"Aileen, I'm pregnant!"

It was enough just for a few words for Aileen's perfectly constructed gentle image to crack irremediably. And quite fast too... as an evidence of this, the tea cup she had previously held in her hand was already on the floor. An objective person would have been able to tell Aileen's shock was not due to just pure bewilderment, with no other hidden reasons... it was the distress of a broken hearted person.

But Jillian, who had grown up with Aileen as close as sisters, of course wouldn't suspect a thing. The former was too busy to check the potential wound, rather than check her cousin's distorted face.

"Did you hurt yourself? Why are you so clumsy?" Jillian asked concerned, as she was already approaching Aileen and grabbing hold of her hand to examine the fair skin for any scalding.

"It doesn't look like you were scalded. Does it hurt?" She repeated the question when Aileen still seemed too surprised to answer.

"Eh.. oh no, it does not hurt. Tell me again what you said." Barely managing to regain her composure, Aileen finally opened her mouth to speak. But the words she uttered appeared more like a command to change Jillian's shocking news, rather than expressing a joyful bewilderment that one would normally show when receiving such a surprise from a married relative of theirs.

"I said I am pregnant. I could not believe it when I did the test in the morning." Jillian repeated once more for her cousin the somewhat happy news.

Was it a happy news? Jillian pondered over her own thoughts, not noticing Aileen's firm tone.

"But you used to say before you got married that you did not want any children." Aileen remembered and urgently relayed the words Jillian had once told her. She did not even sense whether her own skin hurt or not, so of course she wouldn't pay attention to Jillian's concerned words for this reason also. The shock had numbed all her senses.

"Well I did say so... honestly I don't know what to make of this situation. From when I did the pregnancy test this morning until now it felt surreal... it still does." Jillian admitted as she took her hands away from Aileen's and sat once more on her chair. There was no redness on the smooth hand, so even if her cousin hadn't verbally assured her of being alright she could see with her own eyes that indeed she was.

"Are you sure? The pregnancy test could be wrong." Aileen questioned evidently displeased.

"After five of those tests, I'm pretty sure it is safe to say I really am pregnant. What's the matter? Aren't you happy for me?" Jillian asked playfully but a bit of a frown did appear on her previous expressionless face.

"How could I not be happy? Of course I am, it is just I know how you feel about Zane. So I thought you would never want to have children with him, in case it might affect your divorce." Quite a flustered tone predominated Aileen's voice, as she realized that Jillian might have sensed something from her part. So she had tried as best she could to cover up her blunder, not realizing that her words were getting more incriminating by the second.

"Divorce? I never said I wanted to divorce Zane." Jillian stated confused.

Although she did not have the best opinion regarding Zane in the past, especially in the beginning when they had barely met each other before the wedding, since she somewhat interacted with him for such a long time already, she found him not so bad these days. At least he had never controlled her in any way and had also kept his private life quite clean.

In the world of the rich where most men barely kept their married lives free from affairs' with other women, Zane's fidelity was a rare sight to see. She knew for sure that he wasn't acting in this way because of love, but out of his own principles, still it did not diminish the points she was adding in her mind in favor of continuing her marriage with him.

This fact coupled with the clause from the contract, which prevented her from leaking any inkling concerning a future divorce from Zane, had made Jillian never express any rash opinions regarding their marriage, or better said the end of it.

"You did not, but you never managed to form a bond with Zane for all these years already that I assumed your marriage would always end in a divorce."

Those who were close to Jillian and Zane could see with their own eyes that they had no love for each other, they barely even behaved like a married couple, so it wasn't unbelievable to think they wouldn't last together. As such Jillian had not taken offence in Aileen's opinion or think there was more meaning behind her words.

"Honestly, in the past I did not see myself as being Mrs. Black for my whole life, even less did I picture myself in the position of a mother. And even if I did give birth, never did I imagine they would be Zane's children for that matter. But since I found out about the pregnancy, I have kept thinking about this. Maintaining my current relationship, trying to become a real family with Zane and the children, might not be so bad." Jillian spoke sincerely.

To say that it was unexpected for a pregnancy to appear, considering the whole purpose of this marriage was to make an heir, at least on a conscious level it would be a lie. All the appointments to the doctor and the signed contract, these were all made with the final goal being a pregnancy. But the child that would result from said pregnancy would be handed over to Zane, so technically Jillian would lose her parenting rights and the ability of calling herself the child's mother.

As such, when the pregnancy was only a possibility and not a reality, Jillian had never deeply thought over a future with Zane. Especially since she had always considered herself only a replacement...

It had been more than four years since she had become a part of the Langdon's main family, before Jillian had found out the real reason that old master Langdon had adopted her as his granddaughter. She had been too small in the beginning to understand that she was only a substitute. As such, the care of the old master and the bond she had formed with him were genuinely cherished by Jillian.

This was until she overheard the maids speaking, only then did she know there was a real Aria, a real granddaughter. Since that time, she hadn't been able to see the gestures that the old man did towards her as being for her own sake anymore. Everything he was doing was only due to his desire to fulfill his regrets.

For this reason, even though she still followed the plans the old man had in his mind for her future, including her marriage, she had always held a grudge and a reticence inside her heart. Even the marriage with Zane made her feel uncomfortable, she felt as though she was living someone else's life. Each time that man uttered the name Aria, it reminded her she was not the one who should have been his wife. It was a suffocating feeling...

It was just that she was afraid to be abandoned were she to go against the old man, so she had still followed his plans to the tee. Well at least until the old man died she did. The marriage was supposed to be forever, not until an heir was born.

"Are you sure you won't regret it? You are talking about your whole life here. Can you live with that cold man until you die? Jillian, it's not that I think that your future with him will be hard. Far from it actually, with his money you will live comfortably for a hundred more lives, not to mention just this one.

But this is all you are getting from this marriage... money. Money which you already have from the old master... a lot of it actually.

Jillian ponder over this...the old master poured all his love for his missing granddaughter onto you for all those years, but you were only a replacement for that girl, so it caused you much heartache. I am sure of this as I have stood beside you all the steps of the way.

So your childhood was never a happy one since you were adopted by the old master, now you don't want to have at least a happy adult life?

Is it really worth it? Will you exchange a bright and happy future for a bleak one with Zane? That man will never give you love." Aileen sighed tiredly, glancing at Jillian with the most pitiful look she could muster. Her inner tension and bitterness, if there were any, were hidden under a layer of "concern" for Jillian. All the jumbled up emotions successfully concealed Aileen's jealousy.

At least Jillian was convinced there was no malice behind her words. Though if there was another person in the same room as them, listening to the conversation, this objective third party could have easily noticed Aileen's tightly shut fists on her lap, a clear sign of anger and unwillingness to accept Jillian's decision.

But Jillian, a person who blindly trusted Aileen even if she was to perceive this, she would have attributed Aileen's anger as being an empathic feeling towards herself. Moreover, the "I feel sorry for you' look littered with the feeling of helplessness made Jillian's suffocating sensations which she had tried to suppress within her heart surge once more, so other doubts would be immediately suppressed unfortunately. She hated being reminded she was a replacement...

"How far along are you? I heard that you can end a pregnancy without much damage to your body before the first trimester, I will go with you to the doctor and check this out." Aileen's words were more like a foregone conclusion, rather than a suggestion.

"It doesn't matter. I will keep the pregnancy. A replacement or whatnot... I've been living Aria's life for such a long time already, I will just keep on living it. It is just a different name, I am still me."

Aileen's suggestion jolted Jillian's mind awake, and the suffocating feeling from before was replaced with the fright of losing her pregnancy. She was tired of feeling sorry for herself and added to a maternal instinct, which was slowly seeping in the cracks of her lonely heart, it gave her a will to change her life.

The Langdon branch family had always stood beside her, but she had always felt separated by them by a layer. Unfortunately she was not the couple's daughter, so no matter how much her aunt and uncle cared for her, she could not compare to Aileen in their eyes. She wanted a family of her own, and blood related children would be as closest as it could get.

As for Aileen's advice, although the latter loved her, there were many times when she needed her, but Aileen's immatureness had made her blind to Jillian's suffering. Her heart was in the right place, but her advices were too harsh sometimes. Just like now, how could she end her pregnancy with her own two hands?

So no matter how convinced Jillian was of Aileen's concern, this time she would never accept her advice. She used to hate Zane as the marriage was forced upon her, but nowadays she was getting used to this life. He never restricted her movements, he also accepted whenever she requested something of him, so he was quite a compromising person.

"Jillian, you can't decide just like that. Anyway you found out about the pregnancy just this morning, so you have a bit more time to ponder over your marriage. And you will see that it's in your best interest to not go through with this pregnancy. It will tie you for life to that cold man. Do you really want that?" Aileen's urgency in making Jillian change her mind could be felt more and more which each passing moment.

But Jillian had already made up her mind on which step to take next.

"Even though he isn't a romantic and caring person, he is not so bad. And I can't demand love from him when I did not try to form a proper couple with him either. If I put some efforts in the future and with a baby in the mix, maybe we can foster some love between us.

Plus I really want the child. I was still a bit confused about what to do until I talked to you just now, but when you advised me to get an abortion, I realized that... it frightened me to lose him or her. Just this fact it's proof enough that I will regret not giving birth."

Jillian's firmness regarding this matter made other attempts of convincing her otherwise futile, at least for the moment. Moreover, hearing that her words were actually what made Jillian more determined to go through with the pregnancy, how could Aileen keep thinking of ways to manipulate her in giving up the baby? As a consequence Aileen's face seemed to freeze in a confused expression.

At least that was how it appeared to Jillian, perhaps her cousin was distressed about her happiness and the risk she was willing to take at the cost of it.

Though an objective bystander would have noticed that Jillian's assessment couldn't be more further from the truth. Aileen was too annoyed that her words had the opposite effect she had desired them to have, rather than feeling helpless and worried for Jillian.

Instead of pondering over more her decision of keeping the child, Jillian was now thinking of raising the pregnancy to full term, having already become attached to it, and Aileen was the one who sealed Jillian's decision in this regard. How could Aileen be happy with this, since she wished for nothing more than to drag Jillian to an OBGYN doctor right at this very moment?

"Jillian..." Aileen stuttered, as her voice became a bit hoarse in her attempt to control it from displaying an angered tone.

"Enough already. I made up my mind, besides my monthly cycle has been irregular lately, it's been delayed for more than 3 months already. I just hadn't checked if I was pregnant, until I started feeling lethargic for a week or so. It could already be too late to give up the child."

With Jillian's words this time... Aileen had really lost all her reasons to argue more.

"Anyway I have to go. Today I have a lot of stuff to do." She finally stated, then rose up on her feet, took her bag and hurriedly left through the door. Because the two had met at the Blacks' mansion, it was rude of Jillian to leave first, considering she was the host. But she was too upset to care about manners at this moment. And anyway there were servants in the house, so there was still someone to see Aileen to the door when she left.

Jillian had hoped that her cousin would support her decision and offer comfort to lessen her uneasiness for the future. But she hadn't expected that this talk would leave her with a bitter aftertaste. It was the first time that Aileen had objected so harshly towards a resolve she had made. She pondered as she approached her car, which had already been prepared for her in the driveway.

Even if it was because of her care, Jillian still felt sad because of Aileen and wanted to leave as soon as possible, in case she lost her temper, so she did not waste another moment before ascending the car. She wanted to settle everything as soon as she could, otherwise she was afraid her determination would wane.

It was actually true she had a lot of stuff to do during the day. Aileen had caught her when she was about to leave for her errands, and she had only delayed the things she had planned to do for the day to entertain her for a bit and maybe gain a useful advice.

"I'm sure he won't object if I say I want to dissolve the contract. He only proposed it because I told him I wouldn't take care of the children we would have. Why was I so stupid back then?" Jillian sighed as she muttered to herself, then closed the door and was preparing to drive away.

She had been the one who had acted coldly towards the wedding, towards the possibility of having children. She had even told Zane that if they had children, it would be his responsibility to raise them, so naturally she felt nervous at this moment to let him know she had changed her mind.

She was afraid of how he would look at her when she would tell him he wanted to raise the child with him. But despite this, she knew that even if he had some displeasure towards her and the arrogance she had always displayed, he would accept her decision. He was such a man that if she offered valid reasons for her change and the advantages of continuing the marriage, he could calmly assess the situation and pick what was best in the interest of the child.

Raising her hand to start the car, Jillian sighed a bit and gathering up her courage, took her phone from her bag and opened it.

"Will you be coming to the mansion tonight? I have something I want to talk to you about."

Her hand trembled a bit as she wrote the message, and she even held her breath when she pressed the send button.

"I wasn't planning to come. But if you need to talk, I will make some time." As concise as ever, Zane's reply arrived a little over half an hour since she sent her own message, just as she only slightly opened the door, having arrived at her destination and was about to alight her car.

Reading the message made Jillian's heart a bit calmer than before. Just like how she had thought, he wasn't a warm man, but he was a responsible and a level headed person. He wasn't really caring towards her, seeing as he hadn't called her immediately to ask of her problem or questioned more her reasons of wanting to see him, but he also hadn't dismissed her wish.

Taking a deep breath, as she felt her strength reinvigorated, Jillian opened her bag to place the phone inside of it and also checked once again her personal documents.

She wasn't sure if she really needed them at this moment, but it was better to come to her uncle's office prepared, in case that for the dissolving of the contract her personal identification documents were necessary. She was aware that to annul the documents Zane's approval was also necessary, but until then she had thought to consult with her uncle regarding the contract and the steps necessary for this. She also wished to talk to her uncle who was akin to her father.

Aileen was still not mature enough, but her uncle was and could also perhaps help her convince Zane to not divorce, in case he still wanted to separate from her. In the most likely case, she knew that Zane would prefer to have the birth mother of the child take care of him or her, instead of having a stepmother, but she did not know how to explain to Zane this and how to express this wish.

Her uncle was a lawyer and naturally had the eloquence of one. He would surely help her keep her marriage.

"What? That vulgar woman told you she was pregnant and she wants to stay married to Zane? I thought I told you time and time again to visit her more and convince her to get a divorce. How did she still get pregnant? You said the two weren't even getting along with each other, how did she still manage to get knocked up?" The underground parking lot was pretty much devoid of any people at this time of the day, with only parked cars inside of it.

This fact coupled with the angered and thus slightly louder voice of Darren Langdon, the demeaning words were easily heard by Jillian, who had her hand on the door handle and was about to push it to fully open the door.

"If only you had listened to me and visited Jillian more before she got married, you would have met Zane and snatched him away. And this wouldn't have happened... Alright, alright. Don't cry anymore. Dad has promised you, you will get married to Zane no matter what. So you will be. It doesn't matter, if she is pregnant or not. Such an uncouth and ill-mannered woman would never be fit to be the lady of the Blacks family. He already sees Jillian in a bad manner because of our advices to her, they only made a child because of the family promise nothing more.

As