Chapter 3-Phobia

“Who are you talking to? Didn’t I tell you to get some rest?”

Emily bites her lower lip, and she could feel in Tyron’s voice that he is not as pleased with what she has come up with today. “I’m sorry, my friend called and just greeted me.”

“From now on you should avoid Jesabell so that she will no longer rebel,” Tyron said, changing the subject.

“Do you think it’s because of me that’s why she’s doing it to herself?” Emily asked, feeling upset.

“She is jealous of you, so just understand her. I don’t want this to happen to her again.”

“Do you want me to leave your house so she won’t be jealous?”

Tyron couldn’t answer and seemed to be thinking about Emily’s question. Then Emily quickly got up and tried to get out of bed, but Tyron stopped her. “Where are you going?”

“I have been a burden to you and have been the cause of the woman you love so much being in danger, so I am leaving,” she said while crying, and she tried to lose the young man’s grip on her arm, which prevented her from getting out of bed.

“That’s not what I mean. You took it differently. You didn’t burden me, and neither did I tell you to leave the house.” Tyron hugged the girl so she could stop struggling.

Emily secretly smiled, and the man didn’t want to let her go. He could not endure her. But remembering that he did not correct what she said about his love for Jesabell, she frowned. It was as if the young man admitted that he loved that woman. She hugged the young man tightly and could not accept the contents of her mind.

Tyron had to spend a few minutes before letting the girl go. He helped her go back to bed.

“Please, just stay here,” Emily caressed Tyron as she pleaded with him, holding one of his palms tightly.

“Sleep. I’m not going anywhere,” Tyron agreed, seeming forced.

“Thank you!” She smiled as she closed her eyes. But she just pretended to be sleeping and resisted the drowsiness. She waited to see if the man really wouldn’t leave her. He should be just next to her, and he doesn’t have to get the chance to be with Jesabell.

Tyron waited for a few minutes before grabbing the cellphone in his pocket. He called his assistant, who took care of everything that he asked him to work on.

“Sir?” Luis replied from the other line.

“You’re going to investigate what happened to Jesabell. I want the person who stabbed her to be caught!”

Emily’s right hand was clinging to the bed when she heard Tyron’s orders. All she thought was that the young man believed Jesabell was the only one who did what happened to herself. She insists on calming herself. Gently, she moved and tilted her body to the other side of the bed, giving her back to the young man. She did not want the young man to see the anger in her heart.

After talking to his assistant, Tyron dropped the call. He checked on Emily. After making sure she didn’t have a fever anymore, he was relieved.

Emily smiled secretly, and the young man didn’t leave. But she is still worried. She was sure that there was no evidence left by the person who stabbed Jesabell, but she was still restless because Tyron himself was investigating it.

In the other room, Jesabell tried to sleep. Jason had left, and that’s what she needed. She fought against the fear at the man’s image while aiming a knife at that remained behind her eyes. She had to overcome the phobia in blades because no one would hold her tight or hug her to relieve the fear she was feeling.

Tears flowed from her eyes, but she quickly wiped them. She repeatedly reminded herself that no one would help her but herself. She has no value to Tyron anymore. He does not remember her illness either.

“You can do that!” Jesabell talked to herself while hugging the pillow tightly and taking extra courage. But little by little, she cannot control herself. She was trembling and wanted to hide in the dark so she could no longer see the glittering knife’s blade.

“Miss, are you okay?” asked the nurse who had just entered and caught the patient trembling.

Her heartbeat grew faster when she heard a woman’s unfamiliar voice. “Please, stay away from me!”

“Miss, I’m a nurse, and I have to look at your condition. Do you feel bad?” The nurse talked to the girl gently and stepped closer to her.

“Ahhh, please… go away!” She fearfully threw the pillow she was embracing at the nurse and squeezed in the headboard of the bed as she embraced herself.

The nurse’s fear and concern for the patient mixed, so she hurried out of the room to call the doctor.

Jesabell got out of bed and quickly turned off the light. Her knees and hands were shaking. She couldn’t see anything around, so she crawled under the bed. Again, she pressed herself into a corner. But since the bed was low, she curled up and fit herself in there.

Somehow, the fear she was feeling was diminishing, and the blade that the man was holding earlier was slowly losing her eyes. She does not want to see light or someone else when she is in this situation. No one understands her but Tyron, but he doesn’t want to be with her now. So she had to treat herself to make her own life normal.

Tyron was suddenly woken up when a nurse came in. He didn’t even realize he fell asleep. When he looked at his wristwatch, he had slept for half an hour. Emily’s hand was still holding him, she was sleeping tightly. He suddenly stood up when he remembered Jesabell.

“Tyron?” Emily was also struck by the fact that she was no longer holding the young man’s hand.

“I have to see and check on Jesabell.” After saying that, he had left the girl.

She was annoyed while her gaze was following the young man. The nurse looking at her dextrose was just quiet.

Tyron hurried to see two nurses coming out of Jesabell’s room. They run down the hallway as if looking for something or someone. As he opened the door, he met the doctor. “Is there a problem, doc?”

“Are you the patient’s family?”

Suddenly, Tyron’s chest was hit by nervousness because of the doctor’s question. He immediately looked at the bed, and the girl was not there. “Where’s the patient here?” Instead, he asked the doctor as well.

“She’s missing out.”

“What?” Tyron seemed to be deafened, shocked.

“Ahm, sir, she was here earlier when I first came in. I caught her awake, but she seemed scared and didn’t want me to come close. She even threw a pillow at me. I just went out to call the doctor, but when I returned, the light was off and she was out of bed,” the nurse explained, feeling nervous while looking at the man.

Tyron hurriedly opened the bathroom just in the room, thinking the girl was there. He wanted to curse himself; he didn’t think that the girl’s phobia could return because of what had happened.

“Don’t worry because they were searching for her throughout the building, and she’s definitely not far yet,” the doctor told Tyron.

“She didn’t leave the room.”

Surprised, both the nurse and doctor looked at Tyron.

Instead of explaining, Tyron knelt at the foot of the bed and peeked under it. And there, he didn't make a mistake. It happened to Jesabell during her first month in his place. She prefers to hide in the dark when her phobia is triggered by a knife.

His heart was almost broken when he saw the girl bent over under the bed. He quickly crawled to reach her. He even had a hard time because the bed was low. The girl was asleep and didn’t even feel him moving her body. When he got her out, he carefully picked her up and laid her down on the bed.

“Get the wound cleaning supplies,” the doctor commanded the nurse.

Tyron was shocked to see the bloodstain on the girl’s hospital gown right on her side. It seems to have been bleeding because of her position earlier.

“Does the patient have a history of phobia?” asked the doctor while examining the patient’s pulse.

Tyron nodded and explained the girl’s past. He knew the girl since she was young. Jesabell used to treat him like an older brother. But when he became her guardian, she didn’t want to consider him a brother anymore. When she was young, someone broke into their house. The incident of her nanny being stabbed right in front of her eyes caused her phobia of blades. Her parents did not notice that she had a phobia that had worsened because they were neglecting her and they were both busy at work. That’s why he didn’t let her enter the kitchen because the girl was afraid of blades.

“I see. It got worse after she got injured. Don’t leave her alone in this situation. What she’s going through wasn’t a joke and may lead to depression,” the doctors advised.

“Thank you very much, Doc!” He accepted the new prescription that the doctor had given for Jesabell. The doctor also gave Jesabell medicine to help her sleep.

Emily left where she was hiding. What the doctor had told Tyron makes her even more annoyed. If only she knew this would be the result, she would have done something different to the woman. She bit her fingernail while thinking of the next plan. Later on, she grinned because she thought of a good idea, which will make Tyron feel angry again at Jesabell.