The cab stopped outside the hospital entrance, and the driver stepped out, already moving toward the back door. He was about to open it when Bryce pushed it open himself.
"Let me help," the man offered, stretching out his hand.
Bryce leaned back slightly. "It’s okay. I can walk inside myself. Thank you. How much is it?"
"Don’t worry about that. Are you sure you can manage on your own? I can help you inside, just to make sure you’re in good hands, then I’ll leave if you want me to."
The driver still sounded concerned, but Bryce shook his head.
"I’m sure. Besides, I just texted my husband. He’ll be here in a few minutes."
The lie slipped out smoothly.
He didn’t even insist on paying after the driver told him not to worry about the fare. Instead, he stepped out and walked slowly toward the hospital entrance, one hand still clutching his stomach.
The driver remained where he was for a moment, watching him, but he didn’t follow or press the matter further.
Once inside, Bryce made his way to the reception desk.
"I need to confirm my pregnancy and know if the baby is okay," he murmured to the woman behind the desk.
She directed him to the accounts desk, where he made the payment and received his receipt before being directed to a room. Bryce went straight there, grateful that there was no queue waiting outside.
He couldn’t have been happier.
Although, as he walked toward the room, a strange thought occurred to him.
How was there no queue here?
The other sections of the hospital seemed packed with people seeking treatment for all kinds of illnesses, yet this particular room was practically empty.
Was he seriously the only pregnant person in Alverton?
He almost laughed at the absurdity of the thought.
_
He dreaded what he was doing, but if this was what it took to convince those two surprisingly adorable men- whose conversation Bryce still couldn’t stop thinking about, especially because he hadn’t found out how that confession ended- to stop suspecting him and report to their bosses that they had mistaken someone else for him, then so be it.
He knocked on the door.
"Yes?"
Bryce pushed it open, gathering whatever confidence and hope he could as he stepped inside.
"Hello."
A woman?
He hadn’t expected that.
He didn’t know why he had been expecting a man, and even less why he had apparently wanted it to be one.
"Hi," he said.
He walked in slowly, his gaze moving cautiously around the room as he took in his surroundings.
It was larger than he had expected, clean and stark beneath the harsh white ceiling lights.
The doctor sat a few feet from the door behind a neat wooden desk, a computer monitor and several files arranged across its surface.
Beside the desk stood an adjustable examination bed covered with a crisp white sheet.
Next to it was a bulky machine mounted on a wheeled stand, its screen angled toward the bed and its probe resting in a holder. Bryce stared at it for a moment before recognizing the label: ultrasound unit.
Cabinets lined one wall, their doors closed, while the faint sterile smell of antiseptic lingered in the air.
Everything was orderly, spotless, and clinical. There was nothing particularly threatening about the room, yet Bryce found himself strangely tense as he entered.
"Have a seat."
Bryce lowered himself into the chair.
The woman stared at him silently for a moment, and Bryce quickly realized she was waiting for him to explain why he was there.
He cleared his throat.
"I’m pregnant. I... uh... want to confirm that the baby is okay."
Damnit.
That wasn’t what he had intended to say.
He was supposed to tell her that he wanted a pregnancy test first, then have the baby checked if the test came back positive.
Instead, nervousness had made him blurt out the conclusion as though there had never been any uncertainty about it.
And he had already paid for the test. The money would go to waste now, but there was no point in correcting himself.
Perhaps he should simply let the doctor get straight to the point and check whether the baby was okay, after all, he had already confirmed that he was pregnant.
For a moment, he was glad he had decided to come here. At least now, he could finally know whether the baby was okay instead of spending his days consumed by uncertainty.
If everything was fine, perhaps he could even return for regular checkups rather than assuming everything was fine.
His fingers tightened slightly against his stomach.
He only hoped that nothing throughout the examination would reveal that he was a man.
The woman reached for one of the small books arranged neatly across the desk and opened it.
"Name," she asked.
"Bryce Foster Jones," he replied, creating the surname on the spot. At least he had kept Jones, so that if these men somehow checked the information later, there would still be something connecting the name without making the lie too obvious.
"How many weeks pregnant are you?"
Bryce’s mind went blank.
He wasn’t even sure.
He could try to calculate it from the last time he had slept with Vincent, but his thoughts felt sluggish and disorganized, as though his mind had suddenly become incapable of handling even the simplest calculation.
Anxiety tightened inside him.
At the same time, that familiar heat began spreading beneath his skin again, accompanied by the restless, clawing sensation that had been troubling him throughout the day.
He had already started getting used to it, the sensation came and went after a few minutes, and he could usually ignore it.
At least, that was what he told himself, until a sharp pain suddenly tore through his chest, violent enough to make his body react before his mind could even register what was happening.
A low groan escaped him as his hand flew instinctively to his chest, his body doubling forward slightly beneath the sudden assault of pain.
His vision seemed to shift, everything around him dissolving into strange shades of purple that blended together with sudden flashes of amber, or was it yellow? Gold?
He couldn’t tell.
The colors shifted before his eyes, impossible to distinguish from one another.
He shook his head sharply and blinked several times, and when he opened his eyes again, everything had returned to normal.
Panic rushed through him so quickly that he couldn’t breath properly.
"Are you okay, Mrs. Foster?"
Mrs.?
Bryce almost scoffed.
He forced himself to straighten and tried to regain control of his breathing.
"Yeah, I just..." His voice came out unsteady. "I was trying to remember the last time I had my period, but I can’t remember."
The words sounded clumsy even to his own ears.
The woman studied him with concern.
"You don’t look very well. Is there anything else that’s..."
"Just... check if the baby is okay!" Bryce snapped before he could stop himself.
The words came out sharper than he intended.
He immediately clenched his fingers, trying to force himself to calm down as adrenaline surged through his body. His chest rose and fell faster, the movement slight but visible.
The doctor stared at him, stunned by the sudden outburst.
Bryce closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a long, deep breath.
"I’m sorry," he said when he finally managed to steady himself. "I have bad memories surrounding those days, so I get out of control when I think about them."
The lie felt almost ridiculous coming from his mouth.
There had been bad days surrounding that period of his life, but certainly not in the way his words had made them sound.
He could only hope the woman wouldn’t ask any further questions about those supposedly traumatic memories and would simply proceed with the examination to determine whether the baby was fine, allowing him to leave as soon as possible.
He knew the night was drawing near, and he no longer wanted to be anywhere near anyone now that the reality of just how dangerous he could become was beginning to reveal itself.
He intended to leave and follow Leah’s idea about the chains she had mentioned a month ago, and lock himself inside the apartment until everything had passed.
"If you have a way to determine how far along the pregnancy is, can you just do that?" Bryce continued, his voice strained despite his effort to sound composed. "And tell me if the baby is okay?"
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