A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

Hearing the noise, Jacob rushed inside only to be met with an image of a pained Emily sitting on the floor, aside a distracted, carefree Zola.

"What happened?" he exclaimed. Without waiting for an answer, he quickly stomped over to her, shoving Zola out of the way. The sight of Emily cradling her tiny, hurting foot stirred up a mix of anger and pain inside of him that his face could hardly hide.

"It's nothing; don't worry. I must have just stepped on something sharp." Trying not to call any more attention towards herself, she attempted to lift up on her elbows and palms but, just as quickly, Jacob placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, holding her down on the ground.

"No, don't move" he pleaded.

Concerned, he leaned over to examine Emily's foot. The wound looked much more serious than she had made it seem. It was swollen and heavily bleeding. It could easily get infected, and Emily's strong hold of her foot showed she must have been in a lot of pain. In spite of all that, Zola was seemingly daydreaming nearby, not even pretending to worry about her wellbeing. Jacob could not take it anymore. A rush of utter anger overtook him as he turned and shouted towards Zola,"What are you waiting for? Call the doctor!"

As if just awoken from a dream, Zola took a few seconds to come to her senses. Slightly frustrated by Jacob's concern, she simply complied and ran downstairs to call the doctor.

The doctor arrived shortly after and gently checked the wound. Emily had indeed stepped on a pushpin. He carefully removed the pin from the sole of her foot, and wiped the area clean with a few alcohol swabs to disinfect it and stop the bleeding. Even though in pain, Emily was not making a sound throughout the entire time. The pain started to subside soon after the doctor applied a generous amount of numbing antibiotic ointment to the wound. He then threw an oversized gauze pad over it and wrapped it up with some thick bandage.

"Miss Emily", he proceeded to explain,"luckily, the pushpin didn't reach too deep inside your foot. But you still have to watch out for an infection and I would recommend that you limit your walking to only what is strictly necessary." It wasn't what Emily wanted to hear but she agreed to listen to his advice. She had to, after all. Jacob would not let it be any other way. The doctor then instructed both of them on when and how to use the ointment, and left right after.

Still somewhat shaken by the whole situation, Jacob sat next to Emily at one end of her bed and asked,"Where was the pushpin?"

'Where was the pushpin?!' she thought. Emily hadn't thought about it until Jacob brought it up. After pondering for a while, Emily replied honestly,"I'm not sure. Maybe it was in the carpet and I just stepped on it. I couldn't tell there was anything on the carpet."

"Who cleaned this room?" he continued on an accusing tone. With his eyes narrowed into two angry slits, he piercingly stared over at Zola for a few seconds awaiting her reply.

Panicked, Zola replied,"Sir, this room was cleaned by Kate..." Then she briefly paused, perhaps feeling sorry for having thrown Kate under the bus. "It was all my fault," Zola continued. "I should have double checked the room more carefully..." Her moment of remorse quickly turned into a slight fear of possibly being found out.

expression on Zola's face actually affected Emily. She always saw only the best in

"It wasn't anybody's fault. It was just an accident, and I'm okay now. I'll make sure from now on to watch

budge. With a raspy voice filled with resentment, he muttered,"Zola, make sure she leaves the house by

said the maid bowing her head. On one side she was relieved, but on another she knew

her bed, Emily had watched the entire conversation unfold, silent and confused. She hadn't realized until then that Zola was the head servant of the house, with the authority to hire or let people go. But now that she thought about it more, during her time spent at the Tyrone

her deduction. "Jacob, when

sitting even closer on the edge her bed, Jacob still couldn't shake off his worry and indignation at what had happened. The only thing that was making it all better was staring at Emily's tiny foot;

foot was the cutest thing he had ever

answering Emily's question completely oblivious to her rationale. "Zola is my nanny's daughter. She proved to be smart and adaptable;

rarely stopped by the Tyrone Mansion and couldn't care less whether the one in charge was Zola, Lola or anyone else for that matter. It was only after Emily moved in that he started stopping by more often. It was also then when he realized that Zola, as a capable servant and a woman too, would be the most appropriate to be in charge and take care of Emily as well; and therefore he wouldn't have to

But her thoughts too were interrupted once she realized the intimate manner in which Jacob was attending to her. Her wounded foot was in

the stern request didn't even register. He simply responded by asking "Does it

foot blowing gently over the wound, like

sensation in the affected foot. Jolted by

the floor without

incident happen. 'How dare she do that to him!' Zola thought to

passed, Jacob's discombobulation turned into irritation. Zola hurried by his side, attempting to help him up. However, the last thing Jacob would want to do is accept any help from a servant. He arrogantly slapped her

face, she felt the need to say something. 'I'm sorry for embarrassing you. It wasn't my intention.' Emily intended to apologize, but

her to leave. With a pleading voice she attempted to address him,"Sir..." But nothing else would come out. The unfairness with which he was treating her was all that she could think of. Zola's emotions were caging all her words in her throat. Perhaps it was better because she couldn't think of any right words to say. All she wanted to

The guilty look on her face were enough for him to forgive her. With a calm demeanor, he adjusted his clothes, his sight lingering on her for a few extremely long seconds. Then, realizing Zola still hadn't left, he turned towards her

silent moments, she finally snapped out of her bafflement and mumbled on a hushed tone,"Sir, the car is ready for you and you