Chapter 3

A month later, I attended a family gathering. Sophie noticed the fading burn scar on my arm and looked surprised.

"Edward took care of it?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Guess the rumors were off. Edward cares about you," she said, her tone conflicted. "But are you sure he's not drawn to you out of some odd fascination? After all, your situation is pretty unusual."

I didn't answer, but her words planted a seed of doubt in my mind.

When I got home that night, I found Edward waiting for me in the study. There was a beautifully wrapped box on the desk.

"Open it," he said.

I unwrapped it to find a watch, simple but elegant. What made it special were the small indicator lights on the side of the face.

"It's a custom watch," Edward explained. "It monitors your heart rate and body temperature. If anything's off, the lights will flash, and it'll send a notification to my phone."

I frowned, "A monitoring device?"

"It's for your protection," he corrected. "If you get a fever or your heart rate goes off, I'll know right away. Since you can't feel discomfort, you need something to warn you from the outside."

It made sense, but I felt an indescribable unease.

"Thank you," I said quietly, not planning to put it on.

Edward noticed my resistance but didn't say anything.

That night, it felt like an invisible wall had gone up between us all over again.

Things shifted on a rainy evening.

I got a fever after being caught in the rain. But I didn't notice anything was wrong, merely feeling more tired than usual.

Edward returned early from his business trip and found my cheeks flushed, my forehead burning hot.

If it hadn't been for him, I would never have known I was ill.

He immediately called the family doctor, who said I had a high fever caused by a severe cold.

"It's already 102.2°F," the doctor scolded. "How did you not notice?"

Edward looked grim. I could tell he was blaming himself.

After the doctor left, he refused to leave my side, staying right by my bed.

I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I saw him sitting in a chair next to me, quietly resting with his eyes closed.

Moonlight spilled through the window, softening the hard lines of his face. At that moment, he looked more like an ordinary man than the Business Shark everyone feared.

"Why aren't you sleeping in the guest room?" I asked softly.

He opened his eyes right away. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"I don't feel anything," I said honestly. "Just a little tired."

He sighed and reached out to check my forehead. "Your fever's dropped a little, but it hasn't broken yet."

"Why are you so worried?" I voiced the question that had been on my mind. "It's just an arranged marriage."

Edward was silent for so long that I thought he wasn't going to answer.

Finally, he said, his voice low, "Because I've seen how this can end badly before. One of my mother's friends couldn't feel pain either. She had appendicitis, but didn't realize it until it was almost too late."

I stared at him in shock.

"When I found out about you," he went on, "I couldn't ignore it. Even if this marriage is an arrangement, you're still my wife. I won't let that happen to you."

So that was it. All his special care for me was nothing but a leftover shadow from his past.

His answer stirred up a swirl of emotions inside me.

I understood why he felt that way. But part of me couldn't help feeling disappointed. Turned out, I was just another obligation to him.

After I recovered, things between Edward and me settled into a subtle balance.

He still looked out for my safety, but didn't interfere as openly in my life.

I started learning to take better care of myself, wearing the watch diligently and paying close attention to my body's signals.

But an accident over the weekend shattered that delicate balance.

Edward took me to a business dinner. During the event, I accidentally stepped on some spilled wine and ended up twisting my ankle badly.

I didn't realize what had happened until Edward grabbed me before I could fall. Only then did I notice my ankle was already swollen.

"Don't move," he said quietly. "You've sprained your ankle."

All eyes were on me. I could hear murmurs around the room.

"See? She really doesn't feel pain."

"That's so freaky. Her foot is swollen so badly, yet she doesn't show a single trace of pain."

Edward's expression turned icy. Without hesitation, he picked me up bridal style and told the host, "Sorry, we need to leave. My wife's injured."

His move caused a stir, but he couldn't care less. He walked straight out of the hall with me in his arms.