Chapter 73

Third-Person's Point of View Everyone at the mansion was ecstatic when an unexpected visitor arrived on Saturday morning. He was carrying two large baskets containing various fruits and bottles of her mother's homemade jam. There were two boxes of cheesecake still inside his car. The servants at the Begum mansion rushed to greet him after not seeing the matchmaker in a long time. "Where are our Christmas gifts, Miss Felicity?" the servants asked in unison. "Christmas is over, girls," he told them while rolling his eyes. "You promised all of us you would give us gifts. You're unfair, Miss Felicity," Daldalita blurted out like a child. Other servants agreed with her, nodding their heads. "Yeah, I did, but Christmas is over," Felicity reasoned out. Felicity could see the protest and disappointment on their faces and he kind of enjoyed it. "There is still Valentine's Day," Daldalita hissed. "Why, do you even have a heart?" Felicity teased her. "Ouch! That's rude. Maybe I don't have a love life but I do have a heart," Daldalita answered with a sneer. "See? Your snout looks like a beast," Felicity commented, which sparked laughter. "Where's Elyana?" Felicity later asked. "She's still in the room, Ma'am. She often wakes up at noon and Ma'am Marietta told us not to bother Miss Elyana when she's sleeping," one of the servants answered. "Okay, I'll just go upstairs. Please bring those baskets and the boxes of cheesecake I left inside the car in the dining area," Felicity requested, handing the car key to one of them. They already left them downstairs and went to Elyana's room. He tried knocking three times on the closed bedroom door, but no one answered so he thought she was still asleep. Felicity tried opening the door. He turned the doorknob that Elyana often left unlocked so that the servants could instantly come in when she needed them. Elyana was nowhere to be seen when he walked in. The comforter was on the floor. Felicity picked it up with a frown. He put it back on the bed and while fixing it he heard a noise coming from the restroom. Gack! Felicity knew what that sound was. Elyana was vomiting inside the restroom, and his instincts told him to rush in and check on her. He saw Elyana sitting on the floor. She seemed nauseous with the way she rested her head on the toilet bowl. Her face was dripping with sweat, and even though it was a little cold inside the restroom. The matchmaker couldn't help but feel an extreme amount of sympathy for her. It appeared that her morning sickness was giving her a hard time. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked, kneeling beside her. Elyana could not respond because she was suffering from a headache and her stomach was turning upside down. Her cheeks were wet with tears. She tried vomiting again, but nothing came out. "I will get you some water...just a moment," Felicity said, his voice full of concern. He dashed out of the restroom and discovered a half-empty pitcher on the bedside table. He simply took it and poured water on the glass next to it to bring it to Elyana. He guided Ekyana to sit properly so she could drink and while she was sipping water on the glass, Felicity couldn't help but look at her friend. She looked pitiful at the time. Elyana's face was flushed from repeatedly forcing herself to vomit. "Do you want to return to your bed?" Felicity softly asked her. Elyana weakly nodded and clung to Felicity's arm. He guided her, but Elyana was too weak at that time. Her knees gave in. She collapsed and without Felicity around, she should have fallen to the floor. Felicity caught her and hugged her to make sure she wouldn't completely fall. He caught her, but not the glass that was already on the floor with its pieces scattered. They were both on the floor. Elyana was sitting right on his lap. He let her lean her weak body against his chest. He thought of taking her to the hospital out of concern, but Elyana stopped her when he told her about it. "I'll be fine," she uttered. "Okay, let's just stay here. I can't carry you back to your bed," Felicity said and he adjusted Elyana, even though their position was giving him an uncomfortable feeling. He could smell her hair, which was damp from sweat but sweet like strawberries. He wanted to react by saying yuck out loud, but then he noticed an intriguing smell emanating from Elyana's head. Felicity sniffed her head like a dog, not realizing what exactly he was doing at that time. He eventually came to enjoy it. Her smell was addicting to him. 'Oh, snap!' Felicity thought. 'What am I doing?' he whispered and immediately moved Elyana's head away from him. "P-please don't move my head. I'm getting dizzy," Elyana said. "A-alright, sorry," he apologized. He moved his face away from her instead, but he could still smell her hair from that distance. They remained that way for more than fifteen minutes. Felicity's legs were already numb when Elyana gained the strength to stand on her own. He held her arm to prevent her from falling until they got to the bed. Felicity noticed Elyana's lip. It was pale—too pale that it seemed there was no blood in it. She remembered the housekeeper saying she felt dizzy every morning, which she recognized as one of the pregnancy symptoms because her sister was the same way. But he was perplexed because his sister was several months pregnant when she experienced such things, whereas Elyana was only one month pregnant since that day. Felicity's mind was completely confused at the time. He decides to contact Elyana's doctor to be enlightened, but before giving answers to his queries, Doctor Chelsea nags first. He left Elyana sound asleep. He went down to the kitchen to interview the maids for updates on their lives when he was unable to visit the Begums' mansion. While talking, he choked on his saliva when Daldalita suddenly said something controversial. "You know, sir, when I found out that Miss Elyana was pregnant, I immediately thought Sir Florentin was the father," she said. "A-and what made you think that?" Felicity asked after composing himself. "Miss Elyana doesn't have a boyfriend and there are only two men mostly around her, Sir Florentin and you," she replied. "Excuse me! I'm not a man," Felicity corrected. "I know, but you still have something a man has, and you can still get a woman pregnant," she explained, causing Felicity's face to flush. The topic became uncomfortable and to hide that, Felicity laughed. "So what made you think it could be him?" Felicity went back to her. "Well, Sir Florentin suddenly stopped visiting Miss Elyana. He didn't even call her. I feel like they fought because of the baby, so Miss Elyana just wants the child to grow up alone and Sir Florentin out of their lives," she answered. "That is what you are getting from reading too many stories online; you even imitated Miss Elyana's life to those. Did you forget what she said? She is happy to be a mother even if the father is not there." They were all surprised when the cook suddenly went in between. But what Felicity froze and reflected on was what Elyana told them about her decision to have the baby alone without the biological father in the picture. He felt a slight ache in the core of his heart. He moved his eyes to see if anyone noticed that on his face and luckily most of them were busy. "Let's just support her," he said and in a brief second, he changed the topic to avoid anything that might shock him, "What do you want as a gift on Valentine's Day? Flowers or chocolates?" "None of the above, ma'am!" Daldalita exclaimed. "Then what?" "Offer me free service. Find me a boyfriend, please!" she answered with her tantalizing eyes. "I-I'm not sure about that," Felicity stuttered. "You might just get hurt," he added. "Get hurt?" she asked cluelessly. Felicity looked at her from head to toe. Daldalita's status compared to his clients and their qualifications would make it so hard for him to find her a match. The servant seemed to get what Felicity meant eventually by the way he looked at her. The poor girl lowered her head and she chose to go back to peeling carrots. Everyone in the kitchen noticed that. The talkative and most energetic servant of the mansion had suddenly become gloomy. Felicity knew he hurt Daldalita's feelings, but he was getting challenged in finding her someone. "Don't worry, I will check what I can do," he uttered, but the servant didn't show interest anymore. "It's okay, ma'am," she said, concealing her sadness with a smile.