Chapter 11. A first time father

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Walking down the corridor of the hospital, both had settled down a bit from the slight "accident" they had on the way. And even if they had not truly, they still appeared to be calm nonetheless, as this was the only solution.

It also helped that as soon as they arrived, a young nurse was expecting the couple, and had also come to Aria's side gently helping her walk. With the third person between them, they did not have to pay attention to each other, although it seemed a bit strange to Aria, as to why the nurse had not only been waiting for her, but was also assisting Aria to walk of her own accord, supporting her by the hand.

She did not know, that the cold mechanical man, had already been instructed by the butler that Aria needed to be taken care of more attentively these days, because of the growing weight. Of course, the butler had only hinted to the man with the intention of the latter being the one to help his wife. But after carelessly pinching a certain part of her body, he did not dare help her himself, so had already texted the hospital for a nurse to wait outside for them.

As the owner of the hospital, naturally Aria did not need to wait in line, or wait for the doctor to finish her previous appointments. The OBGYN chief had already cleared her schedule for an hour in advance, and an hour before the known time of Aria's expected consultation.

'Mr. Black, Mrs. Black, thank you for coming.' The doctor respectfully greeted, then asked Aria a few questions related to how she was feeling these days. Assured that she had no visible problems, then proceeded to ask the couple to follow her to another room. 

'Mrs. Black, as you have already reached the seven months mark, I would like you to have another ultrasound scan to check the twins. Is that alright?' She smilingly asked, as she showed the two inside the office where the ultrasound machine was already prepared.

The middle aged woman had always been courteous to Aria, but with the addition of the owner of the hospital, even if she did not want to, at a subconscious level she was more apprehensive and polite than normal.

The gentleness displayed by the chief even the two interns by her side could not believe, how the one secretly nicknamed "spawn of the Netherworld"  by all the residents, could actually smile and show a gentle expression.

Seeing the smiling face of the kind doctor, naturally, Aria also showed a small smile, before nodding her head in affirmation. She was truly anticipating to see the small bundles of joy and hear the small heartbeats.

The small smile, coupled with her petite face and beautiful appearance, made not only the doctor more relaxed , but also made the two male interns grin a bit. Who wouldn't be happy seeing the fairy like appearance, as Aria's pregnancy and approachable nature, made her look no less beautiful than a blooming flower, rather than replace her womanly charm to only a maternal one.

It was a friendly atmosphere, as it was always when Aria came for her check-ups, but this time for some unknown reason the doctor actually felt a small shiver ran up her spine, and could not understand why, when nothing had seemed off until this moment.

She ignored the feeling, and directed Aria to lay down, as she took over the gel substance that had to be smeared on Aria's belly from the male intern,  before turning to her.

'Now Mrs. Black, please lift your dress.' 

'Alright!' Aria agreed to the request. She had purposely dressed in a looser one than normal, so it would be easier for the doctor, just in case she had decided to do an ultrasound. Moreover, she had also wore a pair of shorts underneath the dress, for the same reason. So hearing the doctor's words, she praised herself inside her mind, as she grabbed the hems of the dress, wanting to pull it up.

This was her intention, but the silent man by her side, who had not voiced even a word since he had entered the office, and was only quietly staying by her side, swiftly caught her small hands before she managed to lift her dress.

The bigger hands, that enveloped her smaller ones, confused Aria, and she immediately looked up at the man with a questioning face.

'Doctor!' The stern man icily said.

'Yes!' Replied the chief a bit startled at the sudden intervention, she had placed a thumb sized drop of gel on her gloved hand, and was only waiting for Aria to remove her dress.

'Does the hospital not allocate an appropriate budget for the OBGYN department?' He continued after a moment of silence. 

His voice was normal, but a displeased undertone could be felt nonetheless. It stunned the doctor, not understanding his point. Was the owner using this opportunity of coming with his wife for the appointment, as a disguised inspection? Alarms quickly rang in her head, and she honestly replied. 

'Yes, of course. The budget is established each year to meet all the expenses. It is enough to assure the best equipment and necessary staff. There is nothing lacking.' She immediately replied.

'Really? Then why is there a need for interns to assist you for my wife's ultrasound? Are you sure you have enough nurses?' Zane expressionlessly asked her, looking at the doctor as if he was ready to cut her in two.

'I am sorry. I did not consider this, it was my oversight. The interns are studying at the moment so...' The doctor hurriedly justified her actions.

It was normal in a hospital, for interns to do some of the jobs instead of the nurses, so they could learn. As such when the chief would have consultations, sometimes nurses did not need to be present, as the interns would take over their jobs. The chief had acted like she usually did in terms of the procedure. Moreover, Aria was also a rare case, she had been in a coma while pregnant, so she really was a valuable study case.

Aria was still looking questioningly at Zane, she also did not think it was that big of a deal. Interns had always been present whenever she had the consultations before. Not to mention, being in and out of the hospital for the most part of her last life, she knew it was a standard teaching technique. 

But hearing the word "wife" from Zane's mouth had momentarily reminded her of her position, it felt strange to her... foreign. But it also enlightened her a bit. Could it be that rich people did not like being used as study material?

'I am sure there are enough patients for you to help them in their studies. My wife is not a study case. This is the last time you will have interns present at her check-ups.' He firmly spoke.

Realizing her blunder, as she had only now thought the presence of the interns would upset Zane, the doctor immediately apologized and sent the interns out. By her side to assist her only remaining the nurse who had helped Aria walk.

The friendly atmosphere from before was naturally shattered beyond repair, as the women now did their jobs mechanically, a bit afraid of incurring the stern man's admonishing.

Aria, on the other hand, was not too preoccupied by his prickly words, as she had gotten used to, at least at a certain level, with his abrupt manner of speaking. But on the other hand, seeing the interns leave, she realized that he had also come with her to the check-up. Of course, she was aware of this from last night until this morning and even now, all this time she had known that he would participate during the check-up, but only now understood what it actually meant.

The problem was that, with the feeling of the big hands on her own as he had stopped her from lifting up her skirt, it dawned on her... she had just been about to show her belly to him without the slightest care. With all the check-ups, she was no longer shy of lifting up her dress whenever the doctor asked for her to do so, that was why she had also readily agreed just now. But how could she forget, he was also in the room.

'Please lift up your dress!' The doctor gently asked, but no longer with a smile on her face. Seeing Aria for the last months coming for her check-ups alone, she had thought that the owner of the hospital was an uncaring person towards his wife, but it truly did not seem that way. 

The doctor would even think he was a little exaggerated. It looked to her that the man was not actually upset about there being interns at the consultation, but their gender was more the problem. Or else he would have said something as soon as he entered the office, he wouldn't have waited just until Aria was about to have the ultrasound.

At this point, Zane no longer detained Aria's hands, so she could freely remove her dress. Although a bit unwilling, Aria had no choice, and slowly lifted up the loose part of the hem.

Zane was still near Aria, so as soon as her dress was up, he was the first one to see. But not wanting her to feel uncomfortable, did not linger with his eyes on her, and only as expressionlessly as ever, seated himself on the guest chair near the bed. Letting Aria feel a bit better, although still a little awkward.

With the substance finally smeared on her belly, the doctor began checking the position of the twins.

'There they are, as lively as ever!' The chief said, with her eyes on the monitor.

At her words, the small awkwardness Aria had felt instantly dissipated, and she was already checking the monitors, to see the boys.

Having his eyes initially lowered, at the words of the doctor, Zane also instinctively looked towards the screen.

Truthfully, he did not understand much of what he was actually seeing. Checking the small members constantly moving about... were they small hands, or small feet? It was impossible for him to say, as his untrained eye could not discern the small beans that were energetically kicking around, not standing still for a second.

The feeling of curiosity at understanding what the screen showed, and the feeling of an approaching reality that had still not hit him all these months, although he had seen the ultrasound pictures many times in the folders he was sent, felt more vividly with each passing moment  as his eyes were kept firmly on the images. And it felt absolutely real with the next offer of the doctor. 

'Would you like to hear their heartbeats?' The doctor asked, as the atmosphere felt a little bit warmer than before. 

'Yes!' Readily accepted Aria, excited beyond measure to hear the two heartbeats. A happiness clearly written on her face. She felt upset whenever she heard the sound of her own heartbeat on the monitor in the past, it frightened her to the core what would happen when this sound would stop.

She knew the two sounds were not the same, as the machine that was used to detect them was different. Only the rhythm of the heartbeat should be the same, but the trauma and fright should still be there. 

Should still be, but they were not. Now it did not have a traumatic effect on her. How could it, when hearing the intermittent fast heartbeats she could think of nothing but the two bundles of joys. All the negative feelings were washed away, by the joy and happiness that replaced them. 

A happiness that  she wanted to share with someone, as humans do when they encounter it. So she turned towards Zane, showing her cheeky smile with sparkling eyes, a bit moist  of the wave of emotions.

Zane was still trying to ascertain what he was actually looking at, seeing the monitor, with a still somewhat detached and unreal state of mind, when the sound of the heartbeats resounded loudly in the room. It was a sound of life, a sound he had made possible of existing. The powerful rhythms echoing with his own steadily increasing heartbeat, as the notion of being a father hit him to his very core, left him feeling he could not even breathe properly.

He was not an emotional man. He had grown up in a rigid household, where showing your feelings meant weakness, so he had long ago withheld showing any on his face. Whether it had been joyous moments in his family, or sad ones... they had always passed by him without making his stone face  having the smallest of cracks.

But the reality and the joy that the sounds brought forth, coupled with the future mother's gentle appearance and bright smile... could make even the sternest of men lose their composure. Not accustomed to showing his emotions, if you did not know well Zane, you could not realize he was indeed affected, but subtle changes were still there.

His increased heartbeat that reddened his ears, his clenched jaws and sparkling eyes were clear evidence of the mechanical man's inner joy that could not be suppressed completely. They were about to bring two small new lives into the world, he thought. He and Aria would become parents.

'They are strong, right?' Aria gently asked.

'W-what?' Zane hoarsely inquired, after several moments. He only realized she was talking to him, when the petite woman had frowned looking at him. A clear indication she did not understand why he did not answer.

'I said, they are strong boys, right?' She said again, resuming her beautiful grin.

'Yes. They are!' He slowly replied.

'Would you like some pictures of them?' Asked the doctor, finally relaxing completely. Who could still maintain their upset state while seeing the ultrasound of their children?

'Can we have separate photos of each seed?' Zane replied, before Aria could agree.

'What do you mean?' Asked the doctor not understanding completely his meaning. Normally, she would just capture some screen shots of the twins and print them, so she did not understand to what he was hinting at.

'I mean a photo of Peanut A, and one of Peanut B.' Zane spoke with the same android like face that seemed firmly stuck in the same stone like appearance, no matter what he did, but a gentleness and sweetness could still be felt in his tone.

'...' The doctor did not know what to reply at his words. Was he talking about the children? 

'Ahhh... He means the children. I named the active one out of the two Peanut A, and the gentle one Peanut B.' Aria spoke, as if she saw the question on the doctor's face. 

Aria was, at this point, about to break in a small giggle at Zane words, not to mention, the manner in which they were said. But as best she could, she tried to rail in the sounds, by pouting a bit her mouth. In this way she was trying to keep the corners of her mouth from going up in a smile.

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