I clear my throat. “Uh. Yeah.”
His lips press into a thin line, but he nods, professional. “Any loss of consciousness?”
I shake my head.
“Severe dizziness? Blurred vision?”
“A little,” I admit.
He hums, scribbling something down. “And the leg?”
I shift slightly, wincing. “Landed on it wrong. I don’t think anything’s broken, but… doesn’t feel great.”
“Alright,” he nods. “Let’s take a look.”
The exam itself is thorough and takes forever. He tests my vision, checks my reflexes, feels along my ribs and ankle. When he presses lightly on a certain spot near my lower leg, I flinch.
“Bruised, but not fractured,” he confirms. “You’ll be sore for a while, but no crutches necessary.”
Thank god.
“And the head injury?” Kai speaks up again, his voice even.
The doctor tilts my chin, checking my pupils. “Mild concussion, from what I can tell. Nothing serious, but you should be resting. No sudden movements, no stress, and definitely no more falling down stairs.”
I make a face. “Yeah, I’ll try to pencil that in.”
He doesn’t react at all to that, unsurprisingly. But he writes down a prescription for painkillers and hands it to Kai instead of me—because apparently, I can’t be trusted with my own wellbeing.
“She needs to ice the leg, rest, and avoid any more falling incidents,” he says dryly.
Kai nods once, tucking the prescription into his pocket.
And the doctor smiles. A knowing, slightly amused kind of smile. Then he gestures vaguely between us and says, “She’s lucky to have a kind, caring boyfriend like you.”
Oh my god.
My soul leaves my body.
Kai visibly stiffens.
For exactly two full seconds, neither of us say a single thing.
And then—at the exact same time—
“No.”
The word bursts out of both of us at once.
The doctor blinks. “Oh—”
I make a noise. A weird, strangled, horrified kind of noise. “We’re not— No. Not a thing. That’s not what’s happening. I—absolutely not.”
The doctor clearly doesn’t care about any of this. He just chuckles, shaking his head as he gathers his papers. “Alright, alright. Well, whatever you are, just make sure she rests.”
Kai hums, noncommittal.
I scowl, grabbing the ice pack and slamming it onto my leg with more force than necessary.
