Chapter 5 The Baby Had Stopped Breathing

The overwhelming pangs of pain prevented her from seeing anything with clarity. At that moment, all she could register was the occasional glare of the lights sweeping overhead off the ceiling. Promptly sent into the operation theatre, she picked up on the muddied inflection of the doctor barking for the nurse to administer the anesthetic. Soon after that, her consciousness departed as her vision faded to black. Outside, the servants from the villa trembled as they stood by lined up along the corridor. Sir has reminded us of time and again that we have to keep an eye on her. I can’t believe that an accident like that happened! The lot of them were gripped in the throes of fear when they heard the approach of a sequence of steady footsteps. After a while, a man in a black suit with a sullen face to match came towards them. Upon the conclusion of the meeting with the company’s board of directors, he had received the call informing him that Eleanor fell from the steps and was in danger of premature delivery. Tensions rose as the air weighed heavily upon all outside the operation theater. As Casper narrowed his eyes, any would be able to recognize his fury. Everyone had their heads lowered in silence. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” he asked. “Sir, Ms. Shelby... fell accidentally.” The one who pushed Eleanor over was Lily Somers, the darling of Joseph - master of the house of Beaumont. Thus, no one dared to point a finger at Lily as they dared not get on her wrong side. All they could do was to try and pass it off as an accident. Hearing that, Casper’s furrowed brows deepened. But he had nothing further to add. Moments later, the signal lights outside the surgery room were turned off. Then the doors opened to the wailing of an infant emanating from the inside. A nurse swiftly came forth with a bawling baby cradled inside her arms. “Ms. Shelby has successfully delivered a healthy boy, Mr. Beaumont. However, as he was born premature, we will need to have him transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit immediately.” The secretary standing behind Casper asked anxiously, “Weren’t there supposed to be twins from the previous prenatal appointment? Where is the other child?” The nurse shook her head and exhaled, “We are sorry. As the two of them are both very weak... we have done all we could. The other baby boy wasn’t breathing when he arrived. And things don’t look so good for this one as well...” The mood in the corridor underwent a seismic change instantaneously. The secretary’s face turned pallid as he stole a glance at the man standing beside him. “Is there nothing that could be done? We could arrange for the best doctors to be sent here!” “It’s too late...” the nurse steeled herself as she answered, “The child was no longer breathing...” Without daring to utter another word, the man received the newborn baby from the nurse and brought it before Casper. Engulfed within the swaddle was the most bitty little thing. As a result of being born before his time, his skin was wrinkled and flushed throughout. Casper experienced an emotional state that was immediately strange and foreign to him as he extended a hand to touch the baby. The child, too, seemed to have felt something as well, as he cried out and grabbed onto his father’s hand. The baby boy’s hand was so tiny that they could not even wrap themselves around the man’s finger. Perhaps it was the effects of fatigue that caused his cries to diminish by each passing second. The newly minted father furrowed upon that. The notion of what parenthood might have felt like had never occurred to him, until now. From the moment his hand had been touched by the grasp of this fragile life, he was overwhelmed by a surge of indescribable sensations. His face fell when his thoughts wandered to his other son, the stillborn, as his heart was wrecked by anguish. Casper’s eyes remained transfixed as he lightly held the hand of this one baby boy who was before him. He then commanded sternly, “Send this child to the Beaumont’s private hospital. Assemble the best team, and have them watch over him, day and night.” “Understood, Sir.” The secretary then turned to the nurse. “We will assume responsibility for all the medical expenses incurred. Please help see to it that the other child’s affairs are taken care of.” “We will,” the nurse replied. As Casper was about to leave, he halted when something struck him. He then turned back in the direction of the operating theater. “How’s that girl doing?” “Please rest assured that she, too, would be attended to, Sir.” Casper paused briefly and held his silence before he departed with the ailing child posthaste. Meanwhile, inside the operating theater. Eleanor awoke in a body plagued by the throbbing of convulsions. As she turned towards the icy table next to her, the other child was twitching feebly against the swaddle. Her face crumpled as she pleaded with as much strength as she could muster, “Help, someone... would anybody please come and save my child!” The head of the nurse, who was busy tidying, perked up. The color fell from her face when she looked over. She then swept up the baby boy and made straight for the attending doctor. “Doctor! Dr. Ros! The baby is still breathing!” With that, the medical crew immediately got to work rendering aid to the brave little boy who had clawed his way back from the brink of death.