NIRELLE - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

I stare at him, waiting for a reaction, whatever it might be, but it does not come. It was almost as if he was devoid of emotions in that moment, and I know it was not true since I had seen him display a range of them. I clear my throat and pull out the chair once again before settling into it.
"Are you not going to say anything?" I ask and he seems to snap out of whatever kind of daze he had been in for a moment.
"We are married. I don't think that..." he begins, but I barely allow the words to slip out of his mouth when I shake my hands in the air at him.
"It does not matter if we are married or not; our situation is very peculiar; we can't just do what others are doing because they are doing it," I say, and he frowns. I almost sigh because finally, I see some emotions on his face.
"When I was coming here, I was told that my responsibility to you is to make babies and give you a heir, but I can't do that – everything else but that," I repeat.
"It's your first night here; let us talk about this later." He stands up and walks out without even waiting for dinner.
I sit at the table and stare at the door he had raced out of. I know that it is a pretty disturbing topic to discuss but still, it is something that needs to be discussed, especially between us.
The staff brings out an array of dishes that I am even barely able to keep up with. The woman who seems to be the head seems shocked that Lucien was no longer at the table, but she did not ask any questions. After I eat what I can, I excuse myself from the table and go back to the room.
I was sure that I would have missed my way to the room, but surprisingly, I found my way back easily. I pushed the double doors open and stood in the middle of the room. The entire structure overwhelms me suddenly, and I feel out of place. It still feels like a prison, but a more luxurious prison, quite different from the one I was coming from.
The knock on the door is what makes me realise that I had been standing in the middle of the room for a while. I jolt back to reality at the sound and walking to the door, I am met with the woman who had gone to get the doctor as Lucien had asked her to.
"The doctor is here," she announced as soon as I was in her eyesight. "Do you want me to bring him up or would you go down to meet him?" she followed up.
I stare at her as I try to convince myself that this was a dream. I had said no to the doctor, but I had not made sure to see to it that it was cancelled. "I don't need..." I stop myself as I realise that the doctor must have left their busy schedule to come check up on me; it would be rude to send them away, and it might be a good idea to get checked by a doctor. I don't think I've seen one in a few years.
Anytime I fell ill, Yvette prescribed some drugs for me. I never knew what it was I was taking; I just knew that I almost always felt better instantly. I always imagined that I'd die from an overdose, but my luck is too strong to make me die so easily.
"Lead the way," I say to her and she turns on her heel almost like a doll and leads me back downstairs where the doctor was waiting for me.
I step into the room to see a woman in her thirties, slender and beautiful. She had her head packed in a fancy style and her black studded dress told me that she was coming back from an event and I instantly felt bad.
"I am sorry you had to come here this late," I begin. I do not know why, but I feel like the right thing to do there is to apologise. She might have been on a date, and Lucien pulled her away as if it were an emergency.
"It's no problem at all. My job is to work for the Vexley family," she said and I almost fainted at the sound of her voice. It sounded like something ethereal and wonderful.
"You have such a fantastic voice." The words slipped out of my mouth before I could control myself, and I saw a flicker of gratitude in her eyes before she even said any word.
"Well, thank you, Mrs Vexley. I am Doctor Mae, but you can call me just Mae."
"And you can call me ," I replied, trying to match her casualness. She did not counter or agree with me, but I could tell from the thin, lined smile on her face that she was not going to do that, not because she would like to, but because she would not be allowed to.
"You can sit here." She motioned for the single seat in the room. "Let's take a look." She began examining me as soon as I sat down. After a while, she wrote down a few things and turned to the staff who had remained quietly by the side all through the examination process.
"I will have to talk to Mr Vexley, please," she said to the woman and she gave a slight bow before leaving us alone in the room. I look at her face and I do not like what I see.
"Is everything okay? Why do you need Mr Vexley? This is about me, and I think you should tell me if there is a problem." The words rush out of my mouth in fear.
I can't even hide it; I am afraid that Enoch and Yvette had broken something in me – something that could not be repaired.