Jennifer moved on instinct, heart pounding, mind clouded with disbelief. She flung open her dresser drawers, pulling out bras in quick succession, trying each one with growing frustration. None of them fit. Not even close. The bands dug into her back, the cups too small, overflowing. Her chest was too full, too sensitive. Every tug, every clasp that wouldn’t close sent a sharp reminder that her body was no longer what it had been.
She bit back a panicked noise and tossed the last bra onto the floor.
Fine. No bra.
She yanked a black bodysuit from the back of her drawer—one she barely wore, snug but stretchy, meant for layering. She slipped into it carefully, her breath hitching as the fabric slid over her swollen chest. It stretched across her curves, hugging her too tightly, too revealing. The material turned sheer over her breasts, nipples visibly outlined beneath the thin fabric. But she didn’t have time to care. She just needed to go.
She pulled at the bottom, smoothing it over the swell of her belly. Even that was a challenge now—her stomach firm, rounder than the day before. The pressure made her feel like the seams might burst. Still, she grabbed her denim shorts and tried to wrestle them on.
They barely made it past her hips.
She wiggled, cursed, pulled the zipper halfway up, then gave up and threw an oversized flannel shirt around her waist to hide the gap. It didn’t fix the problem, but it was good enough to get her out the door.
Keys. Wallet. Phone.
Her breath trembled as she looked down at herself—at the body that wasn’t hers just days ago. At the tight fabric, the new weight, the changes she couldn’t explain.
The city outside was just waking up as she stepped onto the sidewalk, sunlight bright and indifferent. She kept her head down, her arms wrapped around her chest, trying not to notice the way strangers glanced at her. Like they could see something was different. Like she didn’t belong in her own skin.
She didn’t stop walking.
She needed answers.
And the doctor was the only place left that might have any.