Page 40 of Mate Match: Curtis & Jae
It took only a moment to pull up the news site on my tablet and get the batch numbers. Finding where I’d put the package for the DuoStop took longer.
All the while, Curtis told me about his day, asked questions about mine, and eventually reminded me what I was wearing the night we met thinking that maybe the DuoStop package was still in my coat pocket. I loved him so damn much.
“Got it! Right where you said it was. How did I not remember this coat?”
“To be fair, you were in heat at the time you wore it.”
“Let’s blame that.” I fumbled with the package before locating the batch number. I checked it three times, even repeating out the numbers to Curtis. He got called back to work before I could tell him the news.
We’d taken the faulty DuoStop.
Truthfully, I didn’t know how I felt about it. When I thought it was just a point five percent chance, it felt like the baby was special.
Then I realized it didn’t make the baby any less in my eyes. What were the chances of a date, a person I’d only just met setting off my heat weeks early? What were the chances of us falling pregnant during our first heat together? I’d been with Hwan for years and while I’d taken contraception, I hadn’t been consistent with it because of the headaches.
Our batch of DuoStop had been out for over a year! What were the chances that was what we’d get in that drugstore? It was a chain of events that had made this happen.
The baby I was carrying was the happiest of little accidents because I had Curtis by my side. That little baby had brought us together, and I loved them for it. I knew others weren’t so lucky. It made me determined to fix this. Now I knew I had to fight for them to get justice.
Eighteen
Jae
Gettingoldacquaintancesonboard to create a new law should have been incredibly challenging. It was not. This scandal had affected more people than initially thought, giving me more allies than I could have hoped for. During the initial investigation, it was found that there was at least one other batch with a less than advertised effectiveness. Lara helped with that information.
My potential sister-in-law admitted to having her concerns that we’d end up pregnant when Curtis told her we had used DuoStop. As a doctor, she had seen more than a few patients in her clinic who had become pregnant despite taking the proper precautions.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t say anything,” she’d apologized the day after the news had dropped.
Curtis had told his family we were one of the couples who’d used one of the faulty batches, wanting to be open with them about what I planned to do. They were fully on board.
Lara also wanted to help with her medical knowledge. She admitted there was talk in the medical community, many theories that something had happened, well before the story broke. There just had been no proof, only suspicions, until the whistleblower let the story out.
With a couple of doctors adding to the ranks, we quickly put together a team, proposed a bill, and made compensation easier to obtain. It was a hell of a lot of work. Far more than I should have been doing, especially with a book about to come out and a baby on the way.
Luckily, I had Curtis. My man was wonderful at ensuring I took regular breaks and even had a nap schedule for me. He wasn’t above coming home after lunch to make sure I took a nap. The thirty-minute snooze did help me, so I rarely fought him. Besides, it was best for the baby.
I was busy fielding calls from lawyer friends about which lawmakers were most likely to be sympathetic when I got a surprise visitor at the front door one afternoon: Hwan.
“Hey, Jae.” He greeted me, looking sheepish in his sharply tailored suit. “I’m sorry just to turn up like this. Your parents told me your new address and your news.” He was clearly uncomfortable, yet tried to be friendly. “Congratulations! Can I come in?”
Shaking off the shock, I moved out of the way. I still hadn’t said a word, more than a little overwhelmed.
“Is your boyfriend home?” Hwan was scanning the entryway.
The question broke me out of my confusion. “Curtis? No. Should I call him?”
Hwan hesitated. “Maybe. Depends.” He sighed. “Are you okay talking for a minute?”
“Yeah, sure. Hold on, I’ll see if I can get him on a call.” I pointed him through to the living room and went to call Curtis in the kitchen.
“Hey, are you alright?” Curtis asked as soon as he answered. While it wasn’t uncommon for me to call during the day, I tried to keep it to his lunch break. My man would drop everything for me, I knew that, I just didn’t like to take advantage of it.
“Um… Hwan is here. At the house.”
Curtis went on full alert. “He is? Why?”
“I don’t know. Do you have time—?”
