At eight months pregnant, I went into early labor. I died on the operating table. I was rushed into the maternity ward with another pregnant woman. “The water has broken for this patient; we need to proceed with surgery immediately. Contact the family to confirm signatures.” “My husband is away on a business trip. I can sign for myself!” I spoke through the pain, just as a man rushed over to the other woman’s side. “Save her first! She has a weaker constitution!” I recognized him immediately. Nathan Chase, my husband. The same husband who was supposed to be on a business trip out of town. How could he tell them to save someone else first? Nathan glanced at me with a cold calmness. “She’s an athlete, she’ll be fine. I’m her husband. I can sign the liability waiver.” He spoke firmly to the medical staff. “I’m Dr. Nathan Chase from Downtown General Hospital’s OB-GYN department. Trust my professional judgment.” Later, I bled out on the operating table. Nathan knelt at my grave, sobbing, “Emily, I was wrong. Please, come back.”
Nathan Chase was a renowned OB-GYN at Downtown General Hospital. But he was always busy. Busy traveling across the country for work, too busy to come back when his wife was knocked into premature labor. The sudden labor only worsened the hospital’s already tight resources. After the violent impact of my fall, by the time I was taken to the hospital, blood and amniotic fluid had already soaked through my entire body. The doctor told me to contact my family, so with the last bit of consciousness I had, I called him. Once. Twice. No answer. I tried my mother-in-law. Still no response. “My husband is out of town for work. I can sign for myself,” I groaned, barely able to bear the pain, as I informed the doctor of my intentions. Coincidentally, another pregnant woman was brought into the emergency room after a car accident. “Doctor, save her first! She’s bleeding from the head; she might have a risk of intracranial bleeding!” I looked up, and there he was. Nathan Chase, my husband, the man who was supposed to be away. I have RH-negative blood, the rare “panda blood,” as they call it. And here I was, lying on the ground, covered in blood, and my husband, the one man I thought I could rely on, chose to ignore me. Nathan held onto Tina Lewis’ hand tightly, his concern for her all too obvious. “Don’t worry,” he said softly. “I’ll personally handle your surgery. You and the baby will be fine.” “I guarantee you’ll walk out of surgery perfectly healthy.” The tenderness in his voice, the way he looked at Tina, cut through me like a knife. Without a hospital bed, I lay there in the hallway, watching him shower affection on his former classmate, his “little sister” from medical school. Patients passed by with their families. Everyone had someone to lean on in this terrifying moment. Everyone but me. As my own husband walked right by me toward another woman. All I got was a cold remark: “You’re just having a premature birth. You’ll be fine.” Did he not know I had RH-negative blood? As I waited for my surgery to be scheduled, I felt my eyes grow heavy. The next time I woke up, I was surrounded by doctors and nurses. “The patient has suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, and she’s hemorrhaging! Contact the blood bank immediately!” “Where’s Dr. Chase? He’s the only one in the city experienced enough to handle this!” The nurses wheeled my bed frantically down the hallway, assuring me everything would be alright. They told me my husband, Dr. Chase, was the top OB-GYN in the city. He had successfully handled amniotic fluid embolisms three times before. They even contacted the media to put out a call for blood donations. They didn’t want me to worry. I was pushed into the operating room, the cold mechanical sounds of various machines filling the air as they reported on my vitals. “Not good! Her oxygen levels are dropping too fast. She’s fading! Where is Dr. Chase?” I could feel the anxiety of the attending physician as she clutched my hand, her fingers icy. The nurse was just as worried but helpless. “Dr. Chase finished surgery on another patient and then… left. Apparently, that woman wanted some bone broth, and he said he’d make it himself.” “Call him!” “He’s not answering…” “The baby’s not breathing either, and the patient is critical. We’re losing her!”
The conversation between the doctors made my heart sink, little by little. At the moment when my baby and I needed him most, my husband wasn’t there. He was busy making soup for another woman. The attending physician gripped my hand firmly. “You trusted me, so I won’t give up on you. You have to hold on!” Alright… I blinked slowly. Someone in this world was still fighting for me, still hoping I’d make it through. So I had to keep trying. The intern was still desperately trying to reach Nathan Chase. My attending physician and the hospital’s top specialists were working side by side, leaving no room for error. The media broadcasted the emergency, and soon, many generous donors with RH-negative blood came to the hospital to give. Bag after bag of blood plasma was pumped into my body, and the doctors wiped the sweat from their brows. “The baby’s out!” At last, the sound of a baby’s cry filled the room. But I felt my strength draining away, and my vision blurred. The attending physician shouted at me, “Don’t sleep!” “Bring the baby over so the mother can see!” I forced my eyes open and smiled at the small, slightly blue baby. She was so beautiful, soft and sweet, just like Nathan must have looked when he was born. The intern suddenly raised his phone in excitement. “Dr. Chase just called! We got through!” The crisis wasn’t over yet, but my attending physician looked like she’d grabbed a lifeline. “Did you hear that? Your husband’s on the phone. Hang in there!” They put the call on speaker, and Nathan’s frantic, angry voice filled the operating room. “Emily, where’s your hospital bag? You’re not giving birth yet anyway, right? Let Tina use it.” “Oh, and the maternity nurse you hired, can Tina use her first? She had an early delivery and doesn’t have time to find a reliable one.” Boom. The last bit of hope I had collapsed. I felt the final sliver of strength leave my body. The attending physician frowned and had the intern hold the phone to her. “Dr. Chase, your wife has had a severe amniotic fluid embolism. She’s in critical condition. Your expertise is needed urgently to save her.” The line went dead. “He hung up! Is he out of his mind? His own wife is dying, and he’s worried about someone else’s maternity nurse?” “What kind of ‘renowned doctor’ is this? He’s nothing but a heartless jerk!” Their voices were loud. Even I couldn’t help but laugh. And in that fleeting moment, all hope drowned beneath the waves of despair, swallowing my last breath of consciousness. “Critical!” “The patient’s oxygen levels are plummeting. Contact the blood bank for more plasma, immediately!” In an instant, my once-stable vitals began to nosedive. Maternal instinct told me not to give up, but I simply couldn’t hold on any longer. Beep— “August 20th, 2024, at 2:21 p.m., patient Emily Perkins, declared dead.”
I… died? I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to reach down and cradle my baby, but my hands passed right through her tiny body. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hold her. I couldn’t feel her warmth. All I could do was watch as my hands kept slipping through her over and over again. The death of a mother during childbirth is a big deal for any hospital. As they wheeled my body out of the operating room, my attending physician ran into another doctor from the neighboring surgery room. Seeing the white sheet covering my body, Dr. Lee sighed in sympathy. “That’s strange, wasn’t Dr. Chase’s wife just next door, undergoing a routine C-section? We could’ve handled that easily. Why didn’t he come to assist you?” “He’s the authority in these kinds of cases! Could it be that, because his wife was giving birth, he didn’t want to step in and help save lives?” Before Dr. Lee could finish, the intern interrupted, frustrated. “Dr. Lee, the woman under this sheet is Dr. Chase’s wife, Emily Perkins.” Dr. Lee chuckled. “I’ve worked with Nathan for so long. You think I don’t know who his wife is? His wife is Tina Lewis. How could this be Emily?” Still grappling with the loss of the patient, the intern lost her patience, her tone exasperated. “Why would we lie to you? This is Dr. Chase’s wife. It’s on her medical records.” Dr. Lee froze, then slapped his forehead in disbelief. “You’re joking, right? Dr. Chase’s wife… dead?” The only response was the cold, silent body beneath the white sheet. … After I died, Nathan Chase couldn’t be reached by phone. But his mother, Gloria, showed up at the hospital. “The mother didn’t make it… I’m so sorry for your loss,” the nurse informed her quietly. “But she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Five pounds, three ounces…” Before the nurse could finish, Gloria frowned and walked off to call Nathan. “Your wife gave birth. It’s a useless girl,” she snapped into the phone. “That’s fine. I told you she’d be alright.” “Oh, by the way, Mom, I gave her hospital bag to Tina. I also sent the maternity nurse Emily hired to help Tina. You know, Tina’s all alone and needs someone by her side.” “Fine, fine. I got it,” Gloria huffed. “Mom, can you stay at the hospital and look after her for me?” There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Nathan pressed on, “Mom, I’ll pay you. A thousand dollars a week.” Hearing that, Gloria finally relented. “Your wife doesn’t need anyone looking after her. She’s fine. An athlete’s body can’t be that fragile.” “She heard that you sent her nurse away. Now she’s saying she wants to go abroad to recover after childbirth, something about it being quicker and better. Someone’s already arranged to pick her up.” I couldn’t understand why Gloria would say that. Nathan didn’t give it much thought either. “Whatever. Let her go wherever she wants.” Listening to his dismissive tone, I began to wonder: if he knew I’d died on the operating table, how would he react? Would he feel even a twinge of sadness? From the other end of the line, I heard Tina’s soft voice: “Nathan, do you think Emily’s mad at me?” “I had you come stay with me, and Betty’s here helping look after my son. You know, I’m all alone right now…” “I didn’t mean to bother you. I don’t want to cause any trouble for Emily…” “Who cares about her? Your priority is to recover. Don’t worry about anything else. And anyway, she’s an athlete. She’ll be fine.”
No sooner had those words left his mouth than a blinding light flashed before my eyes. I looked up and saw several of Nathan’s colleagues walking into Tina’s room, holding various gifts. Even someone meeting Nathan for the first time could easily read his emotions. Tina Lewis, his former classmate, was the unattainable goddess of his youth. He never had the courage to confess his feelings for her, but he made sure the world knew he adored her. Had it not been for that school reunion I attended with him, I never would have known just how low Nathan Chase could stoop for her. In front of Tina, he was always humble, almost worshipful. At that reunion, his college roommates teased the recently divorced Tina, saying, “Tina, you’ve had a rough patch, but if you’d accepted Nathan Chase’s proposal back in the day, you’d be the one standing next to the top OB-GYN in Downtown General Hospital right now. There wouldn’t be room for anyone else.” And I, the “someone else,” could only stand quietly, becoming invisible in the crowd. His old friends all seemed to hate me, as though I had come between Nathan and Tina. If it weren’t for me, their beloved “goddess” would’ve been his wife by now. Nathan didn’t seem to mind them thinking that either. After that reunion, Nathan started giving me the silent treatment. He claimed he was too busy with work and only came home once a week. Eventually, he even skipped all my prenatal appointments. Meanwhile, his face appeared frequently in Tina’s social media posts. She called him her “perfect mentor,” and they appeared as close as ever. Whenever people misunderstood their relationship, Tina always smiled and shrugged, neither denying nor rejecting it. It was like she welcomed the confusion. In that way, she and Nathan were eerily similar. People mistook Tina for his wife, and Nathan seemed to like it that way. Naturally, this led to fights between us. Nathan defended himself, saying, “The truth will reveal itself. I don’t need to prove anything. Stop trying to control who I’m friends with.” He was always so insecure when it came to Tina. Just a hint of attention from her, and he was wagging his tail like a puppy. But with me, he acted as if he was my best option, the only one I had. Before the baby, I had been so dependent on him, and now, with the baby, it was even harder to leave. He knew that, and it only made him more reckless, more arrogant. So, he wasn’t afraid of losing me. Not even if I died. At four in the afternoon, after what must have been a busy day for him, he finally thought to call me. But I would never answer again. Once. Twice. Three times… As the phone automatically disconnected for the third time, Nathan’s face twisted into an irritated scowl. “Why are you just standing there? Tina’s asking for you!” “What happened to Tina?” He responded as if by reflex, rushing off toward the private ward at full speed the moment he heard her name. Inside the room, Tina was chatting happily with Nathan’s hospital colleagues. One of the young nurses spoke up, “Mrs. Chase, you’re so lucky. You don’t know how worried Dr. Chase was when you were in labor. Even when they called him about another woman with amniotic fluid embolism, he refused to leave your side and insisted on finishing your stitches.” Tina didn’t correct her. She just smiled, accepting the “Mrs. Chase” title without protest. “He was just nervous…” Just then, my attending physician and Dr. Lee, who had assisted Nathan, burst into the room: “Nathan Chase, you’ve gone too far! Not only did you never clarify that Tina isn’t your wife, you’ve let your colleagues misunderstand for so long! They’ve been calling her ‘Mrs. Chase’ all this time!” Dr. Lee’s voice was filled with genuine anger. Nathan stayed silent for a long time, then finally said, “I told you to just call her Tina. You’re the ones who insisted on calling her that.” “Well, well, well. You don’t know, do you? Your wife, Emily Perkins, had amniotic fluid embolism. She didn’t make it. She’s dead!” “And here you are, still doting on Tina, not even bothering to see your wife one last time.” “You’re not even scared she’ll come back to haunt you!” Dr. Lee’s voice grew louder as he tried to push Nathan toward my room. Nathan slammed the door shut, resolute. “I don’t believe it. You’re all in on this, trying to trick me.” “She was the one who chased after me for years. I finally gave her my last name, so there’s no way she’d just leave like that.” He laughed bitterly. “She’s not like Tina. Tina’s always had health issues, but Emily? She’s an athlete. Amniotic fluid embolism is nothing to someone like her.” Dr. Lee couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. “You’re a gynecologist, and you don’t know how dangerous amniotic fluid embolism is?” “Last year, we lost a patient in perfect physical shape to the same thing!” “Your wife was RH-negative. You know how risky that is, don’t you?”
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