Chapter 378 - One of those strange girl things

"What does that mean?" Sophia whispered.

"It means I'm going to be an aunt!" JoAnna whispered back excitedly.

This came as a shock to Sophia. "You are kidding!" She exclaimed.

"Why would I do that? Look for yourself!" JoAnna gestured at the pregnancy test.

Sophia walked to it and looked down. It had one word on display: 'Pregnant'.

"How accurate is this?" Sophia was shocked and could not process the information.

"If it's after your missed period, it's over 99%. But let's be sure... dress up. Let's go to LA Medical Center for a blood test. That is 100% accurate." JoAnna rushed to her closet to change.

Few minutes later, JoAnna was dressed up, Sophia was still standing in the bathroom, staring at the test.

"Why are you still here? Go dress up!" JoAnna pushed Sophia out of the bathroom toward the guest bedroom.

Sophia was ready shortly after. She was still in a daze, slightly frightened.

JoAnna was about to open the door, when she remembered, "Oh, call Leah to cancel your meetings. I will cancel with the realtor lady."

…

At the LA Medical center, JoAnna is with Sophia in the resting room for nurses. They are waiting for results of Sophia's blood work.

JoAnna rubbed her hands excitedly. "Julian said it will be ready in about half an hour. Oh! I feel like I'm going to jump out of my skin!"

JoAnna looked at Sophia and frowned. "You don't seem to be happy about this... What is going on?"

Sophia sighed. "I don't know. Should I be happy? Felix's mother hates me, and things with Felix are not so great either. I don't think this is right timing."

JoAnna held Sophia's hand. "You should not care about his mother. Felix made it clear that he will stay by your side no matter what she thinks... And about things between Felix and you, you told me yourself that it's because of you. Pregnancy causes hormonal changes, which cause mood swings. It's not that you love him less, but you are pregnant." JoAnna tilted her head making Sophia look at her. "Both of you are responsible adults with good careers and you love each other. What else do you need?"

"What if I'm not pregnant?"

"I think you are... and my intuition is more accurate than any test!" JoAnna grinned.

Sophia took a deep breath and showed a nervous smile. "Let's wait to see the results.''

JoAnna got a text message from Jeff: "Why are you in the hospital?"

JoAnna frowned. "Just a minute" She squeezed through her teeth and walked to the door. She got out and glared at two bodyguards who were standing in the hallway nearby. "I thought we agreed not to tell Jeff where I am."

Bodyguards glanced at each other before one spoke, "Miss Hill, Mr. White told us that if we don't inform him of any location change, we will lose our jobs."

JoAnna scrutinized them for few seconds. "If you keep on squealing like this, I will make sure you lose your jobs. This is your last warning!" She said through her teeth.

Both bodyguards nodded vigorously.

JoAnna headed back while thinking when will Bob1 and Bob2 come back from their other assignment. She texted Jeff back. "I'm with Sophia for a checkup. Don't tell Felix, OK? If it's anything serious, she will tell him."

Response arrived few seconds later. "OK."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Young tall African American man entered shortly after. "Your results are here."

"Julian! Give me! Give me!" JoAnna exclaimed while hopping toward him.

She was about to open folded paper and then she stopped herself. "Do you want to open?" JoAnna glanced at Sophia.

Sophia shook her head. "You open." She held her breath.

JoAnna opened the paper with urgency and inhaled. One second later a big smile showed on her face. "I'm going to be an aunt!"

Sophia didn't respond. She was still holding her breath.

JoAnna hopped through the room and gave Julian a hug before settling next to Sophia and showing her the paper. "Look! Based on this, you are between 5 and 7 weeks pregnant. And if we look at your last period, that makes it 5 weeks and 3 days! It all matches! … Now, for your prenatal care, lots of fluids, eat healthy..." JoAnna was pouring out information, and Sophia stopped listening after '5 and 7 weeks pregnant'.

"Sophia?! Sophia!??" Sophia was startled out of her daze by JoAnna's voice. "Do you want us to go to White corp. so you tell Felix?"

"Tell Felix..." Sophia mumbled, and shook her head. "I don't know how to tell him."

JoAnna looked at Sophia suspiciously. "It is his, right?"

Sophia frowned. "Of course, it is!"

"OK. Don't get upset. You should not get upset, in your condition… I understand that this is not something you throw at people. You can tell him later." JoAnna happily bobbed her head. She was happy that she got to find out first. "While you are thinking how to tell dad-to-be, we can celebrate. With a fancy lunch. One of those 7 course meals!"

"Sure..." Sophia weakly responded. Her mind was a mess. 'It's confirmed: Pregnant! I have a life inside me. What do I do now? Am I capable to be a mother? How do I tell Felix? What will he say? We didn't plan this. We didn't even talk about starting a family. Does he even want kids? ... What if something goes wrong? ...'

JoAnna and Sophia went for a lunch, and after that JoAnna dragged Sophia through the mall to check on baby clothes, toys, cribs, etc. JoAnna was in full blown aunt mode.

By the time they checked third store with cribs and baby furniture, Sophia acknowledged to herself that she is pregnant. Her next big thing was: 'How to tell this to Felix?'

...

Midafternoon, Jeff and Felix returned from White corp.

"It seems girls are still out." Jeff grumbled after seeing that bodyguards are not at the door. He called JoAnna.

She excitedly chirped as soon as she picked up, "Honey! We spent some time in the mall and are about to head home now."

Jeff responded with a smile. "OK. I'm home." At first, he was upset that he came home early from work and she is not there, but as soon as he heard her voice, he was glad that she is in a good mood and that he will get to see her soon.

Jeff went to freshen up while thinking where to take JoAnna for dinner. He forgot that Sophia and Felix are visiting.

On the bathroom sink, Jeff spotted an unidentified-pen-looking-thing. 'Another one of those strange girl things that Anna uses.' Even after all this time with JoAnna, he was surprised by variety of cosmetic and gadgets that she uses. Jeff glanced at it and saw a display with text: 'Pregnant'. His eyes widened and he held his breath. 'What is this?' He saw that the pen-looking-thing has a text 'e.p.t' on it. Without breathing, he got his phone and did an online search for 'e.p.t'. Jeff thought that he is about to faint while reading about home pregnancy tests.

Jeff walked out of the bathroom. He is not sure how he ended up on a lounging chair on the patio. His mind was replaying one word: 'Pregnant...'