ONC 2024 SHORTLISTER || After two opposites find comfort in each other and have an instant connection but can't be together, they collide again months later and get a second chance at love || August Walker and Jasmine Kelly are complete opposites...
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Part of life is the expectation that you'll grow up, get a good job, get married and have kids. Then you'll live out your fulfilled life until you have grandchildren and eventually die of old age beside your beloved.
It's such a romantic notion, and yet so many parents have their children with that exact expectation. They may not say it or pressure their children into it, but it's there in the background. My parents had that exact notion, and when I announced I wanted to pursue medicine, their unsaid dreams came true. When I brought Abby home to meet them, their dreams of me having everything were coming true.
Despite my parents' divorce, both of them always still co-parented and never let it phase them. If I acted stupid, they both communicated to work out a punishment. If I needed money, they both sorted it out. When I moved into university, they both got on enough to help me move in together. They both attended my graduation and smiled at the camera together. Their love might have disappeared for each other, but they were always one unit as parents – something many people don't do for whatever reason – and it's something I always respected.
Never so far in my twenty-five years have I actually contemplated being a parent. Sure, it's probably been subconsciously in the back of my mind as something I want, but even when I was with Abby, I never really thought about it. For so long, she was on the pill, and we never discussed having kids. When we drifted apart, I assumed she stayed on the pill, and we rarely had sex. Clearly, something happened because she fell pregnant when she left. No contraception is ever fool-proof, though, so I guess either she came off it or a mistake happened.
Now I'm faced with this. I don't understand how the fuck this could be happening.
"August?" Jasmine's in front of me, kneeling in between my legs. Any other moment and I'd be utilising this opportunity to fuck her, but despite how angelic and gorgeous she is, this is not the time for that.
Fucking is how I got into this mess, apparently. Which is weird because I'm always careful. If Abby ever forgot a pill, we'd use a condom. I've used a condom every damn time with Jasmine, too, even though she says she's just started the pill.
"Hey, look at me," Jazz whispers. Her hand rests on my cheek and moves my head until I'm looking at her. "August, it's okay."
"It's not okay – she left me because she was pregnant with his kid."
"I know. She may have thought that until now. How long ago was this?" she asks.
"A year ago."
She nods and lets my face go, and instead holds my hand. "So the baby would be, what, three months? In that case, it may look like you or they may have done a DNA test or whatever. Either way, I think you need to talk to her, don't you?"
