1Merci beaucoup: Thank you.

2De rien: you're welcome.

3 Subgaleal haemorrhage: bleeding in the space between the skull and the scalp.

    Amber yawns, unable to hold it back. She couldn’t sleep last night with the argument clogged up in her mind.   “Been working very hard, have you, love?”   Amber chuckles in response without justifying the friendly question with an answer. The nurse withdraws the needle and deftly disposes it in the yellow bin as Amber presses the cotton balls on the area where her blood was taken.   The nurse’s wrinkled forehead creases even more as she puts a tape on the cotton ball. “I remember I couldn’t even sleep from seven months onwards when I had my sons.”   “Looking forward to that,” Amber replies wryly, earning a laugh from the nurse. “Merci beaucoup,” she glances at the nurse’s nametag, “Beatrice.”   “De rien, Doctor Ambre,” she says after glancing at Amber’s identification card on her pocket. “The result will be sent to the hospital you’re booked at and they’ll tell you the result on your 28 weeks’ visit.”   With that, Amber leaves the Pathology department for the Paediatric ward tea room to have an early dinner. She has been eating small frequent meals throughout the day to manage her heartburn, which is very common in pregnancy as the hormonal changes affect the oesophagous and as a result, the acid from the stomach ascends to cause the burning pain on her chest.  She sends a message to Yuri to inform her that she has done her glucose tolerance and 28 weeks’ blood tests, and that the result should be sent in the next few days to the hospital.   The next hour, just because her shift starts, she receives a reply:   Thanks for telling. Guess what? Your ultrasound result FINALLY arrived!   She hums at the remainder that the ultrasound place she took her morphology scan, which observes the baby’s growth and development in the second trimester, didn’t give her the report and she was told it would be sent to the hospital she is booked at. However, when she turned up last week in Toulouse, Yuri did not receive anything and had to chase it up.   The next part of the message succeeds in bringing a smile onto her face that day.

 

∞

 

In the next two weeks following the argument, Amber and Henry have not spoken about it, nor have they talked to each other except work matters at the hospital during hand-over between shifts. They are always on different time of shifts, or different departments. For example, tonight, while Henry has finished the afternoon shift at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Amber’s night shift is spent at the Postnatal Ward with the mothers and babies, reminding her of the time when Paris was born. She almost wells up in tears as the memory returns – a part of pregnancy that she despises as it is ridiculous when she thinks back.   It’s quite night despite the thirty rooms that are filled with mothers and babies. Amber decides to spend some time in the tea room as she converses on the phone with Myung Soo, who is staying back later at work.   “She was so cute!” she almost croons at the image she could still remember so well. “Well, she is still cute now… sometimes.”   “Aren’t they all made to be cute? That’s why you fall in love with them at first sight.”   You have no idea, Amber muses. She has fallen in love with Paris before the girl was even born.   “Hey, I spoke to Jae Joong about Paris yelling at you and guess what he said?”   “You tell him this?” Amber almost laughs at the idea.   “Well, he is the closest friend I’ve got who’ve had a kid. And speaking of that, Kyung San yells at everyone in the house too.”   Amber chortles, “And what did he have to say about our Paris?” She finds that she likes the sound of that. It’s not just ‘my’ Paris anymore, it’s ‘our’.   “He said, ‘What type of nine-year-old listen to what you say all the time? Five-year-olds don’t even do that.’”   “He made a point.”   “Hmm…”   “He could come and work with me.”   “Perhaps,” he agrees good-naturedly.   “You know, this is such a bad time to have a baby,” she sighs.   “Why?” Amber could hear him frowning from here.   “Because,” she exhales. “You hardly know Paris. We should have a period where you two bond before we even start another one. This is crazy!”   “That’s my life story ever since you came.”   “Is that all you’ve got to say?”   “Well, no… I mean, I agree with you. It’s not like we planned it all,” he says ruefully. “I understand what you mean. You should take her with you and I’ll spend the time with her.”   “You don’t sound very happy about that.”   “I am happy! It’s just… look, it’s just odd, you know, having another girl to love in my life.”   “What do you mean?”   “I’m just used to have you as the closest female in my life after my mum passed away. I mean I had Hyun Ah as a sister and Krystal as a friend. But you and Paris are more than that. I’m used to love you, I’m familiar with that feeling and whatever I do just comes naturally. But Paris is a different entity altogether.”   A smile forms on her lips as warmth sizzles in her chest. “You make me feel special.”   “You are special.”   Amber scoffs, “You have such a sweet mouth,” but couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.   “Amber,” a woman with dark skin enters the tea room and speaks in her accented English, “can you please come and check the baby in Room 14? The mum had a vacuum delivery and the baby’s head feels ‘boggy’. I don’t know if you’d like to check for subgaleal haemorrhage?”   “I’ll be there in a moment, Euhlaydi.”   The midwife smiles and leaves the tea room to let Amber finish her phone call.   “A lady?”   Laughing, she corrects him, “Her name is spelt A-L-A-D-I. She is African.”   “Oh,” his embarrassed laugh fills her ears before a sigh comes, “You have to go.” She smiles feel