“You don’t have to take me to the hospital, Jacob. I’m sure it’ll be fine in a little while,” I said to Jacob as politely as I could. There was no point going to the hospital for such a minor injury. I’ve had worse injuries than this and no one ever took me to the doctor, so there was no point wasting money over such a trivial matter.

“If it was going to be fine, then it should’ve been by now. But you can barely walk as it is, so don’t tell me what to do. We are going to the hospital and that is it,” he stated, leaving little room for argument. But I was not going to let this go. He should not be wasting money on me as his mother already purchased such an expensive wedding gown for me.

“I will just put some ice on it and it’ll be fine and I’m sure the doctor is going to say the same thing. We don’t need to go and waste money on something so trivial,” I argued.

Jacob looked at me with steely eyes and I swallowed hard knowing I had overstepped my boundaries. “Is it my money or your money that we will be spending, Emilia?”

“Yo—Yours, Jacob,” I replied, biting my lower lip while cursing myself for arguing with him and ruining his mood.

“Exactly. So shut up and don’t ever tell me what to do with my money, do you understand?” He said, clearly not in the mood for listening to my nonsense.

I nodded. “Yes, I understand. I’m sorry, I have no right to tell you what to do.”

The rest of the drive passed in silence. Jacob did not bother saying anything after that and I sat there and told myself repeatedly that I should keep my mouth shut and my opinions to myself. He was kind enough to take me to the doctor for my injury and I should be grateful instead of telling him what to do. God, when was I going to learn?

“We’re here,” Jacob announced before parking the car and getting out. I was about to open my side of the door and get out but Jacob beat me to it. He held out his hand for me to take, which I took with trembling fingers. His grip was firm and strong, making me feel as if he would never let me fall. But I bet he made every woman feel like that since he was such a strong man.

“Thank you,” I said. With my hand in Jacob’s, I did not have to rely on my body weight which gave my foot some relief.

We entered the sterile walls of the hospital and I couldn’t help the dread that settled in my heart. I was entering a hospital after thirteen years and I had to say that I was glad nobody took me to a hospital whenever I was ill or injured. The last time I was in a hospital was when my mother died and since then I had never visited.

Jacob said something to the receptionist before leading me all way to the end of the hall where he knocked on a door before pushing it open and entering.

A doctor who looked to be in his early forties smiled when he saw Jacob, making me wonder if they both knew each other. If Jacob knew this doctor, then it made sense why he brought me here.

“Jacob, what a pleasant surprise. I hope everything is alright with you,” the doctor said as he stood up and came over to where Jacob and I stood.

“Dr. Karl, it’s good to see you and I’m alright, however, my fiancée here fell from the stairs and injured her foot,” Jacob explained.

The doctor gave Jacob a strange look, as if he couldn’t believe Jacob was engaged to be married. And that was enough to tell me that this Dr. Karl was a lot closer to Jacob and his family than I previously thought. But something told me that he was not expecting Jacob and I to be engaged; did that mean that he was expecting Jacob to marry somebody else? Did Jacob have a girlfriend? If so, should I dare ask him about her?

No. It’s none of your business. You’re not marrying him as his wife but rather as payment to a debt your step-father owes. You have no right to ask Jacob any personal questions!

My inner voice was right. So despite wanting to ask him about a potential girlfriend, I chose to remain silent and let Jacob handle the matters. It was his life, after all. I had no business poking my unwanted nose in it.

“I see. Well...”

“Emilia,” Jacob offered.

“Emilia. Why don’t you sit on the bed over there and we shall have a look at your foot,” Dr. Karl said.

I nodded and allowed Jacob to lead me to where Dr. Karl had told me to sit. He helped me sit on the bed and stood aside as Dr. Karl begun examining my foot. I tried not to wince and cry out in pain as Dr. Karl did his work but it was incredibly difficult for me to do so.

“We need to do an X-Ray before we can be sure and then I shall provide the necessary treatment,” the doctor said.

“It’s okay, doctor, we don’t need—“ I shut my mouth when Jacob shot me a withering glare that told me I better shut up or he would make me sorry.

“Don’t worry, Dr. Karl, we will get the X-Ray done and meet you back here,” Jacob stated before leading me out of the room.

The X-Ray did not take as long as I imagined and we were soon sitting in Dr. Karl’s office once again. I looked around his office while he was busy studying the X-Ray and noticed the personal touches he had made to his workplace.

“Well it looks to me like you have a serious sprain, my dear,” the doctor finally said.

“Oh. And what does that mean?” I asked. Surely he would only tell me to put some ice on it, but apparently I was wrong.

“It means that you are required to stay in bed for the next three days and by that I mean strict bed rest. You can walk only if the situation is dire but other than that I recommend you to stay in bed for at least three days,” he explained.

What? I couldn’t stay in bed for three days. I had to cook and clean and do other chores. My step-father would kill me if I did not do my chores. Oh God, what was I going to do? And then, Jacob said something that made me panic on a whole new level...

“Sure. It will be done.”