To Live Again, For the First Time!

Chapter 2 - Mothers, The True Warriors

Exo Hospital: Labor Sector, Room 868.

Time: 2 PM ??

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Shouts such as this one echoed throughout the labor room. The woman laying on the hospital bed clenched onto the baby blue sheets as she conveyed all of her agonies using her vocal cords. Deep down, she knew that it wouldn't exactly lessen her pain, but at that point, she didn't really have the time nor heart to care for such things.

Such cries were actually rather common in these delivery rooms, as one could imagine. Yet this one seemed to be able to channel the full torture, that the patient was experiencing to any other passerby.

The damage done was irreparable, more specifically the damage done to the eardrums of the surrounding people. It would most likely leave a scar for life.

Even the doctor and nurses that had already gone through thousands of battles against similar enemies seemed to be troubled. Yet these brave souls were able to come out victorious nonetheless.

Some people would start suspecting that there might be something going wrong with the procedure leading to the pain. They would be wrong.

There were absolutely no complications. It just happened to be that Elena felt more pain today than in her two previous experiences of childbirth combined.

A moment of silence for her.

It wasn't long before the doctor was able to slowly place the newborn in her mother's embrace. This led to a sigh of relief from both the mother and the doctor.

Even when there were no great difficulties during the actual childbirth, the aftermath from the yells was too great. His ears were still ringing ever so slightly.

He was seriously questioning his life choices. Did he really have to go choose a specialization where his hearing would be forever sacrificed for the greater good?

This woman was definitely a true warrior. The pain she seemed to be going through almost made his small headache seem pitifully insignificant.

He struggled to contain another sigh.

The only thought going through Doctor Elm's mind after this whole fiasco was, 'I should go apologize to my mother when I get off work...'

Before leaving to give both the mother and her family some time together, he didn't forget to write down a reminder on his report.

Install better soundproof walls!

He was already expecting some possible complications otherwise. The people outside might even call the police to report a possible murder occurring here. Which was thankfully not the case.

He carefully put down the report that he had just finished writing after doing a full body check-up on both the child and the mother. After which he made his way to the door of the labor room to let the family in.

A tall and handsome man in his 30s quickly rushed next to the woman's bedside. He stammered as he walked but thankfully didn't trip. He had wanted to accompany his wife throughout the childbirth, but his sons weren't able to handle her poor wife's cries and so he had to leave the room to make sure they were safe outside.

In addition to the fact that this hospital was rather strict with who could be present during the childbirth, the chances of him being in the room during delivery, were even slimmer.

While Gabriel listened to cries coming from the inside through the small cracks of the door. All he could do was clenched his fists and steady his shaking legs to prevent himself from succumbing to his desire to rush in. The woman he loved was in such pain, yet he was unable to soothe her nor share her burden.

Looking at Elena, his mouth twitched between a smile and a frown. He was stuck between dejection stemming from her wife's suffering and his elation to see his newborn. But this stopped when he saw the undeniable joy in his wife's expression.

"Let's name her Emilin." Her lips curled up into a beautiful smile that showed both her motherly love and signs of elegance despite her originally messy appearance due to the intense labor.

Then, the boys that had followed Gabriel in, felt the need to let their parents take note of their presence.

"Emiii~!" The younger of the two boys exclaimed, with a wide grin on his face.

"It's Emilin you little dum dum." The older boy spoke as if he actually meant to say his little brother was mentally retarded, even though he was only 3 years old. However, his amusement and joy were still apparent. This made his comment sound doting.

"Emiii!" He repeated. The mother of the two looked at them with mirth, laughing once again, this time, at their little antics.

"Little Theo seems to really like Emi, huh. What about you Little Nathan?" Her gaze was the epitome of motherly love while looking at her three lovely children. The kind of gaze that could melt just about anyone's heart.

"Humph, even though she is really wrinkly, she's still my sister. She might be bullied when she goes to school because she's so ugly! So as her big brother, I will have to protect her!" He said, causing another bout of laughter, from both parents. Theo who didn't know what exactly they were saying just laughed along.

'It seems I might have raised a little tsundere.' She wondered about the future growth of her children. She kept her mouth closed trying to contain the emotions that were about to rush out. Now didn't seem to be the right time to express them. [Author's Note: Tsundere is a Japanese term for a character development process that depicts a character with a personality who is initially polarized warm/soft, cold, temperamental, hotheaded before gradually showing a warmer, friendlier side over time.]

Shortly after, the focus went back to baby Emilin. It wasn't long before both parents found the abnormality in the situation.

'Emilin hasn't even cried yet!'

When both Nathan and Theo were born, they started to cry the moment they first opened their eyes, until they were closed again, it was so tiring.

These are parents for you, they will complain if you cry, but worry if you don't. And you'll still have to love them for it.

Both Elena and Gabriel were very worried, while the children had no idea what was happening. The parents looked at Emilin with eyes wide, filled with worry, just to find that the child was looking back at them with the same intensity, if not more. Big round eyes, filled with confusion and curiosity, which seemed unfitting for an infant that was less than an hour old. This was quickly ignored due to the more pressing issue of possible problems that might be related to her health.

"Doctor! Doctor! Is there something wrong? The child has yet to cry." The mother of the child could not mask her worry, nor did she try to. The Doctor who had just come back after the post-procedure clean-up was slightly confused and concerned, but he didn't show it on his face.

He had been too preoccupied with his own thoughts that he had not been paying enough attention to the child, which was completely unprofessional of him. The other nurse didn't notice either as she was checking the reports on the data of the baby while recovering from her mild headaches, which was common among all the people that had been in the room during the process of the labor.

The doctor took the baby from her mother's arms so that he could check the child's condition. However, before baby Emilin could even leave her mother she started wailing and crying, most likely instinctively.

At this point, Doctor Elms had to take a deep breath in order to keep calm.

'Why did I pick this job again?'