She Blamed Me for Her Pregnancy

My pregnant coworker demanded that I take responsibility for her baby. There was just one problem: I'm a woman. When Claire Parker first told me she was pregnant, I assumed she was simply sharing the good news. We weren't close, but I congratulated her to be polite. Then her next message left me staring at my phone in disbelief. "You need to take responsibility." "What?" The demand was so absurd that I initially thought she was trolling me. But then she began listing all the things she expected me to do, and I realized she was serious. "Take Wednesday off and come with me to my appointment. "I don't want the baby, so you need to pay for the abortion. "Afterward, take time off work and stay home to look after me." I stared at the stream of messages before cutting her off. "Is this supposed to be my baby? I didn't impregnate you, so why should I be responsible?" To my disbelief, she responded as if her reasoning made perfect sense. "If you hadn't told me that my ex and I looked good together, I never would've slept with him! Then I wouldn't be pregnant! "Are you really going to avoid taking responsibility just like he did?" Chapter 1 "You always seemed like such an honest, well-behaved person. I never thought you'd turn out to be just as irresponsible as every other deadbeat." "You think ignoring me will make this go away?" "Stop hiding and answer me!" Notifications kept popping up on my phone. I didn't need to look to know they were all from Claire. I still had a mountain of work to finish and no time for her nonsense. I silenced my phone and focused on my tasks. A stack of documents suddenly landed on my desk with a loud smack. I looked up and found Claire standing over me. Her expression was imperious. "Handle these for me. "I need them back by two this afternoon. "And write a summary report while you're at it." I glanced at the documents she'd dropped in front of me. They were all financial reports. Claire worked in Finance. I worked in Marketing. Our responsibilities had nothing to do with each other. I had no idea what had gotten into her. Yet judging by her entitled attitude, she genuinely believed I should do her work for her. "Why would I handle your workload?" Claire placed a hand on her stomach. "I'm pregnant. I can't overwork myself. "This baby exists partly because of you. Doing my work is the least you can do." I stared at her still-flat stomach, struggling not to laugh. What did she mean, the baby was partly mine? I wasn't the child's father or mother. I'd assumed she would only dare make these ridiculous demands through text. I never imagined she would actually say them to my face. "What does your pregnancy have to do with me?" I frowned. My tedious workload had already put me in a bad mood, and Claire had chosen the worst possible time to start causing trouble. "This baby only exists because of you. Are you seriously refusing to accept any responsibility?" I had no idea where she found the confidence to demand that another woman take responsibility for her pregnancy. "What exactly am I supposed to be responsible for?" "You encouraged me to sleep with my ex!" I stared at her in disbelief. Claire and I barely knew each other. We'd hardly ever interacted, even at work. I certainly had never encouraged her to sleep with anyone. Then I remembered the only real conversation we'd ever had. We'd crossed paths in the break room while she was making coffee. I'd greeted her out of politeness. Maybe she'd been bored, or perhaps she was simply the type to overshare. Either way, she'd shown me a photo of herself with her boyfriend. I'd barely glanced at it before casually saying they looked good together. Suddenly, everything clicked. That was the compliment she was talking about. I couldn't believe one casual remark had caused me this much trouble. "All I said was that you two looked good together. That isn't the same as encouraging you to sleep with him. You made that decision yourself. "And shouldn't the baby's father be taking responsibility? Why aren't you going after him?" At the mention of the father, Claire's gaze darted away. "He doesn't want to take responsibility." I almost laughed. The baby's actual father wanted nothing to do with her, so she'd decided to come after me instead. Chapter 2 Did I look like an easy mark? "Then you should be going after him, not dragging an innocent person into this." The word innocent sent Claire into a rage. "Innocent? What's innocent about you? You're just trying to avoid responsibility!" She sounded so certain that, for a moment, I almost wondered if I really was the one in the wrong. "First, that baby belongs to you and your ex. It has nothing to do with me. "Second, I'm not avoiding responsibility. I was never responsible in the first place. "And if you're feeling too unwell to work, take medical leave and go home. "You don't get to dump your work on me." She opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. "I'm sorry, but I'm busy and don't have time to help you. Please leave." With that, I sat down and returned to work. I didn't acknowledge her again. Since we were surrounded by coworkers, Claire couldn't make a bigger scene. She glared at me for a moment, her expression dark. Then she reluctantly snatched back the documents and walked away. I soon put the incident out of my mind. By the time I finished my work, it was already two in the afternoon. Today was payday. The company usually deposited everyone's pay around one. But I hadn't received a notification. The balance in my account hadn't changed either. "Wendy, did you get paid?" "Yeah, Cameron. Mine came in at one. You didn't get yours?" I asked around and discovered that every one of my coworkers had already been paid. Confused, I went to Finance to find out what had happened. "You didn't receive it? That's strange. We've already processed everyone's pay." Helen checked the system and confirmed that every employee's salary had been issued. For some reason, I immediately suspected Claire. She worked in Finance. It would've been easy for her to tamper with my paycheck. I found her and went straight to the point. "Where's my salary?" Claire folded her arms and smiled smugly. "I took it. You refused to pay for my abortion, so I had no choice but to collect the money myself." I took a deep breath and forced myself to remain calm. "My salary and bonus came to four thousand dollars last month. You took all of it?" She smiled at me. "Yes. Anything left after the abortion is compensation for me. "That's what you get for refusing to do my work." I was almost impressed by the way Claire's mind worked. As far as she was concerned, I was obligated to do her job. She also believed she had every right to take my paycheck as compensation. Four thousand dollars was more than enough for me to report her to the police, yet she was standing there looking proud of herself. "Do you realize what you did was illegal? Return the money now, and I won't take this any further." I thought I was being remarkably generous. Claire merely shrugged, clearly unconcerned. "You're the reason I got pregnant, so you should be paying for the abortion. I only made sure you fulfilled your responsibility." Her complete lack of remorse pushed me past my limit. I grabbed her arm and dragged her toward Mr. Leedon's office. Claire struggled the entire way, but she wasn't strong enough to break free. After several failed attempts, she changed tactics and began attacking me instead. "What are you doing? I'm pregnant! If something happens to my baby, can you afford the consequences?" "It's only four thousand dollars. How can you be this cheap? That's nothing compared to what I've suffered!" "You'd better not make a big deal out of this. It won't end well for you!" All the way there, Claire accused me of being heartless and complained about how difficult her life had become. I found the whole thing ridiculous. She was too afraid to confront the man who had actually gotten her pregnant, so she'd chosen to blame another woman instead. Then she'd abused her position to steal my salary. Yet somehow, she still believed everything was my fault. I dragged her into Mr. Leedon's office. "Mr. Leedon, Claire used her access to steal my salary." I explained what had happened without bothering to soften my words. Claire had already exhausted every ounce of patience I had left. At this point, I no longer cared about workplace diplomacy. Chapter 3 All I wanted was the money I'd earned. "Claire, what's going on?" It was a perfectly ordinary question, yet Claire began trembling from head to toe. So she was capable of being afraid. I'd started to think she lived in her own world and feared no one. She stammered for several seconds without managing a single coherent sentence. Then, as if making a sudden decision, she yanked open the office door and bolted. Neither Mr. Leedon nor I had expected her to run. We instinctively chased after her. The moment Claire reached the common area, she raised her voice and shouted, "Everyone, come listen to this! Cameron got me pregnant, and now she refuses to take responsibility! "She even reported me to Mr. Leedon!" At the first hint of gossip, coworkers appeared from every direction. Mr. Leedon wiped the sweat from his forehead. He clearly hadn't expected the situation to spiral this far. "Cameron, what exactly is going on? I thought this was about your salary. How did pregnancy get involved? "And aren't you a woman? How could you possibly have gotten Claire pregnant?" I had no idea how to answer him. The entire situation was too absurd for words. My coworkers began whispering among themselves. "What's going on? Cameron is a woman. Is she trans or something?" "She's a woman? I thought this was about some jerk abandoning his pregnant girlfriend." "Two women made a baby together? That would be a medical miracle." "Didn't Claire have a boyfriend before? What does any of this have to do with Cameron?" Claire didn't care what they were saying. She wiped away her tears and continued putting on a show. "This is so unfair! She caused my pregnancy, but she won't even pay for my abortion. "I only asked her to help me with a little work, and she made a huge fuss about that too. "No one knows how much I've suffered because of this pregnancy!" Every word painted me as cold and heartless. She conveniently left out everything she had done. Apparently, she wasn't completely irrational. She knew exactly which details would make her look sympathetic. I walked over and refuted her claims one by one. "First, I didn't get you pregnant. "Second, your pregnancy doesn't give you the right to abuse your position and steal four thousand dollars from my paycheck. "And why should I do your work? If I do your job, do I get to take your salary too?" The accusation that I'd gotten Claire pregnant had already been shocking enough. The truth about my stolen paycheck was even worse. My coworkers gasped. "Holy crap. Did Claire seriously take Cameron's salary?" "Forget the pregnancy nonsense. Taking someone's paycheck is enough to land her in jail." "How can anyone steal a coworker's salary and act as if she's entitled to it? Cameron has incredible self-control. I would've lost it." Mr. Leedon stepped forward to regain control of the situation. He tried to lead Claire back to his office and end the spectacle. "Claire, you broke the law by using your position to take another employee's salary. "Stop making a scene. We'll resolve the payroll issue first. We can discuss your pregnancy afterward." But Claire refused to move. When she saw that no one was defending her and everyone was criticizing her instead, she cried even harder. She couldn't go back into Mr. Leedon's office. If she went back inside, the whole situation would become entirely her fault. So she decided to make the situation even bigger. If she was going down, she intended to drag me with her. "If no one is going to stand up for me, I might as well die!" She ran toward the stairwell leading to the roof, but several quick-thinking coworkers grabbed her before she could get far. Her sudden suicide threat frightened everyone. "Claire, stop this! Just tell us what happened. Cameron is a woman, so how could she have gotten you pregnant?" "And did you take Cameron's salary or not?" Claire deliberately ignored the question about my paycheck. Instead, she shouted, "If Cameron hadn't told me that my ex and I looked good together, I never would've slept with him or gotten pregnant! "How can you say she has no responsibility for this baby? "What's wrong with asking her to take responsibility?"