Is this destiny?

"Boss, do you have a minute?", Haru's question got Sarah's attention.

"Sure.", she glanced toward the spot on the bench next to her indicating to Haru to sit there.

Sarah can see that Haru is uncomfortable.

"Take your time.", she encouraged him.

"What is a good way to show a girl that she is special?", Haru asked reluctantly.

Sarah stopped chewing on a piece of meat from the kebab.

"Is this about Nala?", she asked with her mouth fool and continued chewing.

Haru's eyes widened in surprise.

Sarah thought how he is cute, blushing like that… she wanted to pinch his cheek, but her hands are messy. She knows that he is only one year younger than her, but at that moment Haru looked like a little child when his mischief was found out.

"Define special.", Sarah demanded.

She noticed that since Haru arrived he is treating Nala more gently than any other girl, and she wondered which way his feelings will develop. Sarah is aware that Haru grew up in isolation with Master Hollow, so he does not have any experience with relationships and she is happy that he came to ask for guidance.

"Uhm…", Haru fidgeted nervously. "I want to spend more time with her. Only her. And I don't want her to go through any hardships. And I want her to have a special place for me in her heart."

"Hmm…", Sarah hummed while thinking what advice to give to a nineteen-year-old about courting a sixteen-year-old girl.

Her instinct was to send him to any of the guys present, they should know more about this, right? What are her options? Jeff? No, he had no experience with girls as a teenager. Jasper? Aiden? Out of the question. Those two will spoil Haru. Charlie? She is not sure… Sarah reminded herself that Haru came to ask HER for an advice. If she delegates this motherly responsibility, she is not a good mother, is she?

"I assume you thought about this. And your feelings are true. Correct?", Sarah decided to start asking some questions first.

Haru confirmed. "I am clear about my feelings. But I am not about hers. I am reluctant to make a mistake and cause a problem."

Sarah was happy to hear this. He is considering possibility of Nala not returning his feelings and how would that impact them going forward.

"We are a family. So ideally, I would like to see you treat each other as brothers and sisters. But I am aware that you can't control your heart, and none of you are related by blood… You said that you want to spend more time with her. Ask her to join you for some activity. Just the two of you. Pick something that will give her a hint that you are interested in her romantically. You don't need to make it fancy or expensive. Take her to a beach, walk in the sand, have an ice cream...", Sarah started giving examples.

"How did Boss Aiden show you that he is interested in you?"

Haru's question made Sarah pause while her mind drifted off to the Tesla University.

"We met at the University and he… created opportunities for us to be together. It was in the little things. He would sit next to me while ignoring others. We were in a room full of people, but he made me feel like it's just the two of us. He cooked for me. He made me coffee and tea. He asked me to help him with his projects… He protected me and he respected me. And before I realized, I started depending on him."

Sarah looked at Aiden while talking and it didn't take long for him to look her way. Their gazes met and both of them smiled.

Haru saw that Sarah stopped talking, and that she will probably not say anything else. He already knows that when his two Bosses look at each other, everything else disappears. And he should make the same thing happen to Nala… to get her lost in his gaze.

…

Down in the medical-room…

JoAnna looked at the results of Penny's blood test and pursed her lips.

"What is it?", Penny asked nervously.

"Well… it's not good… but it's better than from where we started. Are you taking your vitamins?"

Penny confirmed.

"OK. Continue doing that…" JoAnna gave Penny an encouraging smile and focused back at the screen with results while mumbling: "Could it be a hormonal imbalance?"

JoAnna looked at Penny and asked: "When did you have your last period?"

JoAnna frowned. "Why are you thinking so much about it?"

Penny shifted nervously. "My periods are irregular, so… I remember having one in September, shortly after your wedding. I don't know if I had any after that."

"September?", JoAnna could not hide her surprise. September was five months ago! "Is it normal for you to have periods months apart?"

Penny lowered her head in embarrassment and responded in a small voice: "When my parents lock me up for more than a week or two, I usually skip my period that month." 

JoAnna had a complicated expression. She was never good at showing the professional-comforting-face. She reached into the cabinet on the side and gave a sealed cup to Penny. "Pee in this."

About half an hour later…

Penny is lying on the exam table while looking at the image of her uterus on the portable ultrasound machine.

Images of her last night with Benjamin flashed through her mind and she tried to remember how many times he released his juices inside her. She could not remember. But that night was intense, and whenever she is missing him, she finds comfort in the memory of that evening. The way he looked at her, the way he held her… and she can still hear his deep murmur telling her how much he loves her.

"I'm not an expert in the area, but I believe that you are about ten weeks pregnant…", JoAnna told Penny while handing her wipes to remove the gel from her belly. "I am not an obgyn, so I will recommend you few. You should get yourself checked as soon as you can and think about your options."

"Options?", Penny asked.

"Do you want to keep the baby?"

"Keep the baby?", Penny repeated while processing all this new information.

"I'm not telling you one way or the other.", JoAnna patted Penny's hand to get her to calm down. She can see that Penny is entering a panic mode. "My job is to inform you about your options. I assume it's Benjamin's."

"Yes, it's his.", Penny confirmed.

"With our timelines, if we don't slip… you have two, maybe three months until you can see each other. So, you can't talk to him if he wants the child or not. Think about both options, and what would you do in either of them. But the most important thing is to get you checked properly and to make sure that everything is looking good. With your history of malnutrition, you will need to take a good care of your body..."

Penny nodded absentmindedly while JoAnna's words drifted away and merged into the background noise. Pregnant?

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