The pain stayed.
She walked slowly across the old Cambridge pathways toward the examination building.
Students hurried around her carrying notes and textbooks.
Nobody noticed immediately.
Then came the nosebleed.
A single drop.
Then another.
She quickly covered it with a handkerchief.
Stress.
Lack of sleep.
Cold weather.
Pregnancy.
Perhaps all of them together.
Unfortunately, people noticed.
Especially the students who had spent months gossiping about her.
The girl with the impossible pregnancy.
The medical mystery.
The miracle child.
They watched her carefully now.
She looked pale.
Sweat covered her forehead despite the freezing weather.
Her steps were slower than usual.
Yet she kept walking.
Not toward the hospital.
Toward the examination hall.
For the first time, nobody whispered.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody stared with curiosity.
They simply watched quietly.