The Bachelor by David Dower (read along books TXT) 📖

the same time. One, Zach could be at her door right now and might be on his way out in disappointment. Second, she didn’t want to see him at the same time because that would mean she would have to tell him about the pregnancy. Third, what should she do now? She was not worried about what the public would say, but she was worried of how she should tell Diane. Fourth, if ever Zach didn’t come for her, should she go to him or should she just leave him in the dark?

They were just exiting the hospital when she saw a very familiar figure and before she could think further, she grabbed Kim’s hand and dragged her towards the pathway leading to the right.

“Jules?” Zach’s voice said behind them.

Ever had that feeling when you and your friend were strolling in the mall but you told your parents you were going to a friend’s house to do some work and then all of a sudden, while you were eating an ice cream, chatting with your friend, you saw your mother’s head and you just ran off leading nowhere, your heart seemed to have stopped, and you have that really powerful adrenaline running through your veins that you felt like you might trip over from running? Well, that was how Julianne felt as she tried her best to drag Kim as far away from Zach as possible.

“Wait, wait, is that Zach?” Kim asked behind her. “What is he doing here?” Her friend sounded amused and curious at the same time.

“Yes, come on!”

“Jules!” His voice was getting nearer now and Julianne realized she was not going to escape this. Of all places! But Kim was right. Why was he in the hospital? Did something happen to him? But he was obviously too healthy.

No, she didn’t think she could face him at the moment, not with all these pregnancy hormones kicking in right now.

But then she felt a strong force pulling her to a stop, almost landing her on her back. It was Kim.

She glared at her friend but Kim was glaring back at her. “Julianne, you can’t run. You have to face this. This is not you, remember? You don’t run.”

It was like a slap on the face. Yes, this was not her. She was not someone who would run. She was the one who would stop, turn around, and face anything. And that anything was Zach. He was running towards her with his grinning face.

Kim stepped aside and Julianne caught her hand. “Don’t leave, please.”

“I’ll be here,” her friend nodded.

Julianne squared her shoulders, her face blank. She could feel the tears behind her eyes as she watched Zach slowing down, his dark brown hair a mess, his green eyes holding hers, and his smile melting in a non-literal sense.

“I’m here,” he breathed out.

“Yes,” she just nodded.

Slowly, the smile on his face disappeared when he got a good look of her face. His eyes darted towards Kim who was standing beside her.

 *****

Zach wasn’t so sure how to handle the situation right now.

Questions flooded his brain.

Why is she here in the hospital? Why doesn’t she look so happy to see me? What is Kim doing here? Is she angry about the speech he made?

He finally decided to address the first question with concern. “Why are you in the hospital? Are you hurt?” he stepped forward, looking her over, and when he made a move to touch her, she stepped back.

Now, that one was like a big blow down his gut.

“Jules, what the hell is wrong?” he looked at Kim and asked when Julianne remained standing there speechless, her face pale. “What happened?”

Kim looked troubled, but he knew she knew what was going on. She looked at Julianne and then at him.

“Zach, I think we need to talk some other time…” Julianne started.

“No!” Kim’s word was stronger than his. Zach and Julianne both stared at her. “Tell him,” Kim told Julianne.

“Tell me what?” Zach asked.

Julianne looked confused, her eyes flickering everywhere except his. “I’m…I’m…”

“What?” he asked impatiently.

“She’s pregnant,” Kim hushed out the words impatiently. “She didn’t want to tell you because she just found out herself.”

That very moment, Zach felt like he was flying. Not because of full happiness, but with a mixture of different feelings. He was not sure he was ready to be a dad, but the thought that Julianne was carrying a part of him inside her was enough to put a smile on his face. “Really?”

“I…” Julianne threw her friend a look before looking at him. “Let’s not talk about this right now, please. I’m tired and I want to be alone for now—”

“Jules—”

“Zach, please, just give me time.”

“What else do you need to think about? You love me, I know that. I love you. I want that baby. What else is there to think about?” he asked incredulously. Really, this lady needed to seriously consider if she could still think straight.

She shot him a look and he kept his mouth shut. “I need time to freaking think, okay?!” she shouted with frustration.

Okay, that was not his Jules.

He was left speechless as the woman who had occupied his thoughts for days rushed past him and walked off.

“I’ll give you your time, but I’m not patient, Jules!” he shouted after her before she was out of earshot. Yes, he would give her time. For now. She was probably overflowing with so much hormones that her emotion was a wreck, but he wouldn’t let her make hasty decisions they would both regret later on.

She had told him before that the reason she was leaving was because of the probability that they wouldn’t make it out of the show because life outside the cameras was not the same. Well, hell, this was life and she was not handling it that well in his point of view.

He didn’t feel anything less different about her now that there were no cameras around, now that he was no longer the Bachelor. He still felt that same overwhelming feeling every time he saw her. He could still sense her presence around a ten-meter radius. Julianne was wrong.

They could have still made it if she didn’t leave because what they had was real. What they would have would be real.

 *****

Julianne wasn’t sure if she should be angry with Kim for spilling that information about her pregnancy to Zach. As a matter of fact, she was ambivalent on the matter. She wanted to let Zach know and Kim solved that bit for her. But she didn’t want him to know this early as well.

What? You were planning to buy some more time? Now, that was not really good, was it?

Okay, so now, problem solved, right?

She groaned and rolled on her stomach. She was on her bed and Kim was in the living room making some calls. She remembered she was pregnant and she rolled back on her back. The baby could get smothered or something, she thought.

Her phone kept ringing and Kim was the one who kept answering them like her friend was her own personal secretary. Diane had called and Kim told her Julianne was sick and she couldn’t come to the phone. Diane offered to come over but Kim told her Julianne wanted her to continue doing her work for the promotional tour upon Julianne’s orders.

Since she didn’t have a family to worry about, she only worried about Zach and her and their baby.

What would happen now? What if Zach only wanted the baby because he was too blinded by his love for her? What if he’d finally regret ever coming after her and accepting her baby? What if he’d leave them when he was done with them?

She couldn’t handle that. She was left by her father in an orphanage and it was not heaven. If she ever get to make it through this pregnancy, she would rather make it alone. What if Zach decided to leave the scene just when their baby was getting to know him? It would have an impact on the child and she couldn’t let her kid undergo what she went through in her past.

But something inside told her Zach would never do that. He’d be responsible and loving and caring like he always was. He would treasure them and the family they would be.

Julianne fell asleep with those thoughts in mind.

 *****

By the time Julianne woke up, she heard a commotion outside in her living room. Thinking it was Zach, she decided to confront him and tell him to give her more time, but lo and behold, she found that her place was being filled with flowers—tulips—and dozens of them.

Kim was holding the door open for some delivery guys to bring in the flowers. Her friend beamed at her and said, “Good, you’re awake. Guess where these came from.”

Julianne just groaned and walked to the largest basket and snatched the card sitting just on top of it. She opened it and read, “Jules, let these flowers remind you that I’m waiting. Zach.”

“You should really go to him, do some talking about a baby, and make out!”

Julianne wished she could do that. Well, she could actually do that right now, but how would she know when she couldn’t even trust herself to make a rational decision right at the moment? She looked at her friend and asked, “Aren’t you going to meet Jack? The show’s over and…” she trailed off, looking at the flowers.

“He’s still very busy wrapping things up. There are still things to shoot, he said,” Kim rolled her eyes.

“Thank you for doing this,” she went to give her friend a hug when she suddenly burst to tears. “Oh God, I hate these tears.”

“Pregnancy can be sloppy,” Kim agreed and they laughed.

“What should I do with all these?” she looked around. “I can’t have them in here…”

“Well,” Kim looked around, thinking, “I guess we’ll just do some flower arrangement or something.”

 *****

Zach had the urge to go to Julianne and demand his rights to be by her side. But the other side of him understood how she must be feeling. She must probably still in shock to find out that she was carrying a baby.

His baby.

But questions were bombarding his mind. Why was she afraid to tell him? If Kim didn’t, would she have?

She must be thinking you wouldn’t want the baby, the pessimistic side of him suspected.

Well, she’s wrong, he thought with etch of bitterness as he paced around his room. He would have loved to have a look at her face when she saw the flowers he sent that morning.

His mother didn’t know what happened yet, but he bet the old lady would love the idea of having a grandchild.

As he was thinking of some ways to make Julianne get back to reality and see that he was utterly serious this time, his phone rang. It was Liam.

He cursed, but punched the green button anyway.

“What?” he snapped.

“Congratulations,” his friend said from the other line with amusement. For a brief moment, Zach wondered if Liam already knew about Julianne’s pregnancy, but his friend continued on, “You did the consequence. The look on their faces, man!”

Without another word, he ended the call and threw his phone at his bed. He was not in the mood to talk about Chloe and Pauline or anyone. He had more important matters in hand.

He stormed around his room, thinking about some more special ways to make Julianne feel that she should start trusting him on this one.

 *****

Julianne and Kim were having breakfast, talking about her plans, when suddenly, her doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Kim offered, getting up.

“If it’s Zach, please tell him—”

“To come in and shake you until you wake up, I know,” Kim rolled her eyes before turning away to open the door.

Julianne sat still with apprehension. If it was Zach, she wasn’t ready yet. God, they even barely knew each other outside the show and now they were going to have a baby? What would they talk about during their dates? Diapers and shit?