The days passed quickly, and Ashley did not realize how a fast a few months had gone by. The last time she had a check-up – which was only some days ago – the doctor said that she could give birth soon, perhaps even this month.
Ashley decided to call Grandma Hanada to let her know. Unfortunately, her assistant, Harumi, answered the call.
After Ashley told Harumi what the doctor had said, she was going to hang up the call before she heard a voice.
"Harumi-san, where is my grandma?" Tanaga asked loud enough for Ashley to vividly hear.
Ashley became anxious and was going to ask who the person was. To her dismay the *tut-tut-tut* showed that Harumi already had hung up the phone.
Ashley immediately called her again on facetime just to make sure, but Harumi didn’t answer the call. She had become more anxious now.
Her gut was telling her that the voice she heard was from Tanaga, yet it was not a realistic thought – how could that happen if it had been six months since he had died?
"Am I just hallucinating?" Ashley whispered to herself before preparing to go down to her room.
The good thing was that Ashley thought of using the elevator, as right after she entered, her water had burst. She suddenly leaned onto the wall of the elevator while her knees began to tremble.
Luckily, she pushed the button to the first floor and right after she arrived there, her womb felt as though it were burning. Ashley screamed because of the excruciating pain she felt. "AHHHHH!!" She then called for Inday. "Inday!! Help me! I’m gonna give birth!" Ashley shouted, but she didn’t know if anyone could actually hear her.
During that moment, everyone in the household was outside and currently cooking barbecues for their dinner; no one heard Ashley’s scream.
When no one came to help her, Ashley tried to call Inday on her cellphone. When Inday saw that Ashley was calling, she frowned and got worried.
She immediately answered the call. "Hello Madam Ashley, do you need something?" Inday asked and put her phone on speaker.
"Inday!! Help me!! I’m here in the elevator!" Ashley shouted loud enough for her parents and Butler Ruffy to hear.
Father Jessie put down the tong for the barbecue and ran towards the elevator, followed by Mother Fely, Inday and Ruffy.
The four spotted Ashley lying on the floor while holding her womb. Her breathing was ragged.
Father Jessie immediately helped Ashley to sit down on a sofa in the living room. "Calm down, inhale... exhale." Father Jessie comforted his daughter.
Butler Ruffy hurriedly went out to the garage where Tiny was cleaning the car.
"Tiny, prepare the car as Madam Ashley is about to give birth!" After that, he left and made sure that no one could hear him. When he was completely sure, he called Grandma Hanada.
After just one ring, Grandma Hanada answered Butler Ruffy’s facetime call, and his face was evidently painted in worry.
"What is your sudden call for? Did Ashley ask you to call me? She called earlier and it looked like she heard Tanaga’s voice! I don’t know if I need to tell her the truth or not and I’m thinking of talking to Tanaga first before telling her," Grandma Hanada declared while Tanaga was beside her reading some papers.
Butler Ruffy saw that Tanaga suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked at the camera on Grandma Hanada’s phone before taking it and greeting the Butler.
"Uncle Ruffy, when are you going to come? You said last time you’ll be here next month. It’s already the next month!" Tanaga whined at him with a serious face.
Ruffy gave a fake smile. "Sir Jones, I will soon! I’m sorry because I’m handling some matters. Can I talk to the Chairwoman?" Ruffy asked while he was obviously nervous.
"Sure! But why does it feel like you’re hiding something and where exactly are you?" Tanaga questioned while trying to look at what was behind Ruffy.
"Hahaha! I’m here with my family. Can I talk to the Chairwoman now?"
Grandma Hanada didn’t wait and grabbed the phone from her grandson. "What do you want to say – is it an emergency?"
The Butler did not know if he could say anything as he wasn’t sure if Tanaga was listening or not. When he was still reluctant to speak, Grandma Hanada preceded him.
"It’s fine, say it. Is it about Ashley?" Grandma Hanada asked while looking at Tanaga, who started to read again.
"That’s right! Madam Ashley is about to give birth. Didn’t you say you wanted to know so you could come here and witness her birth?" Ruffy declared as he watched Tanaga’s reaction.
When they noticed that Tanaga had no reaction, they continued their conversation.
Right after Grandma Hanada and Ruffy finished their conversation, they were ready to take Ashley to the Hospital.
===
"My God! Breathe! Heh-he, hah-ha, heh-heh, hah-ha!" Mother Fely said as she held Ashley’s hand. She knew that her labor pain was going to attack again.
They were in the hospital for ten hours, but Ashley’s opening still didn’t reach 10cm. The last time the doctor measured her, it was only 6cm. She was asked to walk to make it wider.
Mother Fely’s countenance dropped as her anxiety grew for her daughter. She knew the feeling of giving birth – after all she had given birth to six babies.
Even still, Mother Fely still couldn’t help but worry about her daughter because it was her first pregnancy and the child looked big.
"Daughter, don’t stop. If it hurts, just shout. Do you understand?" Mother Fely reminded her while walking back and forth outside the private room of the hospital.
Ashley just nodded as she tried to think of good things to ease out the pain. After a while, her womb ached again, and this time Ashley cried out.
"TANAGA JONES!! BE THANKFUL THAT YOU’RE DEAD!! BECAUSE IF NOT I’M GONNA KILL YOU FOR WHAT I’M FEELING RIGHT NOW!! AAAHHH !!" Ashley scream’s reverberated inside and outside the room.
Little did she know that the person she was shouting at was currently outside the door.
Tanaga and Grandma Hanada had just arrived after a five-hour flight from Las Vegas. Grandma Hanada asked Tanaga to accompany her and said she had an important person to visit.
They were just outside Ashley’s room when Tanaga heard her scream. He was shocked and backed away...