Chapter Six
1212 Words
Chapter Six
(Nia's POV)
I woke before my alarm with a dull ache behind my eyes and a heaviness in my limbs that sleep hadn’t helped.
For a few seconds, I stayed under the covers, one hand resting over my stomach. The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Adrian had left for work before I woke, and I was grateful for it. I didn’t have the strength for another conversation where he looked at me like I was the problem.
I needed to get up.
Work was waiting.
So, I got dressed.
By the time I reached the office, I’d convinced myself the nausea was nothing more than exhaustion.
For the first twenty minutes of the meeting, I managed.
Then the room started to blur.
At first, I thought it was the light reflecting off the glass table. I blinked once, then again. The figures on the screen shifted out of focus.
“Nia?” someone asked.
I looked down at the report in front of me, but the words wouldn’t settle.
My heartbeat felt too loud.
I reached for my water, but my fingers missed the glass.
Callum’s chair scraped back.
“Nia?”
“I’m okay,” I tried to say.
The room tilted.
A sharp pain pulled low across my stomach.
I pressed my hand there instinctively, and panic rushed through me so quickly I couldn’t breathe.
Not the babies.
Please, not the babies.
“Nia,” Callum said again, closer now.
I tried to stand.
That was my mistake.
My knees gave out before I could catch myself.
The last thing I felt was Callum’s arms around me before the floor disappeared.
When I opened my eyes, the ceiling above me was white.
For one confused second, I didn’t know where I was.
Then I smelled antiseptic.
A hospital.
My heart lurched.
I pushed myself upright too quickly, and Callum’s hand came down gently on my shoulder.
“Easy,” he said. “You’re okay.”
My eyes found his.
“What happened?”
“You collapsed in the meeting.” His face looked tighter than usual.
My hand flew to my stomach.
“The babies?”
“The doctor’s checking everything now,” he said quickly. “Try not to panic.”
As if I could do anything else.
The door opened a few minutes later, and a doctor walked in holding a tablet.
“Mrs. Blackwood,” she said. “Your babies are stable.”
The air left my lungs.
I closed my eyes briefly, fighting the tears that burned behind them.
“But,” the doctor continued, “you need to understand that today was not nothing. Your blood pressure is elevated, you’re dehydrated, and your body is showing signs of significant strain.”
I looked down at the blanket over my lap.
“I’ve been tired,” I said quietly.
“This is more than tired.” Her tone softened, but not enough to hide the warning in it. “You’re carrying twins. That already puts additional pressure on your body. Constant anxiety, poor sleep, emotional stress, skipping meals, and overworking can all create serious risks.”
My fingers tightened around the sheet.
“What kind of risks?”
The doctor glanced at Callum, then back at me.
“Risks to the pregnancy,” she said carefully. “If this continues, you could lose the babies.”
The words landed without sound.
For a moment, I couldn’t feel my hands.
I couldn’t feel anything.
Callum shifted in the chair beside me. “What does she need to do?”
The doctor answered him, but her eyes stayed on me.
“She needs rest. Proper meals. Less work. No unnecessary stress. And she needs to avoid situations that cause emotional distress.”
A bitter laugh almost rose in my throat.
Avoid emotional distress.
The doctor must have read something in my expression.
“Mrs. Blackwood,” she said firmly, “I mean it. Your health can’t come second anymore.”
I nodded because I didn’t trust myself to speak.
After she left, the room was quiet.
Eventually, he said, “You’re not going back to work today.”
“Okay.”
I looked down at my stomach again.
“I can’t lose them, Callum.”
His expression changed.
“You won’t,” he said. “Not if I can help it.”
The words should have comforted me.
Instead, they made my eyes sting.
No one had ever promised to help me protect something simply because it mattered to me.
After the doctor cleared me to leave, Callum walked beside me through the hospital corridor, carrying my purse even though I’d told him I could manage it myself.
“I can take that,” I said.
“I know.”
“You’re impossible.”
“That’s what you tell me when I’m right.”
We reached the elevators before I could answer.
Then I saw Adrian.
My heart constricted.
He stood near the reception desk with one hand in his pocket, his other arm bent around Sienna’s shoulders. She leaned into him as if she belonged there, her head resting close to his chest while she spoke. They looked like the perfect couple.
“You’ve been so thoughtful,” she was saying. “You stayed with me through the whole appointment. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Adrian’s face was unreadable until he looked up.
His eyes landed on me.
Then on Callum beside me.
His expression hardened.
Sienna followed his gaze and smiled faintly.
“Nia,” she said, sounding surprised. “Why are you here?”
I didn’t answer.
Adrian’s eyes moved over me. The hospital bracelet on my wrist. The color in my face. Callum holding my purse.
Instead of asking whether I was all right, his voice came out cold.
“Why are you here with him?”
For a second, I simply stared at him.
Callum’s jaw tightened.
"She-
Adrian looked at him sharply, cutting him off. “I didn’t ask you.”
“She’s your wife,” Callum said. “You should’ve been the one bringing her here.”
The air changed.
Adrian stepped closer, his gaze fixed on Callum. “Don’t insert yourself into my marriage.”
I watched them, one man angry because he cared too much, the other angry because he had cared too little.
And suddenly, I was tired of both of them.
“Stop it,” I said.
Adrian’s eyes shifted to me.
His expression changed slightly, as if he expected me to apologize for my mistake and continue my roll as his obedient wife.
I didn’t do either.
“You didn't ask Adrian,” I continued. “I'm your wife, and you didn't ask me why I'm at the hospital
His jaw tightened.
“Nia.”
“No.” My voice shook, but I didn’t lower it. “You never asked what happened to me. You never asked why I was here. You didn’t even ask if I was alright.”
The corridor had gone quiet around us.
Sienna’s smile faded.
Adrian looked at my face.
Really looked.
And I wondered if he could finally see how close I was to breaking.
“Why didn’t you ask, Adrian?” I whispered.
- Writer
