Chapter 168 - Feeling is Mutual (1/2)

”Brother,” Oliver called out, snapping the prince out of his trance. His brows furrowed in worry when he saw Maxen looking confused.

There was that one time he saw the same expression cross Maxen's face and he never saw it again until now.

”Maxen.” Oliver snapped his finger in front of her brother's face. It was loud enough to get Maxen's attention.

”I'll wait for her outside.” Maxen gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing as he forced the lump down in his throat. ”She should be here any minute now.”

”You can wait for her inside too. You can't stand in the hallway. You'll be attracting unnecessary attention to this room,” Oliver spoke in an urgent yet hushed tone, looking to his left and right—checking the hallways.

Although they were on the VIP floor, he didn't want to take chances of people seeing Maxen in the hospital and connecting the dots to Olivia's hospitalization.

The last thing he wanted was to subject her sister to another round of harsh gossiping behind her back and flushing the hard work she did in establishing her business in the country down the drain.

Caving into Oliver's pleas, Maxen's foot just crossed the threshold when he heard the screeching sound of wheels rolling towards their direction.

His heart pounded painfully in his c.h.e.s.t as he watched his wife lay on the hospital bed, looking pale as a ghost and unconscious. Deep inside, he was blaming himself for what had happened to Olivia.

If only he was more attentive and if only he took care of her better, none of it would have happened and Olivia wouldn't be suffering at that moment.

He closed his eyes for a brief second to compose himself. He told himself that he shouldn't let his emotions rule over him and that he needed to show his wife that she could depend on him.

He remembered how heartbroken she was over her cat Petra. How much more when the heaviness of the incident would weigh down on her as she recuperates from their loss?

Inside the Royal Suite, which is the one and only VVIP suite in the hospital, the room was silent as the nurses transferred Olivia to a more comfortable bed which looked more like a luxury bed than a hospital bed.

As the name implies, it was made for a royal as the room itself didn't come close to a hospital suite, almost akin to a five-star hotel's presidential suite.

Once Olivia was transferred to her bed, the nurse checked her vitals and drips one last time before excusing herself to call the doctor in charge of the patient's case.

Queen Isla sat in the chair beside Olivia's bed, while Maxen and King Alistair stood behind her. Meanwhile, Oliver and Henry opted to seat on the curved couch by the floor to ceiling window, their shadows cast a faint shade of grey on Olivia's sleeping form.

Knock. Knock.

The creek of the door sliding open snapped the visitors' heads towards its direction.

”Hello, I'm Dr. Aila Zhang, Olivia's primary care physician. I was notified of her admission to the emergency room so I rushed here as soon as I heard about the news. I'm here to check her status.” She regarded everyone in the room, smiling faintly at Maxen.

”Thank you so much, Aila. I hope your father's enjoying his retirement,” Queen Isla spoke, grasping Dr. Aila Zhang's hands. ”Would you mind explaining to us what happened? This is a shock to all of us.”

Dr. Aila Zhang patted Queen Isla's hands in comfort. ”So, Olivia said she has an IUD in place, but when the resident checked it earlier she didn't find one. There have been cases of IUDs falling out unnoticed happening. That's why the resident did an intrav.a.g.i.n.a.l ultrasound just to check if the IUD got stuck inside, or if it was dislodged but instead, what she found out was actually an incomplete miscarriage. Meaning, Olivia's uterus was not emptied properly which caused her infection and fever.”

Feeling all the eyes staring at her as if waiting for her to clarify further, she carefully slowly explained the situation. ”Normally, the first trimester is the trickiest part of pregnancy. A lot of things can happen in those 12 weeks like the embryo's incomplete implantation or a chromosomal abnormality. In short, it's more on the chemical side of why miscarriages happen.”

”She's been under a lot of stress lately. Can it be the reason?” Maxen asked, rolling his tongue over his teeth.

”There's no study to back up that claim, so, I will rule that out as a possible cause.” Dr. Aila Zhang answered confidently, pacifying Maxen.

As a psychiatrist, she couldn't help but notice Maxen's microexpression, so she gave them the answer that wouldn't start a war. If her math was right, it wasn't long ago when they consulted her over Olivia's recurring nightmares, and it might have caused her more anxiety than normal.

Queen Isla nodded her head as she listened, raising her hand to ask a question.