Page 45 of Oops, My Professor Got Me Pregnant!

Nico dropped his head into his hands. He wished there were a simple answer, but nothing was simple anymore. Lauren didn’t love him. And yet she was going to have a baby, their baby.

“Papa?”

Nico lifted his head from his hands and saw Louis standing in the doorway. He held his empty plate, which was smeared with streaks of red sauce — as was his small face. His eyes were big.

“Come here.” Nico opened his arms and Louis hurried across the room. Nico took the plate from his son and set it on the table before they could both get more sauce smeared over them, then he hugged Louis tightly.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked. “Lauren left really suddenly and she looked sad. And now you look sad. Did I do something wrong?”

Nico’s heart ached. This was yet another reminder of why he hadn’t wanted to have a relationship, not while Louis was so young. His and Lauren’s fight had had nothing to do with Louis, but the little boy still worried that it might have been his fault. Nico hugged him closer.

“Of course not. You didn’t do anything wrong, okay? Lauren wasn’t feeling well, so she went home.” It was a lie, but Nico wasn’t about to explain everything to his son now. In time, once he had a grasp on his own emotions and had a chance to make a plan, he would tell Louis about the baby.

“She’s sick?” Louis asked. “Shouldn’t we make her some tea and soup?”

“Not that kind of sick. She just had a headache and needed to be alone for a while.”

“Okay.” Louis bit his lip. It was a gesture the boy had never made before, and Nico realized with another heartrending flash that he must have picked it up from Lauren. “Will she be back tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure. But I’ll be here, I promise.”

“Is she sick… like Maman?” Louis bit his lip again. Nico cursed himself for the lie he’d chosen and shook his head quickly.

“No, not at all. Lauren will get better soon.”

Louis stepped back from the hug and climbed backwards onto a chair, where he hugged his knees.

“Do you think Maman would like Lauren?” The question was sweet and innocent, but Nico didn’t feel capable of answering when Lauren’s betrayal was so fresh. The truth was that Léa probably would have liked Lauren. He could imagine them being friends, close friends even. But the problem wasn’t whether Léa would have liked Lauren. The problem wasn’t even if Nico or Louis liked her. It was whether Lauren liked them enough to be an honest member of their family — and it seemed that she didn’t.

“Do you think Maman would like Lauren?” Nico returned the question to his son instead of trying to put any of that into words.

“Yeah. Your mom always said she wanted me to be happy, and Lauren makes me happy. I hope she’ll feel better soon.”

“I hope so, too.” Nico needed to change the subject, and fast, before this deteriorated any more. “What do you say we play a game after dinner?”

“We can play Mouse Trap!” Louis jumped up. “Lauren gave it to me. It’s so funny!” He hurried off, presumably to get the game, and Nico let his head sink back into his hands. For years he’d carefully protected his heart, and Louis’s. Now, in just a few short weeks, Lauren had become an important part of their lives. And now this.

Deep in the back of Nico’s mind, he understood that he’d just lied to Louis to protect his son’s feelings while he came up with a plan. And he understood that it was the same thing Lauren had done. This lie was the first thing Lauren had done wrong since Nico had met her, and there was a chance, however slim, that she might one day love them as Nico loved her. Maybe, with time, their relationship could have grown into something strong and solid and beautiful. Maybe it could, still.

But Nico was too angry and too hurt to listen to that quiet voice in the back of his mind. He needed time to understand how he felt and what he wanted to do. Surely, after everything, he deserved a little time.

CHAPTER 18

LAUREN

Lauren managed to exit Nico’s house before she burst into tears. This was the worst possible outcome. How could everything have gone so wrong? She should have told Nico sooner. Or at the very least, she shouldn’t have used such an obvious metaphor in front of such a bright seven-year-old. And because she had, everything had fallen apart.

She hurried away from the house, tears streaming down her face. She wasn’t entirely aware of where she was going, but her feet led her down the familiar path towards her apartment. She saw only blurs ahead of her. It was a good thing she’d walked this route many times, or she probably would have tripped over something and made this day even worse.

Lauren had worried that Nico might take the news of another baby badly, but this was worse than she’d guessed. It seemed that he didn’t want anything to do with her or the baby. And worse, he hadn’t even been willing to talk about it. Lauren was sure that if they could have sat down together and calmly created a plan, everything would have worked out.

Now that seemed impossible. Lauren had no idea when or if Nico would want to talk to her again. Maybe, as he had after their first night together, he would decide that he could best solve his problems by walking away from them. That would leave Lauren pregnant and alone in a foreign country that she’d just barely started to feel at home in.

There was one other person she could call. Lauren reached blindly into her bag and found her cell. Then she wiped her eyes with her sleeve so that she could see the screen and dialed Céline’s number. Her friend picked up on the second ring.

“Hi, Lauren.”

“Céline.” Lauren sniffed and wiped her eyes again. “You were right.”

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