I cut my eyes at him. “You done?”
He smirked a little. “For now.”
AVA REYNOLDS
I was officially out of Saint and Zahra’s house.
Thankfully, I had the finances to get what little I had accumulated in Saint and Zahra’s spare bedroom and hire movers quickly. I had only been in my new place a few days, but I already felt more at peace. The first night I slept there, I kept waking up halfway expecting to hear Zahra laughing down the hall or Saint’s heavy footsteps outside the bedroom door, but all I heard was the sounds outside of my window and my own breathing.
That kind of silence was freeing. But it was lonely too. I missed being able to go upstairs and sit on Zahra’s bed whenever I felt like it. I missed hearing somebody else moving around the house and knowing I wasn’t alone. But I was still proud of myself. My hair business was doing exactly what I had prayed it would do. The money was great. More and more content creators were posting about my brand. A few stores in the city were carrying it as well. Orders kept coming in. Because of that, I could afford to be in a luxury condo that was fully furnished.
That independence made me feel stronger. Bu it also made me feel the loneliness of being fully responsible for myself in a way I hadn’t before.
Still, settling into my own place was helping. Every box I unpacked and every little thing I put where I wanted it made me feel more in control. For the first time in a while, I started having small, private moments with my pregnancy that weren’t tied to shame, panic, or Reek’s anger. Some mornings, I stood in the mirror after my shower and actually looked at my stomach instead of trying to hide it. Some nights, I sat on the couch with my hand resting there and let myself think of the baby as something beautiful instead of just stressful.
That day, I was putting the nursery together. The room was still half done, with boxes in the corner, a drawer still in its box, and a half-assembled crib, but I often sat in there anyway. It made everything feel more real in a way that didn’t scare me as much as it used to.
I needed a break from assembling the crib, so I sat in the rocking chair. I was nearly six months along now, and I was starting to feel the aches and exhaustion.
While sitting there, I decided to Facetime Ploy, the owner of my favorite restaurant in Thailand. The second she answered and saw my face, she screamed my name so loud I had to laugh.
“Ava! You call me finally! You haven’t called in so long!”
“I know,” I said, smiling into the phone. “I’m sorry. Life been life-ing.”
“Let me see baby.”
“You're so nosy.”
“Yes,” she said without shame. “Show me.”
Still laughing, I pushed the rocking chair back a little, lifted my shirt enough to show my belly, and held the camera there. “See? It’s gotten so big.”
Ploy gasped so loud it made me grin wider. “Ohhh, baby big now! So beautiful.”
“I felt it moving the other day,” I gushed.
Ploy gasped. “Oh, it move now?! So exciting!”
Then her whole face softened, and before I could say anything else, she started singing a native song to my belly through the phone. Her voice came through sweet and soothing. My eyes started stinging before I could stop it. For a few seconds, with her singing to my baby from the other side of the world, it felt like Thailand was right there in that nursery with me.
Suddenly, there was a knock on my front door, and I frowned. Nobody had told me they were coming by, and packages for this building got left downstairs, not brought up to my unit.
“Ploy, let me call you back. Someone is at my door.”
“Okay. Bye! Bye, little baby!”
I giggled. “Bye, Ploy.”
Hanging up, I felt warm in a way I hadn’t all day. It reminded me that even though I was back in Chicago, that part of my life still belonged to me. Thailand hadn’t just been an escape; it had changed me.
I pushed myself up from the rocking chair and went to the door.
The second I looked through the peephole and saw Reek standing on the other side, all of the peace of mind I’d had for the last week vanished.
It had been so peaceful for me to be at Saint and Zahra’s without worrying if Reek would pop up. He had gone out of town, and I, honestly, wished he would stay there.
Between the security he had apparently been keeping on me since Thailand and the fact that my family had no respect for my business when it came to him, there was no point wondering how he knew where I lived. Of course, he knew.
