zoe is pregnant."
Elijah remained silent for a moment before asking, "Since when?"
Rubbing the temples of his head, Daniel answered, "It's been a while now. Back when her ex was harassing her."
Glowering, Elijah exclaimed, "Didn't I tell you not to mess with her if you don't love her? Look what you got yourself into. What are you going to do now? What are you going to do with the child?"
"I don't know…"
"Seriously…" Elijah was at a loss for words to rebuke him.
A moment later, Daniel turned to Elijah. "What would you do if you were me?"
"I would never have done what you did."
Daniel was speechless. He then asked again, "Assuming you did?"
Dully, Elijah replied, "If you truly love Zoe, you should marry her and have her deliver the kid. You'd be a damned beast if you did this to her despite bearing no feelings toward her. If William were to know about this… Well, you know how it'll go."
Daniel's veins were intensely pulsating as he was unable to come to a solution. Silently heaving a sigh, he then said, "I think Miss McKinney knows."
Hearing that, Elijah was dazed. "Know about what?"
"William."
"Then… Does William know?"
"I haven't told him yet." Daniel added, "We are all aware of why William didn't look for Miss McKinney. Though, to be honest, if we were to really think about this, Miss McKinney would be the one most reluctant to speak about the matter."
Elijah pursed his lips and noted, "Louis is very important to her."
"Mm-hmm," Daniel blurted. "So, both of them, not wanting to ruin the situation, pretended to be clueless. But that's good too. Leroy hasn't made a move for some time now. As long as we keep our trump card safe, he wouldn't dare to act rashly."
He then added, "Aidan seems to have gone to Lachstein."
"So I've heard. The situation sounded rather complicated this time, so he won't be returning so soon."
"There must be more to this. I'll tighten the security around Miss McKinney. William is watching over her in Crossley Group as well, so there shouldn't be a problem."
"There shouldn't be a problem, indeed," Elijah stated. "But that's not what you should be worrying about right now."
Daniel grew wordless. A moment later, he got up from the couch. "I'm leaving."
Swiftly, Elijah stopped him. "You better think straight and through. Minimize the damage you would cause Zoe."
"I know."
After leaving Constellation Tech, Daniel headed back to the studio. However, this time, he didn't alight from his car. Instead, he sat in his car and waited until night, when Zoe walked to the doorway and waved the others goodbye. He watched how she got into her car and then stopped by the road to retch.
Daniel's heart skipped a beat. I'm such a b*stard.
Marriage and giving birth were never on his bucket list, nor had he imagined remaining in one place for the rest of his life. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to utter words as immoral as asking Zoe to abort the baby.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Love’s Change of Heart