Kiss Me Not

It had been a few hours since Brione had collapsed in her reception. She didn't know much about what happened since then, but all she knew was that her doctor had just announced that she was pregnant, and that she should take her time in recovering her strength. Also, they told her that she shouldn't put too much stress on her body, seeing as she was now carrying a child inside her.

Still that didn't mean she couldn't gush about the news to her friends.

Fishing out her phone from underneath her pillow, Brione adjusted herself on her bed before putting on a group call with her closest friends. After a brief moment of letting it ring, Mitch and Berry finally picked up.

"Hello, all," Brione greeted. "How're you guys doing?"

"Brione! You're okay!" Berry quickly yelled out from her speakers. "And congrats on the baby!"

"Yeah, we didn't expect that to happen so soon," Mitch chuckled from her side of the call. "Then again, we probably should've expected it if you two were constantly going at it."

Brione blushed at Mitch's words. "Hey now, we didn't do it that much."

"Well, it was certainly enough to knock you up," Berry chuckled, jumping in on teasing their friend. "And that usually doens't happen if you do do it enough times."

The bedridden of the three couldn't help but blush even further at her friends' constant teasing. Still, she could probably manage to fire back on at least one of them. "How about you then, Berry? Surely you're not far behind me on that regard."

Her friend quickly reddened at her words. "W-well, I'm using protection. Unlike you, it would seem." Berry lied and she did not know why she said such silly thing.

"Now now. Let's not talk about us having kids right now," Mitch chuckled. "Anyway, how are you, Brione? How far along are you?"

The newlywed hummed as she felt herself over. "Well, I feel fine. As for the baby, the doctors said that I'm only around six weeks pregnant."

"That's great," Berry smiled. "We can expect a mini-Brione to be running around in about eight months then."

"Don't word it like that," Brione chuckled. "I'd like to at least see my husband in my child."

"Agreed," Mitch chimed in with an amused smirk. "Either way, when can we see you?"

Brione hummed, "Well, you'll probably see me quite soon. Gavin's company headquarters is moving up shop to Country B."

"Oh? That's pretty close," Mitch commented.

"That's not all. I'd like you both to be assigned over there," Brione continued. "That way, we can be together just like old times."

"That's fine by me," Mitch quickly chirped up. "Kevin's still working there as the Head of Security for the Royal Family. I'm pretty sure I can slot myself right in just fine."

"I like the sound of that myself," Berry cooed in curiousity. "Though, that's assuming Harry and I are both free to move there. I can handle it just fine, but Harry's situation doesnt exactly look flexible at the moment."

Brione hummed in deep thought. "That's fine. Don't just want to leave your fiance just like that, right?"

"Yeah," Berry sighed. "I'd really like to work with you guys again, but it's just now impossible right now, I think."

"Well, there's always a bit of time before everything's set in stone," Brione comforted her friend. "Things can still happen for you. Who knows? Maybe Harry will get relocated somewhere near here as well."

"I don't know about that," Berry sighed. "He's always so busy. He's been spending more time with me, thankfully, but even I know that he's really just doing his best."

"And you don't want to just spring this up on him, huh," Mitch nodded through the call. "I understand. We don't want to be too selfish, right?"

"Exactly," Berry agreed. "He's doing so much for me already. I just don't want to add more things for him to stress about. We're just starting to really form a relationship, and I don't want to ruin that."

"Well, like I said, there's always more time for things to develop," Brione reassuringly smiled. "It's gonna be fine, Berry. We can wait."

"Thanks…" Berry let out yet another sigh. "And uh, sorry for ruining the mood. I know this is supposed to be a fun social call, but I just dragged you two down."

"Don't be silly. That's just part of life," Mitch scoffed. "If anything, I'm glad you're having so much fun with your fiance that you don't just want to leave him."

"I agree," Brione chimed in. "Me springing this onto both of you was already a huge ask. I just wanted to know if you can both make it. It's fine if you can't. That's kind of what I expected, really."

"You guys…" Berry let out a content breath. "Thanks…"

"What're friends for?" Mitch chuckled.

"Exactly," Brione nodded. "We're not going anywhere. We're talking to each other right now. Nothing's gonna change about that no matter what happens."

Brione watched from her phone as Berry broke into tears. How she wished to hold her close and tell her that everything was really fine, but they were currently separated by literal time and space. It was already a miracle that modern technology could allow them to talk to one another like this, but there were just some things that cannot be replaced by simply talking to one another.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing you two again," Brione gave her friends a radiant smile. "I'm fully expecting both of you to be there when I give birth to the bundle of joy inside me."

"Oh, I will most certainly try," Berry chuckled, having recovered from her previous emotional state. "Nothing will stop me from seeing your kid."

"Same goes for me," Mitch smirked. "We both have to spoil that kid rotten."

"I'm gonna hold you two to it then," Brione giggled. "You're both my kid's aunts, and I wouldn't allow you two to miss it even if you're both inexplicably pregnant."