AFTER THAT GAME

The phone blasted off, startling the doctor, who was focused on her computer. Seeing it was from a nurse, she immediately answered the call.

"Dr. Martinez, we have an emergency patient." The nurse's voice indicated urgency and panic. "She's bleeding a lot. I think it's a miscarriage."

Gabriella didn't need further elaboration to get up and snatch her white coat from the rack. She put it on, and it flapped as she headed for the door in a hurry.

"I wasn't sure if it was the right call, but I only thought of you when I found out who the patient is. "

The hesitation in the nurse's voice made Gabriella slow down.

"Why? Who's the patient?" she inquired with a little nervousness.

"Do you remember that lawyer who ended up in the news with Mr. Mar--"

"Focus on the patient, Nurse May," she cut the nurse off before hearing the entirety. She already knew who the nurse was referring to.

She dropped the call and came running to the emergency ward.

A woman lay on a hospital bed, and she was crying miserably because of the pain. The sound of her cries pierced everyone's heart in that ward, including Gabriella's.

She had always dealt with every patient as professionally as she could. Inside the hospital, a patient was just a patient to her. And she was proud of her rigid clinging to that type of professional behavior.

Gabriella looked at the patient, and her chest contracted from the pain. She wasn't just any patient.

She was that patient. The type of patient who could compromise her work ethic and professionalism.

She lifted the quilt covering the lower body of the woman. The sheets that were once white were now painted bloody red. The patient's lower body was covered with blood, and it was a ghastly sight.

It indicated a sorrowful truth. Her baby was gone.

When the patient recognized her doctor, she cried out through the pain. "I want another doctor!"

The nurses in the room shared meaningful glances. Gabriella remained unfazed by the patient's attitude.

'She's just a patient, just a patient,' she repeated in her mind like a chant.

"I'm sorry we can no longer save your baby," she said with enough amount of stiffness, at the same time, empathy.

The patient continued sobbing, and she held her tummy.

"You have to undergo an operation for us to clear your uterus and minimize the damage."

Gabriella hid her hands inside the pockets of her coat. She had a peculiar feeling she would see someone she didn't want to see in that ward. Though her rational mind screamed at her that it was impossible.

She looked at the nurse who called her to the emergency ward. "Nurse May, get an OR and prepare for surgery. Where is her guardian? We need the consent form signed."

As she waited for the nurse to answer or the guardian to suddenly appear, Gabriella prayed in her heart that the patient's guardian wasn't the one she had in mind.

Anyone. It could be anyone. She didn't care.