๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ โ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ป๐ฌ๐บ๐ป
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐: ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ญ๐๐ข๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐.
๐๐จ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง: ๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐จ๐ฏ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐, ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐จ๐ง.
๐๐๐ญ๐: ๐๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐.
๐๐ข๐ฆ๐: ๐๐:๐๐.
For a while, he only stares at it.
Someone bangs on the door. Theo does not answer. The stick stays in his hand, small and white and obscene, with two lines appearing like the universe has decided to write something on him without permission.
He reads the instructions again even though the answer is already there.
Two lines.
Positive.
Pregnant.
Theo sits on the closed toilet lid with his jacket zipped to his throat and one hand pressed hard against his mouth. He had blamed bad food first. Then stress. Then the night he still cannot place in order.
Then nothing.
He had woken two mornings later in his rented room with his shirt inside out, his phone dead, forty-three pounds gone from his wallet, and a bruise on his hip he did not remember earning. He had called himself drunk because the other word was too large, and because people survive some mornings by choosing the smaller lie.
Now his body has stopped letting him.
Theo's stomach twists again. He drops the test into his lap, turns toward the stained wall, and breathes through the sickness until it passes enough to leave him shaking.
Nine days earlier, Ivanov House had glittered under donor-event lighting.
Leo Ivanov had stood near the west staircase with sparkling water in one hand and a headache pressing behind his right eye. Anaรฏs Laurent had laughed nearby in a silver dress, her perfume sweet enough to coat the air. Simon Rook had touched Leo's elbow and told him he looked overheated. Across the corridor, a staff member in black had steadied himself against a console while a tray of glasses trembled beside his hand.
Leo had looked toward him.
Theo had looked back.
For less than a second, neither man had known enough to be afraid.
In the toilet cubicle, Theo folds the instructions around the test and shoves both into his bag.
Someone bangs on the door again and snaps, "Are you done in there?"
Theo stands too quickly, swallowing against another wave of nausea. "No," he says.
