Chapter 4 Life and Death
"I don't need that, Dr. Damian, you won't feel it until you're in my position." I protested firmly.
"Are you really not going to consider it? I'll ask again, will you let this baby go?" I nodded with such confidence. I wouldn't even be able to look at his face, the child of that bastard Dylan whom he accused of not being his, a child I never expected to arrive so soon outside of marriage. I am very confident in my choice.
"If you really want to get it out as soon as possible, let me take it out of the womb of the mother who is just as irresponsible as the father. The baby lives a pitiful life, not knowing what mother will do later." Damian stood up, this is the first time I've seen him look so cold. Even though he had been smiling since yesterday, even when a woman poured a drink on him at the cafe.
Damian walked out, saying he would quickly get the baby out of my womb, so I followed him. "Hey, wait for me." I tried to match my pace with Damian, it seemed the man was emotional, even though this was my baby, my body. As I was following his steps, suddenly a man carrying a one-year-old child bumped into me. A woman followed them with a small run and tears.
"Forgive me, I'm in a hurry, my child is sick." While holding his crying son, the man with a worried face and beads of sweat on his forehead tried to apologize to me.
"It's okay, please continue with your goal." The man immediately ran back.
"Thank you, miss." The woman who was crying earlier thanked me for forgiving them. I nodded, and the woman immediately went to join her husband and child who were having a fever earlier.
Damian didn't say much, even though he also stopped in his tracks when I bumped into him earlier. Damian also continued on his way without saying a word. We passed by the children's ward and heard loud crying from inside.
"Doctor, save my daughter!" A mother's cries were so loud they could be heard outside. I can see the atmosphere inside the room through the glass and the slightly open door.
"Your daughter is no longer here. We can't do anything anymore." Hearing those words, the mother wailed, saying that it was impossible for her daughter to have died so quickly at such a young age. Her cries grew louder as the nurse pulled the white cloth to cover her little daughter's body.
I don't know what illness the child suffered from, but one thing I caught was the pain of the mother who lost her child. Unbeknownst to me, Damian had walked so far, and I immediately chased after him. "Please come in," said Damian as we arrived at the room that Damian had promised earlier.
"What room is this?" I asked, glancing to the right and left at various medical equipment, a bed, and a crib. Maybe this is the delivery room.
"Please lie down on the bed." I walked over to the bed in the middle of this room. Next to it, there is a monitor and tools whose names and uses I do not know.
Damian covered me with a hospital blanket up to my waist. Once again, I didn't see his smile, I even felt tense as if he wasn't my friend.
"You can lift your clothes up to your stomach." It feels a bit awkward because I've never even had a pregnancy check-up by a doctor, let alone a male doctor. This is the first time, and the one who will examine me is my school friend.
As I lifted my dress, Damian applied gel to my slightly growing belly, then a device touched my abdomen. "It's almost four months old, this is its little body." Damian pointed to the monitor screen, and suddenly I saw the small body of the baby in my womb, already formed with moving arms and legs.
"The baby grew up healthy," Damian said, and I couldn't understand how I felt. Damian fiddled with the buttons under the screen, and suddenly a sound like a rapid heartbeat was heard. "This is the heartbeat sound." And when Damian said that this was the baby's heartbeat in my womb, I suddenly felt my heart race too.
"This baby is very healthy. Next month, it seems we will be able to know its gender," Damian said while moving the device away, wiping the gel residue off my stomach with a tissue. Damian continued, "Unfortunately, it might not be here next month. Because your mother wanted to let you go."
After finishing with my stomach, Damian walked over to grab a tray filled with tools like knives, scissors, gauze, and so on.
"I will start dissecting and removing it." Damian raised the knife in his hand, about to rip open my stomach. But suddenly I heard the sound of a baby crying.
"The babies are twins! A boy and a girl! Look, they are very beautiful." A female doctor shouted with joy, even lifting the baby proudly. At that moment, I also saw a small, smooth baby with white skin, blonde hair, and a chubby cheeks. Her cheeks are so cute, when I looked at her face, the baby suddenly smiled, very beautiful, adorable, and so innocent.
All the family members of the baby rushed in and expressed gratitude, praised, and took turns praying for each other. The warmth outside even reached into my heart, I saw a young couple, the parents of the twins, crying with emotion at the birth of their children.
"You have seen a lot of how birth and death happen. Do you still want me to continue the surgery?" And tears fell, I shook my head while gently stroking my belly. Damian put the knife back in his hand. He sat on the chair beside my bed, "don't be a bad parent, even if the baby arrives when you're not ready to have baby."