Chapter 301: BAD NEWS
Erika stared at her best friend, completely frozen as no words wanted to be released from her lips. She placed her hands on Monica’s cold hands and struggled to spill out a word.
"B-but why didn’t you tell me?" She asked her.
"I wasn’t sure, okay? I found out about it 2 days ago," Monica replied. "And before you ask, I haven’t told anyone about it yet, not even Felix. You are the only one I’ve told. But let’s leave that aside. Take this," she handed Erika the pregnancy test kit. "Don’t worry, it’s clean. I brought it for you because I already sensed that you were pregnant," she added with an assuring smile as if telling Erika with her eyes that she was already pregnant.
Erika’s hand fidgeted as she took the pregnancy test kit. She heaved a large amount of air and calmed down her nerves. "Okay, I will do it." She walked into one of the cubicles.
Minutes later, Erika walked out of the cubicle with the pregnancy test kit in her hands as tears flowed down her eyes, whilst the kit trembled in her hands.
Monica didn’t need to check the kit to know the good news. Immediately, she enveloped her best friend in a warm and comforting hug. "Congrats bestie! We are pregnant," she congratulated the both of them.
"Congrats to you too," Erika returned the gestures as tears continued to flow down from her eyes. "But why am I crying like this?" she asked.
Monica released her and wiped Erika’s tears. "These are tears of happiness. Remember when we always joked back in high school about how we planned to get pregnant together? I can’t believe it actually happened," she chuckled as tears flowed from her eyes as well.
"And we didn’t even plan it," Erika chuckled. She looked at Monica and found the latter also tearing up. "Now why are you crying?" She asked her.
"This is a happy news for both of us. Of course, I have to shed a few tears of happiness too," she replied and Erika’s chuckles only got louder.
Monica joined as they laughed with one another.
"This is indeed the best news ever," Erika added. She placed her hands on her tummy and whispered. "Hi, baby."
"You are crazy! The baby is only a few weeks old. How can he hear you?" Monica asked her in between her laugh.
"Let me enjoy it." Erika ignored her friend and continued to whisper words to her tummy.
Monica placed her hand on hers and followed along.
They spent about 10 minutes in the bathroom and when other female guests of the party came to use it, they excused themselves and left.
"When are we going to tell them?" Erika asked.
"Anytime, but let’s do it in a teasing way. Like a quiz," Monica replied and Erika could only wonder if her friend had already thought about this before she asked her the question.
Erika nodded before she noticed a woman who wore a pretty dress that accentuated her curves with a mask on her face. She frowned, her eyebrows folded as she stared at the woman because no one in the party was wearing a mask. It wasn’t a mask-themed party but the strange woman still decided to wear one despite seeing that no one was wearing one, except her.
She watched the woman walk to a corner and disappeared. "Who was that?" Erika mumbled under her breath but because Monica was so close to her, she heard her question.
"Who was what?"
"That woman that went into that corner," Erika pointed at the corner.
Monica squinted her eyes hoping she could see through the darkness but unfortunately, she couldn’t. "I don’t see anyone there," she said.
"She was wearing a mask when it wasn’t a mask-themed party. Isn’t that weird?" She asked Monica.
"From what I know, there are a lot of weird people in this world so it’s only normal that we come across some of them a few times," Monica joked but Erika didn’t find it funny.
"I will be right back," Erika announced and without waiting for Monica, she left and walked towards the corner that the strange woman disappeared into.
"Erika."
Monica tried to call Erika back but the latter didn’t stop to respond. "Where’s she going?" She mumbled under her breath, before lifting her dress and following behind her best friend.
Erika continued to follow the shadow until it completely disappeared from her sight. "Where could she be?" She muttered. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight since the soft glow that came from the moonlight wasn’t enough for her to see. Erika reduced the brightness of her phone’s flashlight and continued her search.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps from behind her and immediately, she turned her flashlight to the source of the sound and found Monica walking towards her.
"Who exactly are you looking for? The party is that way and not here, Erika. Let’s go back," Monica tried to persuade Erika but from Erika’s calm face, it was obvious that she wasn’t going to listen to her.
"I will be right back. I just have a bad hunch about that woman that I saw earlier. Isn’t it weird that she’s the only one wearing a mask in the entire party?" She asked.
Although Monica didn’t see the person that Erika was talking about, she still nodded her head nevertheless.
"She is weird," Monica agreed.
"So I want to find out who she is," Erika concluded and resumed her walk.
"But, it’s scary here. It’s so dark," Monica clung to Erika’s arm.
"Turn on your phone’s flashlight," Erika suggested. Monica did as she was told as they continued to search for the strange woman.
"It won’t be long before the others start looking for us, you know," Monica reminded her. Erika paused. "Also, isn’t it dangerous that we are doing this alone? Let’s just inform the guard and they will take care of that woman for us," Monica added.
Erika could sense the fear from Monica’s voice and contemplated what to do.
"Hello, Erika," they suddenly heard a voice and immediately, their head turned to the source and their mouths widened at the sight of the person that stood in front of them.
