Page 44 of Oops, My Professor Got Me Pregnant!

This was a huge treat for Louis, who rarely got to eat anywhere but at the table. He gathered up his plate and cup and ran to the living room. Nico was so distracted by what he’d just found out that he didn’t even care that a plate of spaghetti with red sauce and a cup of pomegranate juice were a recipe for stained carpets and a mess on the couch. It didn’t matter.

Once Louis was out of earshot, Nico leaned forward. His heart was pounding. “You’re pregnant?”

Any hope he had that he might have misunderstood disappeared at Lauren’s next words.

“Yes. Nico, I?—”

He held up a hand. His thoughts were whirling. Lauren was pregnant? And she hadn’t told him? His whole world felt like it was shattering. “How could you keep this from me? Were you ever going to tell me?” Despite the heat in his words, he kept his voice low so Louis wouldn’t overhear them. He wasn’t going to let this blindsiding news affect his child.

“Of course I was. I was just trying to find the right time?—”

“So, you decided it was better to hide this from me? How could you, Lauren?”

“I’m sorry.” Lauren wiped a stray tear from her eye. “I know I should have told you. I was just worried you’d take it badly — and clearly I had reason to worry.”

“I’m taking this badly because you didn’t tell me.” Nico forced himself to take a deep breath. “How could you hide the fact that I’m going to be a father again? Don’t you see how much that will change things for me? You can’t just keep a baby a secret until it’s convenient for you.”

“You’re such a hypocrite!” Lauren kept her voice low, too, but Nico could hear the hurt behind her words. “You didn’t tell me about Louis!”

“That wasn’t the same thing at all. How can you even equate the two? I didn’t tell you about my child, who isn’t related to you in any way, on our first date. You didn’t tell me about a baby, my baby, even though we’ve been dating for over a month!”

Nico couldn’t even look at Lauren anymore. All his feelings over the way he’d become a parent the first time came flooding back, even stronger. Nico loved Louis more than anything, but becoming his father had meant giving up a lot of things and changing his life completely. He just couldn’t imagine doing that again.

And worse was Lauren’s assumption about him. Nico might not be thrilled to be having another baby, but he was an excellent father to Louis, and Lauren knew that. Although she hadn’t said the exact words, Nico felt she hadn’t told him because she didn’t trust him to be a good father to the new baby.

“I know I should have told you.” Lauren crossed her arms tightly over her stomach. “And I’m sorry. I really am. But you clearly are taking this badly.”

“Don’t tell me what I’m feeling!” Even as he said it, Nico knew he was being unfair. He was taking this news badly. But it was Lauren’s fault as much as his. If she’d told him as soon as she found out, it might have been different. This brought up another question. “How long have you known?”

“About a week.” Lauren bit her lip.

“A week?” Nico shook his head. “Seriously, Lauren? Don’t you see how history is repeating itself?”

In that moment, Nico was twenty-two again, being told by his ex-girlfriend that he was going to be a father. He was once again a young man whose entire future was being shattered. It may not have been perfectly sensible, but Nico couldn’t help seeing the similarities.

“This isn’t history repeating itself.” Lauren shook her head hard. “Things are different. You’re older than you were then. Don’t you see how this could be a good thing?”

Nico scoffed. “It could have been a good thing if this was something we’d chosen. But it wasn’t. You know how I feel about having another baby right now. We talked about that just a few hours ago. Don’t you remember?”

“Nico, please.” Lauren raised both hands. “I know you’re upset. I am, too. This is a lot to take in. But this baby, our baby, didn’t have a choice in the matter, either.” She rested one hand on her stomach.

“I know that. But you had a choice of whether or not to tell me, and you chose not to. I’m sorry. I need some time. Please leave.”

“I—” Lauren hesitated, then closed her mouth. “I’ll go.”

Nico’s heart screamed at him to stop her. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her and tell her that everything would be okay, that they loved each other. But the pull of history and the pain of her lies held him back.

“I think that would be best.”

“Okay.” Lauren got to her feet. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “Okay.”

Nico stayed seated as Lauren left. Her almost untouched plate of spaghetti still sat at her place on the table. Nico stared at it for a long time. This wasn’t at all how he’d expected this evening to go. He’d wanted to tell Lauren he loved her. Instead, they’d fought. Instead, she was pregnant with a child she hadn’t told him about.

Nico still loved Lauren, but he had no idea where to go from here. The idea of raising another child split between two households made his heart ache, but he didn’t know if Lauren even loved him like he loved her. If she agreed to move in with him for the sake of a baby, it could make both their lives much harder. It wasn’t like they could keep casually dating while raising a child, though.

Raising a child. The memory of late-night feedings and diaper emergencies flooded back. And then something else did, too. Nico remembered a small hand wrapping around his fingers, a gummy smile, the soft weight of a sleeping toddler in his arms. Lauren was right that their baby hadn’t chosen to be born now. The idea of becoming a father a second time over was hard to grasp, but Nico already knew he could get used to it. He loved Louis more than anything and he would love this child, too.

No, the problem was Lauren’s lie. Because the more he thought about it, the more he knew. If Lauren really loved him, she would have told him about the baby right away. She wouldn’t have kept such a life-changing secret from him or played games with his heart like this. If she loved him like he loved her, she would have trusted him.

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