Poppy's PoV

I reread the article for the third time whilst I sipped my coffee, Calum in the kitchen making breakfast for us both. It had been a hard few days, seeing these articles and knowing Naomi was really out to get me, but for the sake of Calum and I - and my job - I had to take it head on and just face it. There would be no point in cowering away from paps, making it look like she had won. Even if Calum and I didn't survive this ordeal, I would be proud of myself for handling it the best I could. I didn't want to think about that possibility - one without him - but I also knew I had to. Naomi was on a mission, one that meant she would use and abuse anyone to get what she wanted. She twisted words, manipulated people and hurt others just for her own gain. This was not going to end well. Now she was claiming she was pregnant, but Calum kept denying it profusely. I'd confronted him via text at first and then face to face when I'd got out of the hospital. His facial expressions told me everything I needed to know. He told me she had been to see him a couple of times and that he'd kissed her, which I knew, but he swore to me that he'd never gone any farther with her. This whole pregnancy was a scam. Well, that or she was pregnant and it wasn't Calum's. Then again, he could be lying to me and I was falling for it hook, line and sinker. I know I should trust him, and I do believe him, but there's something nagging away at my gut. Sometimes he looks at me a certain way, or changes the subject all too quickly, and it makes me think he's hiding something. If I question it, of course he denies it and just says it's my mind playing tricks on me. Was it though?

"Hah!" I let out a surprised laugh at the section I'd just read, looking away from the magazine as I shook my head. Calum glanced over to me from the kitchen.

"What?" He asked carefully.

"Have you ever heard something so ridiculous?" I said, surprised. "This is actually printed in this dumb magazine... 'Honestly I have nothing against Poppy, she seems like an alright girl but this is about Calum and I and we really need to get this sorted before it's too late. If I have to talk to her, I will, and I will remain civil with her. I don't have any bad feelings towards her'." Calum stared at me with a blank expression, not quite knowing how to respond. "Says the woman who literally ran me over. She didn't mention that though." I scoffed, throwing the magazine onto the table beside me. The room fell into an awkward silence for a second, my mind running away with all the hopeless possibilities of how this would end and not many seemed to be in my favour.

"I'm so sorry Poppy." Calum finally spoke, switching the food off as he quickly made his way round to me, flinging his arms around me in a tight hug. "I never meant for any of this to-" he sighed. "This has been a disaster. It's like our pasts want to come and kick us in the teeth. We were finally happy and excited about life with nothing to stop us and then she came along." My gaze, which had been at the floor the whole time he spoke, finally moved to his eyes. His gleamed with hopefulness, mine dull with despair.

"I'm not going to lie Calum, this is hard for me. I want to believe you but she just keeps bringing up more stuff. The more she says, the more I'm not sure what to believe. I thought I could trust you but you still go back to her every time you see her." He seemed to freeze up and my gut told me there was that thing again, the one he is withholding from me. Now had to be the time to tackle it. "Did you see her recently?" He straightened where he stood, unknowingly already answering my question. He offered a quick response.

"No." I raised an eyebrow at his minuscule answer. This was it, he was lying to me. My body hurt, saddened that we had got to this state when a few months ago we could barely keep our hands off one another.

"Calum, so help me if you even have one cell in your body that still wants to be with me, that wants me over her, then you're not going to lie to me." He hesitated and I prepared myself for the worst. He sat down, running his fingers through his hair.

"If I tell you, you'll leave. If I don't, I'll lose you." He said solemnly. Seeing him this upset really didn't help matters. If anything, I then began to panic more.

"Please." Was all I could muster in the end, tears welling as he sighed heavily, ready to deliver the bad news.

"I'm an idiot. A useless waste of space, I know. The day of your accident..." he began and I already started to shut down. I didn't want to hear it, to know what had happened between the two of them. Was this where he was going to tell me he did make her pregnant? I began to feel lightheaded, dizzy as my thoughts spun complicated webs in my mind. "I was so distressed, I couldn't focus. I'd argued with Luke and lashed out and I wasn't me. She must have known because she came in and did her flirty number. I was in such a state, I barely even thought. I just sat and stared out at nothing. She took advantage of that and kissed me but I swear, it was nothing more. I told her to leave as soon as I got my act together and she was so upset that I'd rejected her again. This is why she made up that pregnancy story." My body felt numb as the words pinched at me, I'd literally just been run over by that woman and hours later he was with her? I couldn't handle it, couldn't take any more. I wanted to break down, but something felt weird in my body. Something wasn't right. Barely able to focus, my body felt like it wasn't there, replaced with a weird pulsating feeling. I knew what was going to happen. This really wasn't the time.

"Calum. Doctor." I managed before I collapsed, falling straight to the floor in a dizzying mess.