A Christmas Party

The knock came again. Neither of them had made any attempt to move from their positions, and the sound jerked them out of their state of indecision.

Kachi suddenly went into panic mode, the thought of confronting Jeremy suddenly didn't seem so pleasing. She wanted to be away from him to get her thoughts in order, being in his presence would sabotage that, "Phi, I can't see him. You have to answer the door."

Phi stared at her in disbelief, "Who should answer what? Aren't you the one who called him?" she had barely even spoken to this guy and now Kachi expected her to act as the middle-woman.

"Just answer it Phi, please." She said as she stood up, suddenly she felt weak and nauseous, the events of the day now weighing down on her.

"but what do I....?" before Phi could complete the words, Kachi ran into the bedroom. In Phi's confused state she could hear Kachi bawling. As she made her way to check on her, she heard the knock reminding her that Jeremy was still waiting outside.

"Kachi open up please" she heard him say.

She took in a deep, calming breath. This was all her show now. She opened the door and found Jeremy looking a bit distraught, but every inch as gorgeous as she remembered. The look of worry and concern on his face further convinced her that he didn't intentionally sleep with Claire- now to find out what truly happened.

"Hi, Phi right?" Jeremy asked. It was hard not to remember her.

"Yes"

"Is Kachi home? She called and I don't..."

"Yeah, come in" Phi said as she turned around and went to the living room without checking to see if he was following.

Jeremy followed Phi, unable to stop the feeling fermenting within him that something was off, and it wasn't just because Phi was sending bad vibes his way. As he stepped into the living room, his eyes took a sweep of it, noticing that Kachi was nowhere around. He swallowed the lump in his throat, his nerves were suddenly tense, he was eager to know what was happening, "Is she alright?"

Phi shrugged her shoulders, "she's just a little upset, bad morning" she replied so flippantly Jeremy would never guess the gravity of the situation.

"Well, can I see her?"

"Have a seat. I want you to see something." Phi replied ignoring his question intentionally. She was convinced he was totally innocent, but she wasn't about to give him that impression lest he get too comfortable.

Jeremy sat warily, "Can't you get Kachi first?" he asked, now a bit confused as to Phi's strange behavior. She seemed nonchalant about the current situation, sure they hadn't spoken long, but he couldn't have left that bad an impression.

"I doubt she'll want to watch it again. It made her puke the first time" Phi replied as she sat next to Jeremy.

"Watch what?...Is she alright?" he couldn't understand her little game, he would be extremely pissed if he wasn't so worried.

Phi took out the disc, slipped it back in and pressed play as she turned on the television without another word. When she noticed Jeremy's eyes were still on her, she spoke, "Just watch."

For the first time, Jeremy's eyes turned to the television. They nearly popped out seeing Claire in his room with...holy fuck! Was that him? It couldn't be...but that was what he had worn to the office yesterday and....damn it! That blackmailing bitch had crossed the line. Suddenly it all came to him; the dizziness, the tiredness, the blurred memory; she had drugged him..or had gotten someone to do it, but who....Lee-Anne. The more he watched, the more his head ached. Kachi had watched this? Was this why she called? The reason for how sad she sounded? He was going to kill that bitch, right after he mutilated her accomplice.

"Turn it off" he muttered as he buried his face in his hands.

Phi did as instructed, watching him intently for any signs of deceit- she saw none.

"I swear I had no idea...I couldn't even...she drugged me" he said more to himself than to Phi.

"Mm hmm"

"Where's Kachi? I need to explain myself"

"Just a sec" Phi stood up, grabbed the duffel bag from the side table and handed it to him.

He gave her a questioning look, "Take it" she urged. He collected and opened it as she watched.

Jeremy looked into the bag seeing what he figured to be D.I.Y pregnancy tests and glanced at Phi who was apparently waiting eagerly for his next action.

When it was clear he wasn't keen on retrieving anything from the bag. Phi urged him on with a simple, "Go on, look at it" she spoke like a parent trying to encourage a child to face his fears.

With a deep sigh, Jeremy took out one of the instruments, he had never met anyone who used it, but he knew blue was definitely positive, he glanced at Phi whose look was clearly telling him there was more. One emptying the entire bag, he realized they were all positive- somebody was pregnant.

"Whose are these?"

Phi shrugged, "Well, they're not mine."

Nothing further needed to be said, "I need to see her" he stood up and made his way to Kachi's bedroom, only to be blocked by Phi, "Phi..."

"She's not ready to see you..."

"But she's the one who called me" he protested.

"Before that disc came."

He sighed, "so what? I can't see her?"

Phi shook her head, "Just...come by later alright? I'll talk to her."

Jeremy sighed as he shoved his fingers in his hair, damn it this was all wrong. He wanted to shove Phi aside and go into that room and make her listen to him, even if he had to tie her down, but common sense told him that was the dumbest thing to do. He wasn't exactly on her good books right now, he need not worsen things by being stubborn.

"Please do. Tell her it's all a terrible misunderstanding."

Phi nodded. She wished she could help him, but she knew this wasn't the time for any confrontation, they both needed some alone time, "I will" she replied.

She escorted him to the door and they said their goodbyes.

"Has he gone?" she heard Kachi's tiny voice from the doorway of her bedroom.

Phi turned to her and nodded, "He was drugged."

She nodded, but there was nothing to signify that she believed that- then again, there were no signs that she didn't.

"Can you stay a little longer? I really need to sleep."

Phi nodded.

She wanted to say more, but held her tongue as she watched Kachi return to the room. She had a feeling things wouldn't be as straightforward as she felt it could be.

*******

"What happened?" Susan asked as she dropped her handbag and sat opposite Jeremy in the restaurant he had asked her to meet him. She hadn't asked any questions when Jeremy had called half an hour ago, all she knew was her boy sounded sad and he had said it was important, that was all the information she needed to get here.

"Claire" was all he replied. He picked up his cup of whiskey and sipped some more of it, he planned to go to a bar later in the day and drink away his problems- if Phi didn't call back, and he had a feeling he wouldn't be hearing from her any time soon.

Susan frowned, "What did she do now?"

Jeremy went on to narrate to Susan everything that had happened from yesterday till now, making sure to leave out the part about Kachi's pregnancy. He didn't want to ruffle any more feathers than necessary and that part was sure to set off an explosion like no other.

Susan was seething by the end of the entire story. She knew Claire could be desperate and scheming, but she had never thought she had this in her, this was beyond desperate, this was just plain evil.

"I can't believe that..."she shook her head, unable to find an appropriate word to describe Claire, "Were you able to talk to Kachi?"

He shook his head, "She doesn't want to see me, and the worst thing is she's..." he stopped himself when he realized what he was about to say.

"She's what?"

Jeremy shook his head, "It's just...I miss her already."

Susan smiled and reached out to stroke Jeremy's cheek, "I understand sweety. She'll come around, you just need to give her some time, she'll come around" she said.

Jeremy nodded. He wanted so much to believe her, but he could only hold his breath for now and hope things went well, for now...he had an employee to fire.

*****

Kachi woke up with a headache. She grumbled and got out of bed, her entire body felt like she had been carrying a ton of bricks for hours...well, maybe not physically, she thought to herself. As the events of the day so far trickled in, she thought more about it, one thing was for sure, she had never had such an eventful day.

She thought about the decision she had come to just before she dosed off, was it a smart one? Ten hours ago, she would never have thought of it, but it was one thing to talk about it from the outside, and another thing when she was experiencing it first-hand. She sighed, there were some decisions that had to be taken despite their difficulty.

She stood up and went to the sitting room, getting closer to the door, she realized Phi wasn't alone. She opened the door once she remembered who could possibly be with Phi...but nothing prepared her for what they were talking about.

She got to the sitting room to find Phi, Ugo and Donny watching the video of Jeremy and Claire, who...what?, "What the hell Phi?" she screamed as she went to the DVD and turned it off, bringing all three's attention to her.

"I wanted a third and a fourth opinion." Phi said in defense of her action.

When Ugo had come over, she had offered to call Donny instead since they couldn't leave with Kachi asleep. They had been here just over an hour talking about everything she wasn't interested in when she remembered the disc and went on to give them the low-down on everything, and when she said everything, she meant EVERYTHING including the pregnancy. Ugo had suggested they watch the disc to determine if there was any foul-play, and they were only half-way through when Kachi came in.

"You were out of line Phumi." Kachi almost screamed. It seemed like everyone around her was out to frustrate her today.

"I know and I'm sorry" Phi said with her best puppy dog eyes.

Donny was zoned out of the entire argument, all he could think of was how he would tell Kachi of his involvement in all of this, fine he may not have gone through with it in the end, but he did in some form give his consent. Perhaps if he hadn't met up with Claire to start with, they wouldn't be viewing her little movie right now. Kachi was going to find out one way or the other anyway, so he might as well get it out while he could still count on her good graces no matter how little.

"It was a set-up." He said in the midst of all the shouting- at least from Kachi.

She calmed a bit and directed her gaze at Donny who had just interrupted a personal best record as far as her continuous ranting went, "How would you know that?" she asked, her anger less than oblivious by her tone.

"Apart from the obvious?" Ugo asked nodding his head in the direction of the television.

She glared at Ugo only briefly and returned her curious gaze to Donny who seemed a bit nervous.

Donny gulped audibly before he continued, "I...we met up about a week ago."

"Why?" Kachi asked quietly. She was trying to figure how Donny even knew Claire to begin with, even more having a meeting with her.

Phi sat up, her interest peaked, this would definitely qualify for the beginning of a good story.

He sighed, "She wanted to get Jeremy back, and I...I was mad after you blew me off, so she suggested that she'd get an insider in his office to drug him and then she'd video them having sex with the hope that you would dump him once you found out he was cheating." He replied. He waited for what felt like hours but was actually a few minutes for someone to say something, anything. All he heard though was a whistle from Ugo. He was prepared to take the verbal beat-down he thought he would be getting from Kachi, but nothing came.

Even Phi was speechless, that in its self was a confirmation that he really had fucked up.

"Listen Kachi, I swear I didn't follow up on the plan, I didn't even see her again after that one time..."

"Get out." She said in a low menacing voice.

"Ka.."

"Just leave Donny, I can't listen to this now, just...go."

Donny stood up and made his way to the door. He knew he may not be in her good books for a while, it was well deserved. He would wait it out until she was finally ready to accept his apology, how long that would take, he couldn't say, but he hoped not too long.

"I'm sorry." He said just before he opened the door and walked out.

Kachi walked to the closest chair and crashed into it with a deep sigh as she buried her hands in her hair. This day was just getting worse by the hour, there were too many discoveries for one day. Her life had never been filled with so much drama, she might just as well have been a guest on one of those tv shows where they spoke to dysfunctional couples or families.

"K I told you it was a set-up."Phi began as she went to sit next to Kachi, she laid her head on her shoulder as she rubbed her arm, "Jeremy's really worried, you should call him. Especially with the baby and..."

"I'm not keeping it." Kachi interrupted. Her voice totally void of any emotion.

Phi paused and leaned backwards to look into Kachi's face, "Say that again please." Her voice was filled with disbelief.

"I'm not keeping the baby Phi, I'll go see a doctor tomorrow and see if I can have one of those quick abortions with pills."

Phi searched her face for any signs that she was pulling her legs, or she was out of her mind, but she saw none. She was actually serious about this, "But Kachi, you said..."

"forget what I said okay?" she screamed, "There's too much going on, I can't have this baby in these circumstances, I'm not ready, I..."

"You've lost your mind." This time, it was Ugo who spoke, bringing both their attentions to him. He looked...mad, "Phi can you give me some minutes with my sister?" he asked stonily.

"Sure." Phi said as she stood up and went into Kachi's bedroom.

Ugo sat staring at his little sister for a few minutes, she looked away from him very much aware of what he was thinking, "Why would you want to kill off your own child Kachi?"

"It's not yet human, it's still an embryo."

"And that makes it all better doesn't it?" he asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"It's not you that's going to be carrying this baby for nine months Ugo, it's not you who will face the barrage of questions, and it's definitely not you who will get it out so why should my decision affect you?" she spat.

"Well forgive me if I'd like to protect my little niece or nephew from it's own mother." He retorted, "Have you even spoken to this Jeremy about it? Or did you impregnate yourself? Have you bothered to find out if he would like to keep the child or not? Or do you claim sole rights to the life or otherwise of a child that's a product of two people's intercourse?"

Kachi tried to shake off her brother's words, but it wasn't happening, the more he spoke, the more she felt bad for her decision. She thought she could do this, she could be a rebel for once, do something everyone else would disapprove of, after all she had always been the one to do the right thing. She tried to convince herself that right now abortion was the right thing to do, but somehow there was always someone around to demolish her belief.

"So what do you want me to do Ugo?" she screamed as she exploded in a mess of emotions and let the tears that had been waiting to escape her eyes since morning fall, "I should keep the baby and then what? Fight with Claire for it's father? Is that what you'd prefer?"

"Did he ever give you a reason to think he would choose Claire over you, even without a child? I haven't even met this Jeremy guy, but from what I'm told, he apparently likes you, maybe even loves you, and Claire...she's that desperate chic who doesn't understand when she isn't wanted. The fact that you'd want to abort simply because of something so trivial really shocks me Karachi. You're worried about what people will say, what will they say that hasn't been said? Why should you care? Why should you even care what our own father would say? Isn't it you who will carry the child? Isn't it you the child will call mummy? Do you want to give up the joy of motherhood simply because of what a few jobless people will say and some envious Claire person?"

"I...I don't know Ugo."

He moved closer to her and took her trembling hands in his, he raised her chin until their eyes met, "I don't know what you want to do about your relationship with Jeremy, but don't let this child die because of it. You mustn't marry the father of your child, you mustn't even get married at all. Even if he's not here, you've got me, Kezie and Malachi to be it's daddies okay?"

She nodded in response.

Ugo smiled and enveloped her in a warm hug as he patted her head and let her cry her fears away.

*****

Jeremy was going out of his mind with worry. He kept staring at his phone so hard there was a possibility it would gravitate toward him, he was hoping it would ring, or even vibrate or give off some feed that he was receiving a call or a text. Even when it finally did, it wasn't who he wanted to talk to.

Susan had been calling every half hour for an update, and so far he hadn't been able to give her any positive reply. He knew he should have gotten Phi's number, she promised to talk to Kachi, but what if she didn't? she seemed genuinely interested in helping out, then again, what if she did and had gotten though to her after all? Then Kachi would have called and if she couldn't, Phi would have called with her phone.

He groaned.

He had thought of confronting Claire many times today, but the last thing he wanted was to be imprisoned for murder, and not just any type of murder. With the way he was feeling, he didn't doubt he could be just as psychotic as the lead character in Dexter, and as for Lee-Anne, he had already called the HR department, her appointment was officially terminated, he knew he had every right to sue just as much as he knew Lee-Anne was just a pawn in Claire's little game, she deserved a lot of things, but he was sure she would get more than she deserved from the head-bitch herself.

He dragged himself off his couch- his couch. This was where they initiated their love-making, he could almost see her now, returning his passionate kiss and leaning into his touch as he fondled her breasts. He shook the thought away, but it only re-surfaced with another thought- she was pregnant. He couldn't say how long, he knew they had slept together more times than he could count, he smiled at that thought, she was an enigma, like that apple pie you could never get enough of after the first taste.

But he was digressing. He wondered what would happen with the baby, he was scared. She hadn't told him herself that she was pregnant, she still hadn't called to talk about the baby, it made him wonder. Would she consider abortion? She didn't strike him as the kind of person that would make such a rash decision, then again...what if....

He couldn't take the suspense anymore. He reached for his phone and dialed her number only to reach the voicemail- again. He had an urge to smash his phone, but what good would that do? Resigning himself to waiting patiently, he went into his room and stripped, what he needed right now was a long, cold shower...that and a strong drink, but the shower first.

Just as he got out of the shower, there was the sound of his phone ringing, it only took a few seconds for him to remember he had left it downstairs and an even shorter time to get there. It was an unidentified number, but he was in no state to take second guesses.

He pressed the receive button and put the phone to his ear, "Hello?"