As he attended the birth of his former lover, the doctor paled the moment the baby appeared.
The maternity ward was overwhelmed that morning, crammed with chaos. Hallways echoed with hurried voices, swift footsteps, and the constant hum of medical equipment.
In a massive hospital at the heart of Mexico City, silence was a rare luxury, nearly 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 doctor.
Rushed, he changed his surgical gown and stepped into the delivery room. But the instant his gaze landed on the patients face, time froze.
It was Valeria. The woman who had stood by him for seven yearshis love, his support until she vanished abruptly, without explanation or a single word, leaving only silence and deep wounds.
Now she lay on the bed, face streaked with sweat, breathing ragged and pained. Her abdomen tensed spasmodically, yielding to the force of childbirth.
She clutched her phone in both hands like an anchor, her eyes a mix of recognition, fear, and disbelief.
Are you the lead doctor? she whispered hoarsely.
Alejandro didnt speak. He just nodded and adjusted the bed into position.
The delivery proved complicated. The babys heartbeat weakened, Valerias blood pressure dropped alarmingly. The entire crew worked tense but precise.
Alejandro, however, remained composed, exuding the calm of a doctor accustomed to weathering storms.
After nearly forty grueling minutes, the room filled with the newborns first cry. Relief washed over everyone present.
Alejandro carefully cradled the child. But the moment he saw its eyes, his heart faltered. The same dark, deep gazehis own. And those faint dimples in the cheeks just like his as a child.
The rooms noise faded, everything distant as if through fog. Then he spotted ita tiny droplet-shaped mole on the babys shoulder.
A rare family trait, passed from his grandfather, to his father, then to him. Now, living proof pulsed in this childs body.
The nurse reached to take the newborn. Alejandro hesitated, then handed him over with painful reluctance. His gaze followed as she gently cradled the baby, taking him to be cleaned and swaddled.
Alejandro approached the bed. Valeria turned her head, exhausted, as if fleeing his eyes.
Why why didnt you ever tell me? he rasped.
Her lips trembled, then tears streaked down her cheeks.
I wanted to I tried. But everything was collapsing around me. My parents pressured me, you were overwhelmed with work I feared youd hate me, that youd leave.
The silence between them grew heavy, suffocating. Alejandro took the now-swaddled baby into his arms again. His fingers shook, but in his chest, an unexpected strength stirreda fathers instinct.
Valeria no matter what happened, one thing is certain: Ill never abandon you. Not you, nor our son, he said firmly.
She looked up. Her reddened eyes flickered with fragile hopea spark in the dark.
And outside, in the hallway, the newborns strong cries echoed. They didnt just herald a new life. They were the voice of rebirthof two souls once lost, now found again through that child.
