As the doctor attended the birth of his former lover, he paled the moment the baby appeared.
The maternity ward was overwhelmed with activity that morning. Hallways echoed with hurried voices, swift footsteps, and the constant hum of medical equipment.
In a massive hospital in the heart of Mexico City, silence was a rare luxuryalmost impossible to find.
Dr. Alejandro had just finished a difficult cesarean. Wiping sweat from his brow, he mechanically removed his gloves when an emergency call shattered his brief respite.
A woman in active labor, nearly fully dilated, urgently needed the on-duty physician.
Rushed, he changed his surgical gown and entered the delivery room. But the moment his gaze settled on the patients face, time froze.
It was Valeria. The woman who had stood by him for seven years, his love, his support who had then vanished suddenly, without explanation, leaving only silence and deep wounds.
Now she lay on the bed, sweat-soaked, breathing in ragged, painful gasps. Her abdomen tensed spasmodically, surrendering to the force of labor.
She clutched her phone tightly, as if it were a lifeline, her eyes reflecting recognition mixed with fear and disbelief.
*”You… youre the chief doctor?”* she whispered hoarsely.
Alejandro said nothing. He only nodded and adjusted the bed.
The birth proved complicated. The babys heart rate weakened, Valerias blood pressure dropping dangerously. The team worked under tension but with precision.
Alejandro remained composed, exuding the calm of a doctor accustomed to storms.
After forty exhausting minutes, the newborns first cry pierced the room. Relief washed over everyone present.
Alejandro carefully cradled the child. But the moment he saw its eyes, his heart falteredthe same deep, dark gaze as his own. The same faint dimples, just like his childhood photos.
The rooms noise faded, everything blurring. Then he saw the marka small, droplet-shaped birthmark on the babys shoulder.
A rare family trait, passed from his grandfather, to his father, then to him. Now, proof pulsed on this newborns skin.
The nurse reached to take the baby. Alejandro hesitated before handing him over, his eyes following as she gently wiped his cheek and carried him away.
He approached Valerias bed. Exhausted, she turned her head as if avoiding his gaze.
*”Why… why didnt you ever tell me?”* he murmured roughly.
Her lips trembled before tears streaked her face. *”I wanted to… but everything was collapsing. My parents pressured me, you were drowning in work… I feared youd hate me, that youd leave.”*
The silence between them grew heavy. Alejandro took the swaddled baby again. His hands shook, yet an unexpected strength stirred in his chesta fathers instinct.
*”Valeria… whatever happened before, one thing is certainIll never abandon you. Or our son.”*
She looked up. Her reddened eyes shone with fragile hopea spark in the dark.
Outside, the newborns strong cries echoed. Not just the sound of a new life beginning, but the voice of rebirthtwo lost souls finding each other again through their child.
