The Art Of Revenge (Thalia Nash and Brandon)

Brandon's Pov

Yes, I cheated, even though I never wanted to know the gender of the child till birth so that I can have the urge to live or something to look forward to. But time caught up with me and I became curious and eager to know the gender before I died.

After the bolts of being confined to bed, day in and day out I began feeling like I was never going to make it, so I began searching all over the internet on how to tell the sex of a child by looking at a pregnant

woman.

I was too ashamed to ask Thalia for a scan, I was very sure she would think I was intentionally giving up. But when the time was near, a dying man always knew.

So I began searching on the internet, there were thousands of articles, especially those from the Victorian era when ultrasound or scans were not available and those of African origin where technology was still lacking.

Most of them spoke of strange and weird things but I picked on those which were sounding normal or applicable. For example, some talked about the silkiness of the mother's skin.

When a woman was pregnant with a boy child, her skin became afflicted with pimples and her nose became larger, which I didn't see on Thalia.

Her skin was so flawless and luminous ever since she became pregnant, indicating that she was having a girl.

Another sign was ugliness and untidiness; when a woman was expecting a male child, she always became ugly and lacked a sense of fashion, but not with my Thalia; she was always clean, smartly dressed, and taking baths more than she used to when she was not so I picked that as well.

Finally, a woman expecting a male child always had her belly pointing to the floor, whereas a woman expecting a girl had her belly pointing up or leaning towards her heart, which is how Thalia's belly appeared and I made my conclusion.

The majority of the myths were African in origin, yet their forefathers were always correct. I once traveled there and I was amazed by their myths and culture.

So, after concluding that she was expecting a girl, I had to confidently choose a female when she asked for the bet, and voila, the scan showed it was really a girl.

I smiled, knowing she'd never give up my fortune. I found her smiling when I stared at her, but she then grabbed and twisted my ears.

"Can you tell me how you found out? Did you scan my body when I was sleeping?" She screamed at me, "Or maybe you drugged me and ran a scan on me."

I shouted out, "Thalia, you're injuring me!"

She exclaimed, "Respond to the stup*d question!"

The doctor and Nestor stood back and watched as the insane pregnant woman assaulted me. Did she forget that I was a dying man because of her hormones? "No, I didn't; I just noted a few things about your pregnancy and assumed it was a girl," I responded.

"Liar! You've always held your stance that it is a boy and only changed at the last minute?"

"You can Google, how can I drug a pregnant woman, Thalia I have five senses. All I needed was to find out more about your skin and the shape of your pregnancy," I sobbed, deep down I was hoping she was joking with her allegations because drugging a woman for the purpose of scanning was way beneath.

She let go of my ear and glared at me. "You've been searching for pictures of Pregnant women?" "Yes, there are several clues, such as how smooth or neat one is when pregnant," I replied.

"When did you start believing in ridiculous superstitions?" She inquired.

The doctor cleared his throat and we both turned to face him, we thanked the doctor as he handed us the scans he took and walked out of the room.

I held my ear which was hurting, I was sure I was going to die as a result of her relentless onslaught. She peered at the scans in excitement and forgot about the allegations and assaults she was landing on me in seconds.

Even though she wanted to blame me for a variety of things, she smiled every time she looked at the scans.

"That's our child," I explained.

"I thought you wanted a boy?" she said, looking up at me.

"I already knew she was a girl, I just couldn't come to terms with it," I responded and assisted her up. "Come on, Nestor, why are you standing so far away?" She enquired. "Come and take a good look at your niece."

"She looks beautiful," Nestor said as he drew closer. "Any idea for the name?" he inquired. Thalia's eyes were drawn to me almost instantly as if she was expecting me to say our name.

"You do the honors and name the child," she suggested and caught me off surprise. My eyes welled up with tears as a rush of emotions washed over me. I quickly placed my hands over my face to hide from the embarrassment.

"That's not my place, Thalia," I replied.

She said, "But you named the boy, Brandon junior."

I wiped my tears away and responded, "Yes, I used to call him Brandon, but it was never his name; you are the mother."

"Well, I'd like you to give the child a name."

I became extremely emotional, it was humiliating and uncomfortable for me. I was not used to pouring my emotions out for people to watch, so I gazed at her then at Nestor.

"Perhaps we should give Brandon some time to consider his options for a name," Nestor stepped up to save my miserable a*s. I began to wonder if I was meant to include him as a sibling in my will or something.

"Okay, you've got a day," she said as she got out of bed "Who's up for pizza? Let's celebrate!" she suggested

We walked back into the car and headed to the nearest pizza parlor before going to one of my houses.

To be honest I was still blank and had no idea what to name the girl. I spent the entire night googling some rare beautiful names but I did not like any of them. I slept with the scan on my chest and wondered if that was the only version of the little girl that I was meant to meet.