Twist of Fate

I had spent the last three weeks searching for my scumbag foster brother. I went to every possible place I thought he might be staying and visited all the people who might have known where he was. All for nothing. I was devastated, exhausted, and, above all, furious at myself for believing him.

"What did the police say?" Joy asked me as soon as I passed the threshold. When she saw tears gathering in my eyes, she handed me a mug of hot cocoa and led me to the sofa.

God, I loved her. She was the only person in that whole messed-up world I could count on. Sniffing, I took a sip of far-too-sweet liquid and faced her. "They said that Bram violated the pre-trial release limitations, so they sent an arrest warrant to other states… He is officially a wanted man, but that also means that my money is gone, and I will never get it back." I bit my lip, trying hard not to start crying.

Joy sighed and gave me a wry smile. "It could have been worse."

I groaned. "How? I lost all my money. I'm jobless, homeless, and I cannot even go back to school."

"At least what you've lost was your own money. What if he'd decided to borrow money from someone and then asked you to be his guarantor? Then you would have had loan sharks after you, trying to bite your ass," she reasoned.

I gave her a look and put away the mug of cocoa. "If you're trying to make me feel better, you're doing it wrong."

She shrugged. "You can also keep telling yourself that you saved his life that way."

My frustration reached its limit. I shook my head and a few tears fell down my cheeks. "No, I can't. His life was never in jeopardy. The detective running Bram's case told me that he was caught with a significant amount of drugs. Those drugs were confiscated, so now Bram owes someone a lot of money. That was why he escaped."

Joy sighed and stroked my hair. "Sweety, don't cry. At least that asshole is now a wanted man and will never be your problem again. That's not the end of the world."

I threw my hands up, growling. "It is the end of the world, Joy! I'm just so tired of all the guys around me trying to screw me over!" I wiped off my tears and frowned. "My foster dad was a drunkard who needed me to take care of him instead of the other way around. My foster brother is a liar and a wanted criminal. Nicholas lied and cheated on me. And even that Alex..." I trailed off and bit my lip as the images of my over ten hours of non-stop sex returned like a steamy flood. Then I shook my head, trying to chase away the heat from my cheeks. I lowered my gaze and murmured, "Maybe there's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm an asshole magnet."

Joy gave me a crooked smile. "It is not your fault; it's theirs. But yes, you have this disease called goodness, and you definitely need therapy. Luckily, it's quite treatable." She smirked before shifting in her seat and locking her eyes on me. "But first, you need to relax. Stay here and breathe deeply. I will get you something to improve the mood."

As she rose from the sofa and marched to the kitchen, I reached into my purse. Earlier that day, I stopped by the apartment I used to rent with Nicholas and collected my mail. I thought I changed my address information everywhere, but apparently, I missed something.

Letting out a slow exhale, I went through advertising leaflets until my gaze halted on one letter with a bird's wing in the logo and the name Ravenford Foundation. My breath caught in my throat. Why in the world would I receive a letter from them?

"That doesn't make any sense," I muttered just as Joy returned with wine and chocolate-mint ice cream.

"What doesn't make sense?" She cocked her head, glancing at the letter I held in my hand.

"It's from the Ravenford Foundation. Remember how I told you about the contest for young designers they organized? The main price was a full scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London," I said.

She chuckled and nodded, putting the wine and ice cream on the coffee table. "Yup, I remember. It was the contest you wanted to apply for but chickened out because you said you didn't want to leave Nicholas alone in New York." She stuck her fingers into her mouth, pretending to throw up.

"You don't need to remind me of that." I rolled my eyes and looked at the letter again. "But why would they contact me if I didn't participate?"

Joy gave me a thin-lipped smile and scratched her head. "That… may not necessarily be true."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Which part?"

She sighed. "I might have pulled out your application from the trash can and sent it."

"You did what?!" I shrieked.

A mischievous smile curved her lips. "Say thank you, dear friend."

My mouth opened and stayed that way for several heartbeats. Then my hands started to shake. "So…" I swallowed hard. "It's the notification... the results of the contest…"

Joy rolled her eyes. "Just open that damn letter already!"

Sucking a ragged breath, I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. Then I stopped breathing, and my heart might have stopped as well. I unfolded the notification, and a moment later, I was on my feet, screaming my lungs out. "I won! I won the full scholarship!"

A second passed, and my best friend joined my burst of happiness, clapping her hands and giving me her best Joy-like-joyful grin, which included curving her lips and stretching them more than half an inch. I was jumping and screaming until the neighbors began banging on the walls to shut us up. I couldn't believe it. Everything in my life was heading in the worst direction, but this? This was like a miracle—a big smile from the fate that used to have nothing but bad news for me.

I stopped jumping and grinned at Joy. "Thank you." My voice cracked, and tears resurfaced. "You did something that can change my life."

"You are so very welcome." She let out a short laugh. "And you know what? I think I grew tired of NYU. Changing my environment and studying in London suddenly started to sound like a good idea. Don't you think?"

My eyes widened. "Would you go there with me?"

She nodded. "Of course. You're like a walking disaster; I can't leave you alone there."

Without thinking, I threw my arms around her neck and started screaming, laughing, and jumping again. It lasted a minute or two, but then my head began to spin. I stumbled back and looked at Joy.

"Are you OK?" Her voice sounded oddly muffled.

I stared at her, but her image became blurry. "I… don't feel so good…"

Suddenly, the world around me closed, and everything went dark.

***

I heard a quite annoying beeping sound and slowly opened my eyes. The place where I was looked like a hospital room, and the annoying sound was coming from the equipment monitoring my pulse. I turned my head to the side and saw Joy sitting by my bed. She seemed paler than usual, but as our eyes met, her expression instantly filled with relief.

"Hey," she said softly. "You scared me. Don't do that again."

I smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry." Then I started to remember what happened. "Did I faint?"

Joy nodded. "Actually, you looked like you were struck by invisible lighting and died."

My lips twisted wryly. "I didn't mean to."

She sighed and got up from her chair. "I'll call the doctor."

A moment later, she returned with a brown-haired man in his fifties wearing a white coat. The man leaned over me, focusing on my pupils before glancing at the monitoring machine. "Ms. Hill, you gave your friend quite a scare," he stated, shifting his eyes back to me.

"So I heard." I tried to chuckle, but what came out of me resembled more a wheeze than a laugh.

"Fortunately, it's nothing serious. You just need to take care of yourself better, eat regularly, and drink water," the doctor continued.

"I will," I promised. "It's just that... The past few weeks have been quite hectic for me. I felt like I was one big bundle of emotions."

The doctor nodded. "It's explainable and absolutely natural."

My brows rose. "It is?"

"Yes. You will need to get used to mood swings, Ms. Hill. I'm afraid it might become worse in the months to come." His lips twitched into a brief smile.

I frowned. "Wait… What do you mean by months to come? Am I… sick or something? I thought you said that there's nothing wrong with me."

There was a moment of silence. "I'm sorry." He cleared his throat and corrected his glasses. "I thought that you were aware."

I jerked up to a sitting position. "Aware of what?" I demanded.

He let out a slow exhale before leaning over me again with an awkward smile. "Congratulations. You're pregnant."