My Roommate Said She Was Pregnant With My Brother’s Baby

By the time the freshman orientation meeting finally ended, I was dead inside.

I dragged myself back to the dorm and collapsed onto my bed.

Military training started tomorrow.

The future was dark.

Painful.

Sunburned.

Possibly fatal.

Bang.

The dorm door flew open so hard the wall shook.

I jolted upright.

Brianna White stood in the doorway like she had just won a beauty pageant no one else had entered.

“My loves!” she shouted. “I have a surprise for you!”

No one answered.

I rolled my eyes and dropped back onto my pillow.

After nearly a year of living with Brianna, we had all seen through her.

At first, she seemed friendly.

Too friendly, maybe, but still tolerable.

Then she revealed her true form.

She loved making people do things for her.

She guilt-tripped like breathing.

She worshiped money and looked down on anyone who did not have enough.

When she discovered some of my things were expensive, she glued herself to me.

Borrowed my bags.

Borrowed my perfume.

Borrowed my jewelry.

Then returned them only after I asked three times.

As for our former roommate, whose family was not well-off, Brianna treated her like dirt. She even accused her of stealing.

The girl eventually moved out.

That was when the rest of us understood exactly what Brianna was.

A silence stretched across the room.

Finally, our dorm leader Rachel asked gently from behind her curtain,

“What surprise?”

Brianna pulled her right hand from behind her back.

“Ta-da!”

I had already picked up my phone, uninterested.

Then Rachel gasped.

Curiosity defeated me.

I pulled open my bed curtain and looked down.

Brianna was holding a pregnancy test.

Two lines.

Very clear.

My eyes widened.

“What?”

Across the room, Tina and Fiona were staring too.

We all exchanged the same look.

Since when did she have a boyfriend?

Brianna lifted her chin proudly.

“Surprised? You’re all going to be godmothers. Almost four months already.”

Nobody spoke.

She seemed to enjoy the silence.

“And don’t say I’m not generous. I’ll tell you who the father is.”

She paused dramatically.

“The general manager of Guotai Group.”

Rachel sucked in a breath.

“Guotai?”

Fiona asked, “As in Guotai Group? The richest family in S City?”

Tina muttered, “She’s acting like an imperial concubine.”

I did not laugh.

I could not.

Because Guotai Group belonged to my family.

And the general manager of Guotai Group was my brother.

My very married, very wife-fearing, very much over-thirty brother.

My soul left my body.

Brianna White was pregnant with my brother’s child?

Impossible.

No.

Maybe possible?

Men are trash in surprising ways.

I grabbed my phone and opened my brother’s chat.

Ethan Guo, when did you hook up with my roommate? Are you trying to die?

If my sister-in-law finds out, she will kill you. Do not expect me to help bury the body.

I peeked again at the pregnancy test.

Two lines.

Still there.

I sent another message.

Brianna White. Four months pregnant. Explain.

Ethan replied quickly.

?

Then another.

?

Then he called.

I panicked and rejected the call.

A sixty-second voice message arrived.

I tapped convert to text.

After filtering out many insults to my intelligence, I extracted the key message:

He did not know Brianna.

He had never touched Brianna.

He told me to stop spreading sex scandals about my own brother.

I exhaled.

Good.

My brother would live.

But then who was Brianna talking about?

Fiona was already asking,

“Brianna, military training starts tomorrow. If you’re pregnant, shouldn’t you ask the counselor for leave?”

Brianna’s smile stiffened.

“No need. Pregnant women should exercise more. It’s good for the baby.”

Then her tone sharpened.

“And none of you are allowed to tell anyone. If someone harms me or my baby, I’ll hold you responsible.”

I looked at her.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.