Chapter 3

Elise leaned forward, her face illuminated by the glow of her laptop screen. The clock on the wall ticked past midnight, but she didn’t notice. Her browser was cluttered with tabs, each one opened to medical research papers, forums, and videos on nerve damage and paralysis. She tapped her pen absently against her notebook, which was now covered with frantic scribbles and underlined phrases.

“Come on, there has to be something,” Elise muttered to herself, scrolling past another dense medical article. Her eyes moved back to her notes, where she had scrawled the words nerve compression. She tapped her pen faster. “It’s not impossible. It can’t be.”

Her mind raced as she replayed the moment she saw Alejandro’s leg twitch. It had been faint, almost not there, but it was. She’d thought little of it at the time, but now it seemed very important. “If the nerve was completely severed,” she whispered, “there’d be no movement at all. Right?”

She opened a new tab and began typing furiously. “Nerve regeneration after paralysis,” she murmured as she hit enter. The search results loaded, and Elise skimmed through them, her eyes darting from title to title. Some articles seemed promising, others not exactly, but she clicked on anything that might give her an answer adding more scribbles to her notebook.

“This has to mean something,” she muttered, as she flipped through a medical journal PDF. “Twitches indicate residual activity. Compression… that’s reversible. But how?” She chewed the end of her pen, staring at the screen as if willing to give her the breakthrough she needed.

A notification pinged from her email, pulling her briefly from her research. She ignored it, refocusing on the data in front of her. Hours passed but she stayed behind her laptop searching for answers. Case studies, rare diagnoses, and unconventional treatments began to form a jumble of possibilities in her mind. She needed this to work, it was her only way to free herself.

After what seemed like an eternity, Elise sat back, her eyes burning from the screen as she smiled. She’d found enough to be certain of one thing: Alejandro’s condition wasn’t untreatable though how his body responded to the treatment was entirely what she had no control of.

She closed her laptop with a satisfied sigh and grabbed her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she found the number Alejandro’s family had provided. Her thumb hovered over the call button, but she hesitated. What if he didn’t believe her? What if she was wrong? Regardless, She pushed the doubts aside and hit the dial icon.

The phone rang twice before a gruff voice answered. “Hello.”

“It’s Elise,” she replied, her voice steady despite her nerves. “The girl that you are getting married to.” She knew that introduction was not important but she continued, “I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

There was a pause on the other end. “What could be so urgent?” Alejandro’s voice came.

“It’s about your condition,” Elise replied. “I think there’s a chance it can be treated.”

Another pause followed, longer this time. When Alejandro finally spoke, his voice was cold. “Are you serious? Is this some kind of joke?”

“I’m not joking,” she said firmly. “Just hear me out. Can we meet? Tomorrow? At the park near the library?”

“Why should I waste my time?” he snapped.

“Because I don’t have so much time to play around also, and I wouldn’t be calling you if I wasn’t sure,” Elise snapped.

Alejandro let out a sharp breath. “Fine. Let’s meet tomorrow at noon. If you’re wasting my time, you’ll regret it.” He hung up before she could respond.

Elise hissed as she stared at the blank screen. For someone who was in the same situation as her, he was such a rude man.

The next day, Elise arrived at the park early, clutching her notebook tightly. She sat on a bench near the fountain, her eyes scanning the path for Alejandro. Her heart pounded as she rehearsed what she would say.

At exactly noon, he appeared, wheeling himself along the cobblestone path. His expression was blank, but his eyes were sharp as they locked onto hers. “Well?” he said, stopping a few feet away. “I’m here. What’s so important?”

Elise stood, meeting his gaze. “I’m glad you came. I’ve been doing a lot of research, and judging from my findings, I think your condition might have been misdiagnosed.”

Alejandro’s eyes narrowed. “Misdiagnosed?”

She nodded, flipping open her notebook to show him her notes. “When we met, I noticed something. Your leg twitched. If the damage to your nerves was irreversible, that wouldn’t happen. It’s a sign that there’s still some activity. I think your paralysis is due to nerve compression, not severance.”

Alejandro laughed bitterly. “A twitch? That’s your groundbreaking discovery? Do you have any idea how many specialists I’ve seen? The best in the world, by the way.

You think you know more than the specialists? They’ve already ruled that out.”

“They were wrong,” Elise shot back, her voice rising.

“And ohh, you are right and I’m supposed to believe you.” He mocked. “Do you even know the stress it takes to wheel from the parking area to this place? I shouldn’t have listened to you in the first place.” He flared.

“You are not a doctor, neither have you gone through my files and you are blabbing that you have a solution.” Alejandro gritted his fists, sweat beads already forming on his face. He was angry at himself and he blamed his desperation. If not, why would a girl who wasn’t up to his social level embarrass him this way?

Elise was stunned as she looked at him. She could not exactly say that she understood what he was going through, but she wished that he’d listen to her at least.

“I am sorry,” Elise voiced out, “But I am so sure, please believe me. The doctors probably missed something,” Elise said, her voice calm and convincing.

“They are humans and they’re not perfect. I just feel they might have dismissed you because they’re too focused on the usual treatments. But there are alternative approaches that they might not have considered.”

Alejandro stared at her, she had managed to calm him down a bit. “And what makes you so sure?”

“Let me prove it,” Elise said, pulling a small needle from her bag. “May I?”

He stared at her, then at the needle. “You’re kidding.”

“Just trust me,” she said. “If you don’t feel anything, I’ll drop it. But if you do…”

With a resigned sigh, Alejandro nodded. Elise knelt beside his wheelchair and gently pricked his calf. “Do you feel that?” she asked.

There was a long pause before he spoke. “It’s faint. But it’s there.”

Elise’s heart leapt. “Exactly. That proves there’s still some connection. Your nerves aren’t completely dead. It’s compression. I’m sure of it.”

Alejandro frowned, his defenses starting to waver. “Why are you doing this? What do you want?”

“Nothing,” Elise said. “I just want to help. If I can prove this, there’s no need for this marriage. You can walk again, and we can both move on.”

He studied her for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “Hmm. But if you’re wrong…”

“I won’t be,” she said confidently, meeting his gaze.

For a long moment, Alejandro said nothing. Then, with a sharp motion, he wheeled closer to her. “Fine,” he announced. “But I have conditions.”

Elise frowned. “What kind of conditions?”

“We’d stay together in this marriage and you’d be my caretaker. If you heal me, then I’ll let you go.”

Alejandro didn’t want his parents to force him on any other person as a way of ‘helping’ him and considering that Elise did not seem bad, he thought it best to keep her around.

Elise nodded in response. His demand did not seem unreasonable and it was probably better than being a second-class citizen in her home.

“We have a deal then.”