Regaining consciousness, Quinn found herself in a sterile hospital bed, an IV drip puncturing her hand. The once sharp pain in her abdomen had dulled to a throbbing ache. She was alone, the room devoid of any other presence. Her gaze fell upon the IV bottle, nearly depleted of its contents. With a grimace, she hoisted herself up and pressed the call button affixed to her bed.


    Within moments, a young doctor entered the room. He attended to her IV, adjusting the drip rate, before finally turning his attention to Quinn. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his gaze meeting hers.


    Quinn studied the doctor for a moment before her hand slid down her body, checking for any unfamiliar sensations or difort. Her eyes eventually drifted towards her cell phone resting on the bedside table. Picking it up, she typed out a message.


    "Doctor, what happened to me?" The doctor''s initial surprise at the text message was quickly reced by a look of understanding. Quinn was ustomed to this typical first reaction when people realized she was mute.


    "You fainted," he exined. "Once your IV is finished, go see the attending physician. She''ll exin everything to you."It was then that Quinn noticed his badge. He was merely an intern. She nodded in understanding andy back down, silently waiting for the IV to finish.


    The hospital room was deste and eerily quiet, hardly a soul in sight. Tucked away in a far cornery an elderly man, paralyzed and mute, his silence amplifying the solitude. Two speechless figuresy in the hospital room of loneliness. Quinn nced at her phone. It was well past four in the afternoon. Silence reigned. No messages or calls to break the stillness. With a sigh, she switched it off and looked back at the old man lying in his bed in the corner. Not long after, a woman with salt-and-pepper hair bustled in, her armsden with bags. She made a beeline for the elderly man''s bed, setting to work with a basin and towel, bathing him with practiced hands.


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    After the wash, she began feeding him, her mutterings about daily trivialities filling the room. She transitioned from casual chatter toints, bemoaning theirck of luxuries and the burdensome duty of caring for him in his old age. The old man, mute, could only follow her with his eyes. As the woman''s voice began to quake with stifled sobs, Quinn noticed tears welling in the old man''s eyes too. His fingers trembled, perhaps trying to reach up and wipe her tears, a gesture beyond his ability.


    Quinn turned her head away, affording them their intimate moment. Her gaze fell upon the sky outside the door, heavy with rain clouds, foreshadowing an imminent downpour. Once thest drop of her IV had been administered, she went to find the doctor.


    Coincidentally, it was the same doctor as before. She looked at Quinn and asked, a mixture of frustration and disappointment clouding her eyes, "Were you herest time?" Quinn nodded, took out her ID, and handed it to her. She quickly found Quinn''s records on theputer. Her face shed with anger as she scolded, "Didn''t you want to preserve your pregnancyst time? How could you have surgery so quickly?" She held back the harsher words that hovered on the tip of her tongue.


    "I can''t understand what''s going on with your generation. You just had an operation, and couldn''t you wait for even a month?" Quinn''s face flushed with shame as she bowed her head, understanding the implication.


    "You''re suffering from bleeding due to uterine inmmation, and it''s been festering for days. Why would you wait until it got so severe beforeing to the hospital?" Quinn bit her lip, her fingers twisting at the hem of her clothes. The doctor''s questions made her blush.N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive ? material.


    The doctor continued, "Youngdy, don''t say I didn''t warn you. If you don''t start taking care of yourself, this could escte from simple inmmation to something as serious as cervical cancer. I''m not being rmist." Realizing Quinn''s condition, the doctor''s tone softened. "Where''s your family? Have you notified anyone?"