Chapter 24: 24. Doctor's Visit
"Quite early."
"I agree."
"Yes, a little bit too early." I say with a deadpan stare.
Today's breakfast is a generous couple of jam and lemon tarts with a side of toasted bread. Maria's pampering has significantly grown on me and while I still love my mother very much, I can't deny that Maria's been spoiling me and I don't hate it. Even through my turbulent mornings, Maria powers me through the suffering of my unpredictable rollercoaster body.
But I always felt as though she knew. Yet, my fondness for her grows even more when she acts like she didn't watch me dry heave for half an hour in the early morning to only throw up some weird green substance. I am almost tempted to weep and kiss her feet with gratitude.
The porcelain cup clinks loudly as he sets it down and I feel an irritation prick in me for no solid reason, involuntarily clicking my tongue in disapproval. The person in front gives me a wary look at that but the irritation only grows.
I didn't get to rest too well yesterday even after Elian left me hanging. I woke up, drowsy and disoriented to hurried knocks on the door before Maria burst in. In the next second, my warm toasty blanket was ripped off of my form and I made disapproving sounds half-asleep.
"You must wake up! It is already quarter past nine and the physician has come!"
"It's only nine." I mumbled then, still quite half-asleep because the only thing I heard was that it was nine in the morning, and honestly, who wakes up that early when I literally have nothing to do all throughout the day except lounge around and gain weight.
Except that I do have something to do today.
I didn't realize that Elian has sent a message to call for Sir Dominic yesterday and as diligent as he is, the latter couldn't come yesterday so he decided to drop in first thing in the morning at six in the morning
Six in the morning.
I take a sip of the chamomile tea cautiously, the hot boiled tea water envelopes my tongue, and it awakens– rise and shine. Thankfully, the junior isn't exactly complaining about the breakfast today.
"I thought something has happened." Sir Dominic comments and casually picks up one of the toasts laid out on the platter. He examines it from different angles before popping it in his mouth. We are currently in the living room because of the guest instead of breakfast in my bedroom.
"I was expecting an afternoon visit." I say passively but I know that was underhanded because I wasn't expecting anything at all.
"Yes. My apprentice said it seemed quite urgent so I dropped by as soon as I could."
"It's nothing really but yeah, we should begin." I set down my cup on its saucer, feeling full already.
"Yes, we should begin." Sir Dominic nods stiffly and stares pointedly towards his side.
Elian is poised on the single-seat chair, like a lion in its habitat. He is leaning back, his grey dress shirt stretched across his chest and nonchalantly flipping through the newspaper of the day. The page covers the entirety of his face and on the front page is printed in large bold headline font,
PRINCE NOAH RETURNS HOME.
My strange fear is unfounded as I don't see a single article on yesterday's event. Well, it did just happened less than 24 hours ago. A silence hangs in the room and it prompts Elian to check up on us, flipping down the edge of the newspaper.
"Don't you mind me." Offhandedly, he throws in the comment and glibly returns back to his newspaper. He flicks it back up straight and for a brief moment, I think of why I am stuck in the deserted house with a grandparent.
"I understand, my lord." Sir Dominic nods obediently but he is reluctant to start, gulping heavily when he turns to me. The remains of our last exchange is still hanging in the air for him and he decides to communicate without speaking up.
'Did you tell him?' He mouths exaggeratedly at me, gesturing wildly with his hands to elaborate.
My face twists in confusion and I frown, shaking my head with absolution.
'What?!' He exclaims without exclaiming, but I can almost hear it and his hands are waving around in shock. Such an actor.
'You', I mouth while pointing a finger at him and jabbing the finger towards the door, I continue 'Leave.'
Sir Dominic looks at me for a beat and then shakes his head in utter disappointment.
What?
"What is going on?" Elian's voice breaks into the silence.
My shoulders jolt slightly at the suddenness and I turn, seeing Elian observing us with a puzzled look. The newspaper flops down miserably with no support from his hands.
"Uhh…explaining...last night."
An eyebrow almost goes up skeptically but Elian doesn't find it important enough to further. He folds the newspaper immaculately, four times nothing less, and places it down on the oak table where the breakfast is placed.
"Frank, tell the stable boy to prepare for departure." He states, slightly turning backward where surprisingly Frank stood like a statue.
I didn't even notice he was there.
Then he turns back to us with a concluding look and nods at Sir Dominic,
"Then, Sir Dominic, I shall be leaving for my daily duties." He stands up, and turns back to add, "Please look after Adian properly."
We meet eyes as he goes to turn around, and he stops with a contemplative look.
"Goodbye." I wish him with a sweet smile because we became friends yesterday.
"Yes." He gives me a curt nod in return, immediately walking off towards the door. Not very friendly of him.
"Thank God you came. I have a lot of questions for you." I whisper to Sir Dominic as soon as Elian disappears.
"You haven't confessed?!" He whispers back harshly
"Hands off, that is my problem."
"I lie awake at night thinking of your misdeeds."
"Then don't sleep! That is not my problem."
"Are you serious?"
"Are you serious?" I mimic him,
"Look, I am as perplexed as you are so I don't need your problems. I can handle my own."
"A wonderful job you're doing at that. I heard quite a tussle happened last night." He says, struggling to pull out his signature notebook from his slightly smaller pocket. "With the son of Marquis Welstone." He adds as he snatches the notebook from his own pocket.
"Did your apprentice tell you that?"
"No, I heard it in the market this morning. But seeing your face solidifies the rumor."
My hand goes up to my right cheek, I had forgotten it was even there. Since I didn't ice it immediately, it was slightly swollen because of the impact. But not enough to stand out.
"You had questions?" Sir Dominic looks up from his pocket from across the low table. I jolt back to attention.
"Yeah, that…" I mumble, trying to remember, "That's right. What is a fated mate?"
"A fated mate, you say?" Sir Dominic leans back thoughtfully, rocking his leg compulsively. "It's just an urban legend or so. It's a person who is destined to love you, to be your mate. It's grossly popular among the alphas and omegas, especially among the nobles. I thought it existed until Elian introduced you but I am not so sure now."
"Elian said I was his fated mate?" I ask incredulously because it didn't seem like that last night.
"No. He didn't ever mention that actually. The people just assumed for some reason and the rumor spread like wildfire in town."
"Fated, huh? Sounds like something straight out of a movie." I ponder out loud, crossing my arms over my chest.
"A movie? What's that?"
"Oh." I look at him in realization. Now how do I explain this? "It's a Russian word for uh...book."
"So you speak Russian?"
"What nonsense? No, I don't."
"I see. I see" Sir Dominic mumbles more to himself, going back to scribbling. Yet again.
"Actually," I ramble on, feeling the need to over-explain. "My roommate from the brothel was Russian, yeah."
Sir Dominic nods as he listens to my needless reasoning,
"So you recollect your memories now."
"What?" I guffaw with exasperation, "No."
He only hums, looking at me with heavy suspicion but all the while the small charcoal pencil is running across the notebook without stopping. I glare at it, feeling the scribbling sound prickling on the eardrums.
"Do you have to write everything down?"
"Yes, so I can use it against you later if you don't confess."
"Oh my god. Why do you keep bringing that up?!"
"Well…" Sir Dominic raises his hands up and laughs lightheartedly, "Sorry, my lord."
I can hear the familiar cry of a horse and voices mingling at a distance. I turn, peeking outside the large windows, and from it, the front entrance was barely visible as the adjoining hallway opens to it. I could see Elian moving his hands while talking, he is all dressed up in his usual work clothes— a formal black coat that fit onto his frame snugly and white pants paired with boots.
"Any other concerns?" Sir Dominic questions, forcing my attention that is outside, back into the room.
"Just…" I mutter, dragging my eyes back to Sir Dominic, "I did get exposed to some pheromones yesterday but I haven't experienced any dissonance yet."
"Hmm." Sir Dominic nods, rubbing his chin, "that's interesting. Usually, dissonance arises within a few hours of being exposed so that's a rare case. Do update me on the details."
"Okay."
"I shall visit again in a few days. Is that alright with you?"
A sharp slap of a whip echoes from outside.
"Yes." I mumble robotically, whipping my head towards the windows again just in time to see the carriage driving off.
Something in my stomach turns watching it get smaller and smaller.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
miyobiya
miyobiya I went to the doctor's but couldn't get an appointment~ T . T
Thank you for reading, everyone.
I hope you liked today's chapter.
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