The Hospital Cover-up

Beep. Beep. Beep. 

The sound of those mechanical machines and the constant beeping slowly became clearer to her ears. 

It wasn't long before Luo Ruolan realized that the overwhelmingly pungent smell, engulfed with the stinging scent of disinfectants that lingered around and the beeping of machines was affiliated to that of a hospital. 

She slowly opened her eyes only to stare into the emptiness of the white ceiling up above, even that seeming so far away to reach. Then, shutting her eyes once again, she tried recollecting the moments from before, when a very calm and soothing voice interfered, "You're awake...so how are you feeling? Do you feel any discomfort or are you going through any pain...?" 

Luo Ruolan turned to her left to identify the owner of that exceptionally soothing voice, and her eyes made contact with the lady standing in a white overcoat, carrying some papers and a file in her hands. She was a nurse. 

But when Luo Ruolan pondered over the question that was asked of her, she couldn't come up with a reply. Was she hurting? Well, of course she was, but her entire body was consumed in numbness and her mind was a mess. She just stared blankly at the bedsheets that were provided. 

Not getting any replies from the patient, the nurse slowly started, "Well, there's a good news and a bad news- " 

But before she could finish, Luo Ruolan replied, "The good news, I need the good news first." Maybe because, she had had enough of those 'bad-luck days'. 

"Well, the good news is there is nothing wrong with your body now. With a few painkillers, you'll be as good as new!" the nurse beamed at that, and then continued, "and as for the bad news..."

Luo Ruolan looked at her, anxiously. 

"...we couldn't save your child..." 

And, like an arrow had pierced directly through her heart, the expression Luo Ruolan had turned horror-struck. 

"If it was just the fall, there would've been only little damage, but it wasn't just that...we found traces of misoprostol in your blood. When you were brought in, your forehead had a cut and you were bleeding through your vagina. At first, we though that the bleeding was because of the fall and we took measures to deal with that, but after several attempts, when the bleeding only continued, we decided to do some blood tests. And that's when we found traces of misoprostol, a very commonly used abortion pill, in your blood. And its consumption had also been recent." 

"B-But, I didn't take any abortion pill... why would I even...? I've been trying to get pregnant for the last 10 years but all in vain. I was finally with child, after so long, do you honestly think I'd take an abortion pill...?" 

"Hold on, hold on. What did you say? You've been trying to get pregnant for 10 years? But that's not what the results showed... Your blood shows many abnormalities in your reproductive health. By what the records say, you've been under a consecutive contraceptive routine for a very long time. Except the recent 3-4 months, that is..." 

"A contraceptive routine...?" 

"Yes. It means you've been taking dozes of contraception over the last few years, to be precise 7-8 years, excluding the last 3 months... wait, weren't you aware of that...?" 

Of course she wasn't aware of that! 

She had loved Liang Fang for all her life, with her everything. Giving birth to his child would have been a dream and she'd tried so many times, so many damn times for that. And suddenly this information outburst is revealing that she had been under contraception!? 

She had never had any side effects though. The only weekly headaches, occasional mood swings, excessive pimples, jut that. That was all...but... oh God. 

"So...like, I..." Luo Ruolan's words seemed to have disappeared. Just what on earth was she even supposed to say? 

"However, that has also been taken care of..." the nurse started again, obviously freaking out. Like, this woman in front of her had no idea that she was under contraception for 7-8 years; also, she didn't know when she had taken an abortion pill. Wasn't it a tad bit too obvious that someone who had a grudge against her was genuinely trying to mess with her life, and not the 'prank and troubles' kinda mess, but a literal 'harm her' type. 

Without showing her nervousness to the patient, she continued, "So, you should not have any trouble conceiving from now on... but, this time, it was bad luck. We tried to save the baby but there were a lot of clogs and getting rid of them would've cost you your life..."

"You should have then!" Luo Ruolan, bursting out in tears, yelled out, "You should've saved the baby...!" 

"Please let me finish, even if we did prioritize the baby, there was less than 5% chance that she could've been saved. The effects of misoprostol are quite severe, and you were already in your third month. I'm sorry, but the miscarriage was the only thing that we could've afforded in a situation like that..." 

Luo Ruolan had a lot to say, rather, she had a lot to yell out. She desperately wanted to scream at the top of her lungs and curse at every person who'd ever caused her harm. It was okay, if it was just her, it was fine. She'd tolerated everyone's abuses for years and was very accustomed to it. But go to the extend of killing a child that wasn't even born yet, were the perpetrators even human. Oh, wait. It wasn't 'perpetrators', it was Luo Lifen. 

It had to be her. She vividly remembered the expression she was carrying when she watched her sister losing consciousness, lying on the ground. She remembered how her expression changed immediately to fit 'concern' and 'fear for losing something/someone' when Liang Fang had turned to look at her. Luo Ruolan just knew it, it had to be her. 

"...thank you...miss Nurse, for clearing things out for me..."

"Wait, nurse?" the lady in white, stared in confusion. "Oh, this uniform is not mine. I don't work here... I'm a doctor, you see. A family doctor. I just came here to visit a friend when they brought you in; and every other doctor was busy so I was allowed to operate on you. I kinda borrowed this coat." 

"Oh, I see..." Luo Ruolan was the least bit interested in knowing whether she was a nurse or not. She was grateful to her for saving her life but that was it. She refused any further conversation. 

In any other situation, Luo Ruolan would've reacted very strongly to anything bad that had happened or was about to happen. By her lack of enthusiasm, positive or negative, it was obvious she was put into a psychological dilemma. She hadn't been able to completely grasp the situation. 

And that is why, there were no tears. She was dying on the inside, but there weren't any signs of sorrow or pain. 

There was nothing. 

It was just... quietness. 

A few minutes had passed since the doctor (who was mistaken as a nurse) had left the room, that the door to Luo Ruolan's room was banged open, and a sweaty slash worried (?) Liang Fang rushed in. 

"Just how careless are you!!? Running over the stairs, did you actually want to die!!?" 

Luo Ruolan, looked at him, with an utterly blank expression, devoid of any emotions but only greeted his interrogation with silence. 

"Great, ignore me! If that makes you feel better! I'll be out then, just get better soon!!" 

'Aren't you sad...like not even a bit? You unborn child just died. I'm in a hospital, surely the doctors and the nurses had shown you the reports. You probably even know that I was indeed pregnant...so then, how are you so...casual? Did you hate me so much that...that you don't care if your child dies... did you not want me to be the mother of your children that desperately...?' 

There were many more of these questions that her mind had harbored when Liang Fang had used the words, 'I'll be out then'. With her already weakened arms, she reached out and grabbed one of his hands before he could walk out of the ward. "The child...it's dead now..." 

"Oh God, not again!" 

And another hit. Why did he have the same 'irritated' look on his face. Did he really not care about his own child...? 

"Honestly, even the reports are out! They said, you had a terrible fall and you lost a lot of blood and hence you fainted. Just how pathetic are you to even talk about a non-existing child when you're in a situation like this! What is wrong with you!?" 

And immediately, after finishing his words, Liang Fang had broken free from her hold, although he didn't leave right away. 

And as for Luo Ruolan, she didn't catch any of the words he let out for justifying himself or whatever he was trying to do. 'My child just died, and you don't even believe that he existed...' was all she could run through her head. 

"If that's all, I'll be heading outside. Once you get better, you should properly thank Luo Lifen. She, herself, handled all the official documents and reports. All I had to do was rushing out to buy the extra medicines. She did every other thing by herself. I'm not asking you to dissolve your sisterly-squabbles, just try and be nice to her, okay...?" 

Be nice to her? The one who tricked her through an through, the one who took everything away from him, the one who... killed her child....? 

"The divorce papers..." 

Liang Fang was already about to  leave the room, when her sudden words stopped him on his track. He immediately turned around to observe his wife, her facial expressions and body movements. 

But Luo Ruolan kept her gaze fixed at the blanket that laid warm over her legs. 

"What did you say...?" Liang Fang further questioned. 

"The divorce papers... I'll sign them!"