Chapter 1 The Emergency

"Hush! Stop creating a scene. Aren't you ashamed, being pregnant at your age?", Rosa scolded in a series of harsh whispers as she hurried along beside the gurney on which Mara was being rushed off to the delivery room. But instead of keeping quiet, the girl only kept screaming in pain.

On a normal day, such a scolding from her stepmother was enough to silence her, but this time, she couldn't help it. She was in serious pain and her stepmother had kept her too long at home when it all started, more concerned with dumping curses on her than anything else. It was only when she found that the baby could actually be on its way that she called her husband who angrily instructed her to call an ambulance immediately.

Being childless and with absolutely no experience of pregnancy or childbirth, she had gone on to make things even more inconvenient for the 19-year old Mara. But now that they were here, she was relieved that it was out of her hands. Yet, her biggest worry was not for the girl's safe delivery but rather, the fear that her cries might attract everyone's attention to the "scandalous" situation.

"Please ma'am, you'll have to wait here," one of the nurses said to her, shutting her out as her colleagues rushed off with the still screaming Mara.

Rosa ground her teeth and clenched her fists in impotent rage, wishing she could strangle that little brat just to keep her quiet, but the girl was far away from her reach now, so she simply contented herself with sitting down in the waiting room, but not before scanning around with her eyes to see if anyone was staring at her. She didn't want to be seen as the mother of a pregnant teenager.

Luckily, no one seemed to take the slightest notice of her, so she sat down with a sigh and brought out her phone to listen to some music.

She was in this position, enjoying herself with her earbuds in both ears blaring out her favorite music, when she suddenly heard a man burst into the waiting room, his booming voice filling the area.

"Mara Johnson! Is she here? Where are the damn nurses?!"

Rosa immediately recognized her husband's voice and she quickly hid her phone with the speed of light and donned a mask of sadness and anxiety on her face.

"Oh honey, thank God you're here!", she wailed, tears in her eyes as she rushed up to meet her husband with wide open arms. But the burly man pushed her aside and then turned to face her again.

"Where is she? Is she being attended to? Why did you have to call me first before bringing her to the hospital, eh?! Answer me!", he roared, drawing the attention of everyone in the waiting area.

Left with no other resort, his wife promptly burst into tears. "Y... you don't know what I've been through for that girl since the moment we found out that she's pregnant," she sobbed, letting the tears fall freely. But her husband was not at all moved.

"Oh please, spare me your theatrics. Just tell me where the hell she is!", he barked at her, eyeing her with unspeakable disgust.

Still sobbing and sniffing loudly as if her heart was about to break, Rosa pointed wordlessly at the closed door. He got the message instantly and marched towards the door, ready to break it down if necessary. But he was stopped in his tracks by one of the nurses suddenly rushing out of the theater.

"How's she? Where is she? Is everything alright?", he blasted out the questions, grabbing the nurse by the arm as if he would lift her up and fling her away if she didn't give him the answer he wanted.

"Calm down, sir. Who..."

"Her father... I'm her father. Just tell me, how's she doing?"

"Take it easy, sir. Please let go of my arm. The baby's fine an..."

"Oh hang the baby," he cursed angrily. "Just fucking tell me about my daughter!"

"She needs blood and..."

"Well, here's mine. I'm her father. What are you waiting for?", he fumed, already rolling up his sleeve in record time.

"Then come with me."

Even before the nurse had finished the statement, he was already rushing off ahead of her.

*****

Rosa kept very quiet as she watched her husband keep up a steady but feverish marching pace right in front of her. Once in a while, he'd mutter threats and shake his fist at her with clenched teeth, promising to wring her neck if anything happened to his daughter. Rosa couldn't help but shudder. She didn't dare try to calm him down or he might just not bother waiting for any bad news before keeping his promise about wringing her neck.

He'd been restless and continually marching from one end of the room to the other since he returned minutes ago from donating the blood that Mara badly needed. All of a sudden, a nurse rushed out of the theater and hurried past him. Without thinking twice, he took off after her.

"Sir!"

He stopped and turned around to see who was calling. It was the doctor. With a muttered oath, he ran back again and nearly knocked down the doctor.

"H... how is she?", he demanded breathlessly.

"Take it easy, sir. Calm down. We have requested for blood and..."

"You need more blood? I'm ready." He was already rolling up his other sleeve when the doctor stopped him.

"Not yours, sir. I'm sorry, but yours was not a match."

Colin was thunderstruck. But he recovered himself immediately.

"What rubbish are you saying? But I'm her father!"

"I'm sorry, but you're not," the doctor replied calmly, even as Colin's hand began to tighten on his collar.

"Wait, wait... tell me something," Colin murmured, his shaking hand now tightly holding on to a handful of the doctor's coat. "Are you... are you talking about my blood or yours?"

"Calm down, sir..."

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down!", Colin roared, his entire frame shaking as he breathed like an injured bull, sweat pouring down his forehead and temples. But he hurriedly wiped the perspiration off his face and pulled the doctor closer. "Whose blood did you say was not a match, eh?"

"Yours, sir," the doctor answered calmly. He thought the man was going to faint or something worse, but instead, Colin slowly let go of his coat and looked wildly around him. Rosa flinched as her husband's roving eyes lighted on her. She'd seen him angry before, so many times, but she'd never seen him look like he looked now: like a trapped beast. She was already prepared to jump up and run for her dear life, but instead of coming at her, he simply dashed past and made for the exit like a man possessed by demons.

"Whew!", Rosa breathed in obvious relief. Her heart was still pounding, but she was glad and grateful to still be in one piece. As she worked on calming down her heart rate, her eyes encountered the doctor's and it quickly came into her mind to act her part. Immediately, she jumped up and rushed over to him with tears in her eyes.

"Doctor, please tell me. What's the problem with my darling? Is she okay? Why did my husband rush out so quickly? What happened? Please tell me, please!"

"You know what happened, madam," the doctor calmly replied and turned around and walked off, thinking he had just shamed the mother of the girl. If only he had turned around, he would have seen the smile that was slowly spreading over the face of Rosa!