Maraïda: The Billionaire's Surrogate (Billionaire One)(Completed)

10 years later

In the third person's POV

(10 years later)

A blonde woman in a light knee length red floral dress is leaning on a silver - ish pink Range Rover sports. She looks in a hurry; checking on her Gucci watch after every two seconds,

"Ellie! Hurry up young lady, we haven't got all day." She keeps staring impatiently at the doors of the flower shop and checking her watch,

"Dang it Ellie, come on! We're going to be late for the day. We still have so much to do."

A little girl comes out of the shop with a big bouquet of roses obscuring her entire face. Her long blonde hair is dangling from behind her white lace dress paired with a pair of pink flats. Someone follows from behind her with another bunch of flowers, way too big for her hands. The lady in front of the car turns to the little girl, with her blue eyes popping out I surprise,

"Ellie! When you said you were getting flowers, I didn't know you meant the entire store!"

"Calm down mom!" Elina answers dumping her load into the back seat, "this is barely enough! I just want to make sure there's enough,"

"Enough huh? How many people are you getting flowers for?"

"The entire family. Put them on the other side please." Elina instructs the salesgirl from the store who carefully drops her own load, "thank you," she smiles at the sales girl, her light brown eyes glittering in the sun.

"Anything for my favorite client," the woman waved nicely before turning away.

"Here you go mom," Elina hands the blue credit card to her mother, "thank you." She hops away to the other side of the car and settles herself in, her mother looks at the card then grins,

"Last time you're using my card for this things." She settles herself into her own seat, then turns to the little girl, "you OK?"

"Got my flowers so yes! Aren't they pretty?"

"Yeah, and feeling up my car! I meant seatbelt,"

"Oh c'mon mom! You know if you let me have my own car, you wouldn't have to complain,"

"You get a car when you're thirty,"

"Mom! No way!..." Her little voice fades away as the car drives off.

....................

The car comes to a stop in front of a hollow gate. A clear path led the way right to an extreme end. Tombstones laid in an orderly manner, horizontally right to the end of the gates; then spreads vertically to about 8km.

"C'mon mom," Elina hops off into the cemetery, "and bring the flowers, will you?"

"I think it's about time you get a personal assistant. I can't keep doing this." The blonde woman grumbles as she carries three bouquets at once,

"I don't need an assistant, I need my own car,"

"Don't even dream about it," she drops the bouquets in front of a tombstone, where Elina had also stopped. "OK now," she threw out a breath, "I'll go get the rest,"

Elina knelt before the stone, took out a white handkerchief from her pocket and started cleaning it. Sophia stops and stands over her. Elina picks up a bouquet of roses and places it against the tombstone. Then she cuts off petals from three roses and arranges them in a heart form; she runs her hands across the name on the stone,

"When people die, what is it like mom?"

"Peaceful. I think. Like this place. No worries; no sorrows, no tears; nothing! Just peace." Sophia answers an almost whisper tone,

"Yeah. Please tell me again, mom, about that day. The day I was born,"

"Ellie, I tell you that story every year!" Sophia grumbled, but the girl was persistent on hearing the story,

"OK OK! I'll tell you." She sit on the green grass and drags Elina to sit on her laps, "it's uh- been a long time, I doubt I'll still remember all the details. I got a call from the hospital; that my husband had been in a terrible accident...

(Flashback

"Excuse me, uhm, I got a call that my husband was rushed here; Jared Shenko? He had an accident?"

"Mrs Shenko?" The nurse asked cross checking the computer screen, Sophia nodded, not finding the strength to speak, "the ICU is on the second floor but Dr Seuss asked you see him first in his office,"

"Andrew? Why? Is my husband OK?"

"No idea!"

"Thank you!" Sophia replied before running off to the already filled elevator. She didn't have the patience to wait for the next one so she took the stairs.

Upon reaching Dr Seuss' office, she was already fast out of breath, tumbling on him as he coincidentally opened the door,

"Sophia!"

"Andrew!" Sophia burst into tears, "where's my husband? How's Jared? Please tell me he's OK!!!"

"Sophia you need to be calm and strong for this. Jared's in a coma. His head was badly injured. And on top of that we found a blood clot in his brain which required immediate operation. Being a close friend to the family, I gave consent for the operation but... He fell into a coma."

Sophia clamped her hands over her mouth, "oh my God!" She bent on her knees and sobbed heavily, "but he's going to wake up, right? He's going to wake up!" She clung unto Dr Seuss' vest,

"We can't tell when or If he's going wake up. This things are unpredictable. He might be up tomorrow, or in a week; a month. In extreme cases it takes years. Some just never wake up."

Sophia became horrified. She thought about the terms under which they had parted: all the times she'd shut him out when he'd tried reaching out to her. She thought about how she'd just deleted his last two voice mails without even listening to them. She didn't want him to die. She wasn't ready to lose Jared Shenko in her life. She wept.

"Sophia," Dr Seuss called her, "be strong. Jared needs you to be now more than ever. The reason I called you here, there's another situation."

"What is it?"

"It's Maraïda,"

"Andrew please! Spare me anything about that woman. She's the reason my life is this messed up," Sophia scolded the blonde doctor that stood before her,

"I'm sorry Sophia but this situation calls for your attention. You're the only person left." Dr Seuss explained, "see, almost immediately after Jared was rushed in here, one of his drivers brought her in too. Apparently they had an argument before he left the house and she followed him. She witnessed firsthand his accident. The shock sent her into false labor."

Sophia laughed painfully, laced with a little sarcasm, "what has any of that got to do with me now Andrew? I don't get it!"

"Maraïda's life is in a critical situation right now; thus putting the baby's life in the same situation. she's only eight months in but we have to deliver that baby now! But they're both facing death and only one of them can be saved." Sophia's heart froze for a second, "Jared's in no condition to make that decision,neither is Maraïda. It's just you left,"

"Wait, hold up! I don't... I don't understand," Sophia choked back her tears,

"You have to chose Sophia! The baby; or the mother!")