Arland Hospital, the biggest hospital in the city, one of the biggest in the country, one of the most advanced in the world, and one of the biggest nonprofit hospitals in existence, financed mainly by Arland Group through Arland foundation.
If it had been any other time, Alex would have dissed his old man for his narcissism that made him put his name anywhere and everywhere. But this time, he did not even have the leisure to care about the germ-filled taxi.
He ran out of it, and straight into the big hospital, showing none of the signs to have been in an accident just earlier.
He looked around the wide lobby, then took his phone to call Leyna again. The call rang shortly, then was picked up:
"Alex."
"Leyna, where are you?"
There was only urgency in Alex's voice, and that was understandable.
Leyna replied in a low voice:
"Walk toward the obstetrics and gynecology department. I will meet you along the way."
Alex frowned, but did as he was asked. Behind him, however, he missed the sight of blonde, beige hair flying as its owner hurried inside the hospital, and went in another direction.
Alex and the owner of that hair seemed like two sides of the same coin whose fates were entwined, always meeting, always passing by each other, but without ever knowing, or interacting. At least, up to now.
Elsewhere, Grace was sitting in a wide office with white walls, and with the seat across from her ok the other side of the desk empty. Her legs were elegantly crossed as she turned to Leyna, the only other occupant of the room at the moment.
"Alex?"
The simple question didn't confuse the younger woman. She nodded:
"Yes. He has arrived already."
Grace did not show any surprise that Alex had been informed, nor that he had hurried over to the hospital.
"Then go bring him here."
"Yes, chairman."
Leyna walked out of the room, and returned a few minutes later, accompanied.
"Mom!"
Alex hurried past the black-haired woman reeking of intellectual beauty and came to examine Grace. He looked at her from top to bottom and from side to side, before he heaved a sigh of relief under her subtly amused eyes.
But he didn't care about that. He just felt relieved.
"Mom, why are you at the hospital?"
Grace's amusement disappeared. Her eyes softened, and she pulled Alex to take a seat beside her before replying:
"It's nothing. I felt a pain in my lower stomach, and I decided to come for a checkup."
The last bit of fear inside Alex drained away, and the mild concern that remained behind became almost unnoticeable.
He exhaled, and let himself fall against the backrest of the chair. When he turned and saw the gentle slight smile Grace's lips curled up to display, he felt frustrated, and he didn't keep his complaints to himself:
"Mom, you have every right to enjoy your son's concern for your well-being, but can you make things clear next time? I thought something happened to you."
"But I'm not the one who called you."
Grace's teasing tone, and her smiling expression made Alex look at the two women, then turn away with a roll of his eyes.
Leyna smiled apologetically and shook her head, because the fault was all hers. Especially as she had made the call to Alex on her own initiative. As for Grace, her smile simply deepened a little, before she turned to look forward, sitting in a prim and proper way.
*Clack*
The door was opened, and the doctor paused for a moment seeing more people inside than when she had left, before she fully stepped into the office with documents in her hands and closed the door.
The doctor, an old woman who had preserved herself well enough that the greying hair on her head tied in a strict bun at the back didn't give her a decrepit look, went to take her seat behind the desk, her steps filled with vitality that had yet to truly decline. Her serene face had a hint of sternness as she put the documents in her hand down, and glanced at Alex, before looking at Grace.
Alex frowned, and sat up straight, while Leyna held her hands in front, entwining and squeezing her fingers in nervousness.
Only Grace calmly looked at the doctor.
"Whatever the results of the analysis show, say it, Miranda."
Alex spoke, his voice deep, without casualness:
"Dr Robin, what is it?"
The doctor's face looked serious as she spoke to Grace:
"The discomfort you felt in your lower stomach is an extended consequence of what happened twenty-five years ago."
Grace looked unsurprised. Alex glanced at her, and his frown deepened as he turned to Miranda Robin to ask:
"Doctor, you mean the miscarriage of that time?"
That was the only response that seemed logical. With pain in the lower abdomen, and the words of the doctor who was an obstetrician-gynecologist, Grace's attending obstetrician-gynecologist, that was all Alex could arrive at as a conclusion. And Dr Robin nodded at Alex before she returned her gaze to her patient:
"Yes, the miscarriage. Anything that changes can never go back to its earlier state. Even though we managed to save your uterus at that time, the pain you felt today is your body sending out a signal."
Leyna squeezed her fingers tighter. Alex's face suddenly lost the frown marring it. With an expressionless face, he leaned back against the backrest once again, like a default spectator without emotion.
Only the woman at the center of the whirlpool remained unfazed. She relaxedly leaned back in her seat, and pointed out:
"Despite your words, you have yet to say anything conclusive, so I suppose I need to take complementary examinations, is that it?"
The doctor didn't hesitate:
"Yes."
Grace calmly nodded:
"I see. What should I expect then?"
This time, Dr Robin hesitated, though without a change in her expression, before voicing her opinion:
"At best, it is the scars of the old wounds bothering you."
Grace looked deeply at the older woman across from her, and slowly pressed:
"And at worst?"
De Miranda Robin looked at Alex, then turned to give Grace the answer:
"At worst, a tumor."