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Whatever. I could still be of use from the front.
Clutching my phone to my ear, I got into the front passenger seat. The driver, whom I assumed was Winston, was a bald man with leathery brown skin, maybe around sixty years old. He wore black sunglasses and a suave navy suit.
Neil took the seat next to Christine. “Winston,” he said, “to the hospital. As fast as you can.”
“Got it,” Winston said in a gruff yet proper accent. He pulled the car out from the curb.
Meanwhile, the hold music stopped, and someone picked up my call. “Hello, Steph speaking. How can I help you?”
“Hi. I’m with a woman called Christine Liu. She’s thirty weeks pregnant and experiencing strong contractions, pressure on her back and lower abdomen, and heavy discharge. We’re on our way to the hospital now.”
“Understood.”
Steph asked for some information to identify Christine in their system. I lowered my phone and turned to the back seat. Neil was letting Christine squeeze his hand for support. The gesture surprised me. I didn’t think him capable of providing comfort to another person, even if she was a close colleague.
“I need to give the maternity unit her details,” I explained. “An address or date of birth or something.”
“December first, nineteen-eighty,” Neil said without faltering.
I parroted the date to Steph, and she gave me the information needed for our arrival.
“They’ll be expecting us at the labour-and-birthing unit on the ninth floor,” I reported after ending the call. “We can get to the drop-off zone via the Park Road entrance.”
“Roger that,” Winston said, as he wove in and out of traffic.
I peeked at the back seat again. Neil was still holding Christine’s hand. Her face was pallid and moist with sweat. It looked like she was about to pass out. Knowing full well just how risky the situation was, considering her age and the length of her pregnancy, I prayed she and the baby would be okay.
Now it was Neil’s turn to make a call. He took out his phone and spoke to whom I assumed was Christine’s partner. He asked them to come to the birthing unit at the hospital, and to bring everything that Christine would require.
A few minutes later, the barrier arm lifted for us at the entrance gate. The hospital was a campus of several white, multi-story buildings surrounded by concrete roads, carparks, and grassy areas dotted with trees.
Winston stopped the car outside the automatic sliding door into the building, then hopped out and assisted Neil with moving Christine from the back seat. “You’re going to be just fine, my dear,” Winston said to Christine, a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be thinking of you.”
Christine offered him a weary smile, then Neil and I escorted her inside while Winston got back in the car and drove off to find a proper park.
A strong antiseptic smell invaded my nostrils upon entry. Everything was a bright, cold white. Our shoes squeaked on the linoleum floor as we made our way to the lifts, then followed the signage to the labour-and-birthing unit. Neil looked after Christine while I reported our arrival at the desk.
“A doctor will see her shortly,” the receptionist said. “If her condition deteriorates, let me know straight away, and I’ll do what I can to have her seen sooner.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
She passed me a clipboard of paperwork and a blue ballpoint pen. “Could you please fill out as much of this as possible?”
“Uh, sure.”
Knowing as little as I did about Christine, I wouldn’t be able to complete the form. I didn’t think Christine would be up to it either, but Neil might.
I presented the clipboard to him. “She gave me this.”
He took it from me without a word, ran his eyes over the attached form, then began to fill it out. Meanwhile, Christine writhed in the chair between us.
“Not much longer,” I said. “Someone’s going to come and sort you out. Everything will be okay. Deep breaths.”
I tried to sound soothing, but inside, I was frazzled.
How much longer are we gonna have to wait?
Finally, a blonde-haired woman wearing a blue uniform with a white lab coat over the top approached us. “Christine Liu?” she asked.
