Without realizing it, Charlotte had been filming for a month. Her pregnancy was still a secret, but people were starting to get suspicious because Damon had been giving her a lot more attention lately.
He even sent her premium food delivery every day and would discreetly ask the director not to push her too hard if she looked tired—without her even knowing.
"Charlotte, I hope this doesn’t sound too rude ..." Noella hesitated, looking at her carefully. "But ... are you pregnant?"
Charlotte, who had just taken a sip of water, imdiately choked. She coughed violently, struggling to swallow, while Noella reached out to pat her back.
"W-What?" Charlotte finally gasped. "Why would you ask sothing like that?!"
Noella gave an awkward shrug. "I don’t know. Call it intuition."
Charlotte squinted at her. Is she a witch or sothing?!
But then Noella sighed and shook her head. "Actually, it’s not just intuition. You’ve been acting ... off lately."
Charlotte frowned. "Off how?"
Noella pointed at her with a dramatic expression. "You asked Isolde to buy you lemons, then you ate them with sugar! Like ... just casually munching on lemon slices as if they were candy!"
Charlotte blinked. "So?"
"So?! Who does that?!" Noella threw her hands up. "Are you seriously telling that’s normal?!"
Fortunately, no one else was in the room since everyone was still on break, and Isolde, who was sitting quietly in the corner, already knew about Charlotte’s pregnancy.
"Lower your voice," Charlotte muttered, shooting Noella a look. "So people just like eating lemons. What’s so weird about that?"
Noella crossed her arms, unimpressed. "Charlotte, I’ve seen you do worse."
Then, without warning, she leaned in dramatically, her face re inches away, eyes wide with sothing between accusation and sheer disbelief, like a detective about to crack an unspeakable case.
"You ate raw onion with whipped cream." She paused for effect. "Onion. And. Whipped. Cream. Charlotte, what kind of cri against humanity is that?"
Charlotte inhaled sharply. "Y-You saw that?!"
She knew her cravings were questionable. That was exactly why she had been so careful, sneaking off to eat in the dark alley beside the filming location like so kind of food-obsessed fugitive.
And yet, sohow, soone still caught her?!
"It was just a coincidence," Noella said, waving her hand dismissively.
"I was on my way to the convenience store when I saw you and Isolde huddled in a damn alleyway, whispering like you were making so shady drug deal, but instead of drugs, you were eating raw onion like an apple and dipping it in whipped cream."
She threw her hands in the air. "What the hell were you doing?!"
Charlotte looked away. "I was just ... craving it."
"In an alley?"
"It’s private," she mumbled.
"It’s a cri scene," Noella corrected. "And what if sothing happened to you? What if so sketchy guy saw you there alone and decided to rob you?!"
Charlotte gestured toward Isolde, who was still silently watching the chaos unfold. "That’s why I brought Isolde with ."
Noella gave her a long, deadpan stare. "She’s your assistant. What is she gonna do if a burly six-foot dude tries to mug you?"
Charlotte blinked. "... They would die."
Noella frowned, furrowing her brows. How could Isolde, who seed like such a sweet and harmless lady, possibly kill a burly six-foot man?!
Noella narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Wait a minuteb..." She turned to Isolde, who was casually sipping her iced coffee as if this conversation had nothing to do with her. "Are you secretly a martial arts master or sothing?"
Isolde blinked innocently. "? A martial arts master?" She let out a soft chuckle. "No, of course not."
Noella didn’t look convinced. "Then how the hell would you protect Charlotte if sothing happened?!"
Isolde took another sip of her drink, then shrugged. "I have my ways."
That answer only made Noella more suspicious.
Charlotte, who had been listening to their back-and-forth, quickly changed the subject. "Anyway! Stop making such a big deal out of this! I just have so weird food cravings, that’s all."
"Weird? Charlotte, eating raw onions with whipped cream is beyond weird!" Noella threw her hands in the air. "That’s—ugh! I can’t even put it into words!"
Charlotte pouted. "But it tasted good ..."
Actually, Charlotte couldn’t rember exactly when her weird cravings started.
First of all, her eating disorder was still bad, though at least now she could finish half a normal portion, thanks to Emi’s encouragent.
After spending more sessions with Emi every week, Charlotte had finally started trying to build a healthier relationship with food.
Emi had given her strict instructions: stop counting every single calorie, stop searching them up online, and stop obsessing over the numbers.
To help with that, She even asked Damon to serve packaged food on a plate, so she wouldn’t see the packaging and fixate on the nutrition label.
At first, it was torture. The urge to check her phone for calorie information gnawed at her constantly. But Damon made sure she never got the chance.
He always found a way to keep her distracted during als, pulling her into conversations, telling her random stories, or just being annoyingly persistent until she focused on him instead.
And slowly ... it worked.
She started forgetting to look things up. Started eating without overthinking.
Damon even banned her from stepping on a scale indefinitely, which felt extre, but honestly, it was probably the only way to stop her from spiraling again.
Then, out of nowhere, the pregnancy cravings hit.
The first ti, Damon was delighted when she woke him up in the middle of the night, saying she wanted sothing to eat. He was already halfway to getting his coat when she added, "I want toothpaste-flavored ice cream."
The look on his face was priceless.
She could still rember the way he had practically begged her not to eat anything that wasn’t actual food, promising he’d buy her mint-flavored ice cream instead.
But instead of being reasonable, she got irrationally upset and refused to talk to him for an entire day.
It was ridiculous. She knew she was being ridiculous. But no matter how hard she tried, there were monts when logic just ... didn’t exist.
Her doctor reassured her that it was normal because pregnancy hormones could turn even the most rational person into an emotional rollercoaster.
But seriously ... this baby was already driving its parents insane!
Charlotte couldn’t, for the life of her, understand why her baby wanted her to eat such abominable things.
But when she told Mona about her bizarre cravings, the older woman simply chuckled. "Oh, sweetheart, that’s nothing. When I was pregnant with Damon, I had the weirdest cravings too. You know what I ate once? Raw fish ... with chocolate sauce."
"It’s funny because I never had that problem with Louis. Carrying him was a breeze. But with Damon? It was absolute madness."
At that mont, Charlotte finally realized that Damon’s genetics were the reason her cravings had gone completely out of control.
"Charlotte, I know you won’t admit that you’re pregnant," Noella said. "I just want to be sure so I can be extra careful when picking out your makeup. You know ... so products aren’t exactly baby-friendly."
That was fair and logical.
"Can you keep a secret?" Charlotte asked.
Noella made a zipping motion across her lips before dramatically tossing away an imaginary key. "Sweetheart, I’ve worked with hundreds of celebrities, and I’ve never spilled a thing to the dia, even when so of them were complete assholes in real life."
She said it so casually, but Charlotte could tell she ant every word.
Charlotte took a deep breath, glancing around the empty room as if double-checking for eavesdroppers. Then, in a hushed voice, she admitted, "I am pregnant."
Noelle’s eyes widened, but to her credit, she didn’t gasp or freak out. Instead, she placed a hand on her hip and nodded. "I knew it," she said smugly. "Lemon with sugar was one thing, but raw onion with whipped cream? That was a dead giveaway."
Charlotte groaned, covering her face. "God, I thought I was being discreet."
Noelle chuckled. "Sweetheart, you were eating in a dark alley like a guilty raccoon. That’s not discreet. That’s suspicious."
Charlotte peeked through her fingers. "You’re not going to tell anyone, right?"
Noelle scoffed. "Please. Do I look like a tabloid journalist? Besides, if Mr. Sullivan finds out I leaked your secret, I’d probably wake up to find my entire makeup kit mysteriously vanished."
Charlotte chuckled. "He would absolutely do that."
Noelle winked. "Exactly. So don’t worry, your secret is safe with . But seriously, let know if you need anything. Pregnancy can be tough, and I imagine it’s even harder when you have to shoot such emotionally intense scenes."
Charlotte smiled. "You don’t have any idea."
Before Noelle could say anything, soone knocked on the door from outside. "Ms. Dawson, you have a visitor."
Charlotte exchanged glances with Isolde and asked, "Is it Damon?"
Isolde shook her head. "Mr. Sullivan told he couldn’t co today because he has a lot of etings."
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