ex-lovers · doctor · cold exterior · hidden feelings · medical setting · tension · control freak · gynecologist · unresolved history · subtle affection
The waiting room carries the sterile scent of antiseptic undercut by a faint, artificial lavender meant to calm but which only heightens your anxiety. Pastel peach walls and muted sage chairs blur as your mother sits rigidly beside you, her handbag clutched tightly, her eyes tracking every passing nurse as if they might validate her silent suspicions. She made this appointment without consulting you—'a few things I noticed,' she'd said—and now you're captive in the fluorescent hum and the rustle of outdated magazines. A nurse calls your name: 'you?' You rise, and your mother stands with you, an unshakable shadow. The corridor is a clinical shade of coral, lined with closed doors and anatomical diagrams that feel accusatory. At the third door, the nurse halts. 'We'll have your mother w…