420 Disappointmen

Saturday — November 17

Katherine woke up from the sound of her alarm clock that was set to 6:30 in the morning by default. She slammed her palm on the device shutting it up and the room was quiet again. The pounding of her head made her grimace and she whimpered as she massaged her temple. She slowly fluttered her eyes open and found herself in her bed alone. She could vaguely remember that Damien was there last night—or was she just imagining that?

Wanting to get out of bed, she washed up and wore a thick and long cardigan over her sleepwear before she strolled out of her room. She had her hair tied up in a lazy bun and she squinted as she reached the kitchen, finding the daylight very bright. There, she saw Damien sitting at the breakfast table with a cup of coffee in front of him and nothing else while Amelia and Styles were cooking by the stove.

Katherine went straight to Damien who looked at her with an expressionless face, and she knew that he was mad. She didn't say anything and only nuzzled her face on his upper arm, her guilt and headache winning over her and she didn't do anything to fight it.

"I still can't believe that I missed out on all the fun last night!" Styles complained as he was frying an egg on the pan. "Why did you leave me out? No fair!"

Katherine couldn't be bothered to explain to Styles, her head was so heavy and painful that she wanted to bang it on the wall. She faintly heard Damien whisper above her, "There's medicine on the counter. Aspirin, not ibuprofen."

She straightened up and eyed his black coffee. Seeing her stare, he gently slid the mug towards her and she wordlessly took a sip. She didn't like black coffee so much but she found that Damien's coffees were always different, that she didn't mind having some. The smell of coffee invaded her nostrils waking her up. "Thanks," she said and put it back down.

The thought of taking a pain reliever was very tempting for her so she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, passing by Styles who was cooking the eggs. The smell of eggs was so unappetizing for Katherine that she gagged and puked at the sink.

"You okay?" Styles worried. He watched as Katherine gargled mouthwash and wiped herself while his mind went to a place that made him gasp. He looked at the egg, took note of the time of the day, and then looked at Katherine who just vomited. "ARE YOU PREGNANT?!" he questioned.

Heads snapped in her direction and eyes widened at Styles's assumption. He and Amelia were speechless, while Damien froze in his high stool. His brows furrowed and then relaxed and furrowed again, unsure of what the hell was going on as he continued to stare at Katherine.

She still had her back facing them so she didn't see their reactions. Wiping her mouth, she muttered nonchalantly, "Yes."

The three looked at her in utter shock. Damien choked and coughed.

When Katherine turned around, she saw Damien shift his gaze to her tummy which she touched by instinct. She cleared her throat when she noticed the weird atmosphere in the kitchen and casually answered, "Yes, the father's name is Tequila. He's one hell of a drunkard, he makes me sick." She smacked Styles's head. "Stop speaking nonsense."

Damien let out a sigh and subtly shook his head. If it was a sigh of relief or disappointment, only he knew.

Styles rubbed the spot on his head and clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Too bad. It would have been nice to have a little kiddo around here."

Katherine ignored Styles as she took her medicine and went back to Damien's side. "Damien…"

He only looked at her, waiting for her to say what was on her mind—surely she had a lot of things she wanted to say after her little soirée last night. But when she chewed on her bottom lip, he knew she didn't know where to start, so he asked, "You remember what you did last night?"

She nodded. When he only raised his brow at her, she cleared her throat and hesitantly whispered, "I'm sorry…?" When he still didn't answer, she added, "Forgive me?"

Damien remained quiet and the air in the kitchen became thicker by the second.

"Don't be mad at her… It was my fault. I asked her to drink," Amelia said.

"No, I decided to drink." Katherine swallowed. "It's my fault."

Damien pinched the bridge of his nose. Should he stay mad or what? Last night, he brushed it off so he could peacefully sleep but now that he was awake again, recalling the incident only made his head throb.

Felix came in and looked at the two women and the latter knew that they should come clean now or he'll beat them to it. Katherine and Amelia exchanged gazes and when they were about to confess, Damien's phone rang.

"It's Frederick," he announced as he got off the stool.

The two women's eyes went wide and Amelia stopped Damien, "Wait! Before you answer that, there's… something that I need to tell you."

The look on her face made Damien suspect that it must be related to his uncle seeing as she appeared to be nervous. "What did you do now?" he probed cautiously but his expression was already off.

"I…"

Katherine, who could see Damien's already disappointed face, interrupted, "I broke into Park Group last Thursday night."

Everyone in the room looked at her, and Damien's eyes darkened as he bit out, "You did what?!"

"I couldn't help it. I needed to find evidence. I couldn't stay still."

"Why?!" He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to piece everything together. Just how much had happened while he was gone for only two days? "Then what? What happened? Why didn't you tell me? Did you get caught? Is that why he's calling?"

"No!" She shook her head. "I got away… I don't think I was recognized."

For some reason—and like he always had in the past, he could read her eyes. Why did it seem like she was lying? Or maybe keeping something from him?

His cellphone had been ringing the entire time until the ringing stopped. However, Frederick called him again, interrupting the intense conversation. Damien sighed and his jaw clenched as he stared at his phone screen. Glancing at her, he said, "We're not done here, Katherine." He picked up the phone call and walked out to the balcony to have his privacy.

Everyone in the kitchen watched as Damien talked to his uncle over the phone. He had his side facing them but his stressed expression was obvious.

"Why did you do that?" Amelia questioned Katherine in a hushed tone.

Katherine didn't know why she did that either. When she saw how he looked at Amelia earlier, she just suddenly blurted that out. Shrugging, she answered, "I don't know… Maybe… he'll be less mad if I said it was me…"

Damien finished his phone call and got back inside. When he grabbed his coat, Katherine asked, "Where are you going?"

"He's asking me to go to the mansion. It's about last Thursday night," he answered without looking up.

She swallowed, already feeling the rejection and the bitterness even before she could ask. "Can I help?"

Glancing at her, he shook his head. "You've done enough," he spoke in a low voice and then left the penthouse.