★○★○ ~ 2033 ~ ○★○★
Peaked in high school? Delilah was a stranger to the concept. Her life truly began the moment she walked out of the doors of Cerulean High. With wide ambitions she was ready to make attainable, Delilah had taken her business management degree to the up-and-coming fashion company, Opulent Couture, impressing the interviewer with her insights when she told them that “I should really be looking elsewhere if the workers here are resorting to shirts as reminders of the days of the week. Perhaps I’m mistaken, I thought this was the business of setting trends, not parading the thrift-store rejects.” What could she say? Judgement had always come naturally to Delilah Hawthorne.
Seamlessly, Delilah moved up the ranks. Any company would have been a fool to keep her at the bottom, anyway. After successfully rebranding the tragic case of Opulent Designs, Delilah had then utilised that experience - as well as her own eye for fashion and natural determination - to create her own fashion company. With the successes already at Delilah’s name, DRH Designs sky-rocketed in popularity. Soon enough, Delilah was the CEO of one of the world’s top-ranking fashion enterprises, a company built by and operated exclusively by women.
So, needless to say, Delilah Hawthorne was living the high-life. She had the luxury that everyone at Cerulean High knew was destined for her. Because of the lack of a Blue Royalty win in her senior year, Delilah worked for everything herself. She had spent the last few years putting everything into her work. Yes, it was in order to get to where she was now, but it was also all she had. Delilah remained fairly single in the last few years. ‘Fairly’ because… come on she had to have a little fun sometimes. It was made significantly easier too given her condition. Why use birth control when you could be infertile? She could just have the fun without the stress that once came with that. Besides, she had enough to be stressed about.
“We are not talking skimming the surface here, people. I don’t want to be hearing about your sh¡tty boyfriend or your latest Netflix obsession. I’m talking profit margin deep dives, every inch of our financial landscape. Revenue streams, cost structures, market trends. Understood?”
“Miss Hawthorne, I was wondering if I could get your opinion on the aesthetics and elements you think we should keep on for the new product packaging?” Asked a girl that couldn’t have been far out of her teen years, an iPad in hand awaiting notes to take. Abigail had been hired as an intern - and evidently so considering the lack of regard for the well-established standards sought out for the packaging. Delilah gave her a smile nevertheless as she turned to her. “Abigail, of course, ensure you explore options that exude sophistication and the brand identity of empowerment. Consider the colour palette as—”
The feeling of dizziness that had started as the intern began talking became unavoidable. “If you would just excuse me for a moment,” Delilah told her as she began retreating from Abigail. She headed to her office bathroom, her footsteps increasing in speed when realising what was about to happen. She was not about to throw up in front of anyone. Thankfully, she made it to the toilet on time. To her colleagues, nothing had happened. Delilah continued working for the remainder of the day. She finished her work day after everyone else had left as she normally did, but on this occasion she stopped at the pharmacist before home.
“I need something for nausea,” Delilah declared to the man at the desk. The man’s eyes flicked from Delilah to her computer screen, pulling up the possible causes for her condition. “If I could just ask you a few questions on any other symptoms you might have?”" He asked, to which Delilah nodded.
“Do you have a fever?”
“No.”
“Stomach cramps?”
“No.”
“Have you missed a period?”
The lack of an answer caught the man’s attention, being an answer in itself. “The pregnancy tests are in the back aisle,” He advised, to which Delilah scoffed. “I don’t get pregnant’,” Delilah remarked, using air quotes for such an impossible idea. “Are you new? Can I talk to someone that might know what they’re talking about?” She asked, impatiently. “Certainly. But I’m sure they would tell you the same thing. There’s a bathroom here if you need to use it,” He told her, unfazed by Delilah’s comment implying his incompetency. Clearly this person was not someone worth wasting time arguing with, and so Delilah sighed, reluctantly walking to the indicated aisle. It was pointless, but she picked up one of the tests, placed a few dollar bills on the counter and headed for the bathroom.
It was not long before Delilah came back out, with the same composure that she had gone in with. The pharmacy was empty, and clearly the man had been having a slow day as he was looking over expectantly. “I don’t know what kind of training they are giving you here,” She commented as she walked past him to throw the box in the bin. “Thank you for nothing,” Delilah smiled ingeniunely before leaving.
Only once she had driven home and parked in front of her house could Delilah pull out the pregnancy test she had saved. An undeniable wave of déjà vu flooded through her as she tried to process what was in front of her.
A positive test.
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