Chapter 32
Dr. Jacobs offered Vin a seat as he made himself comfortable at the other side of his desk. “First of all I would like to assure you that whatever we talk about here stays here,” he paused for a heartbeat and then continued. “All the information we are going to share will be considered confidential and it won’t be repeated outside of these four walls, Mr. Diesel.”
“Vin,” he interrupted the doctor and in response, he nodded briefly and continued as if Vin hadn’t spoke at all.
“I’m very aware of the fact that I’m walking a very thin line between what’s legal and what my own conscience is telling me to do… Vin. But I’m really worried about Luna and knowing in advance how patients who suffer bulimia act I suspect that she is not going to help me on my task.” Dr. Jacobs explained, his voice as serious as a heart attack. Vin tensed all at once. Dr. Jacobs noticed and held his gaze. “I do give you my word. Not even my wife will know from my mouth that her favourite actor was here tonight.” He finished.
Vin narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but after a moment he nodded in agreement.
“I’ll do whatever I have to do to help her, Dr. Jacobs.” He replied, making himself a little more comfortable on his seat. “I want to know how my … Luna is and when I can see her.” Vin added, frowning deeply when he thought about who Luna was in his life.
The young doctor went silent for a couple of minutes. He knew full well that he was putting his own career in Vin Diesel’s hands and he wasn’t sure if it was a wise decision, but he needed to know about the causes that had triggered such behavior in Luna.
It wasn’t that what she had done was strange at her age, but it was true that it wasn’t too common either. However, the famous actor sitting at the other side of his desk had nothing to do right now with the celebrity he thought Vin Diesel was according to his wife’s words.
Dr. Jacobs shook his head and cleared his throat.
“Luna is severely dehydrated and her electrolytes are imbalanced… her blood pressure is still low but I think that it has been always like that, so I’m not too concerned about it. Apart from that her throat and esophagus are damaged because the repeated exposure to gastric acid.” He explained pulling out a note pad from one of the drawers of his desk. “I’m pretty sure that she has been purging herself for at least two weeks if not more and I would say that she suffered bulimia before when she was younger, maybe even anorexia nervosa…” Vin held his breath, tensing every muscle in his body. “However, apart from this, I can tell you in advance that she will be fine in a few days.” He reassured Vin who let out the air he had been holding with a heavy sigh.
Dr. Jacobs smiled a little and continued.
“Bulimia is an eating disorder in which the main danger is the fact that it becomes a very dangerous vicious cycle. I’m suspecting that it will be Luna’s ‘Damocles’ sword for the rest of her life, so I would suggest psychological therapy to help her get over whatever set it off in the first place to break that cycle.” Dr. Jacobs paused, letting his words sink in. “Do you know why she has been doing this?” He asked.
Vin frowned deeply and cleared his throat. “Luna has been under a lot of pressure lately since the media found that we are together and she isn’t used to attracting such attention over her.” Vin explained, sighing hard. “My lifestyle is not exactly what anyone could call ‘normal’ and she’s having trouble dealing with it.”
Dr. Jacobs nodded in understanding and Vin continued.
“She’s strong and independent, but she’s also really fragile and conflicted with a lot of ups and downs and sure as hell I’m not a walk by the river.”
Dr. Jacobs kept writing notes on his note pad. “Is Luna extremely worried about her weight?” He asked as he lifted his head, locking eyes with Vin.
“Luna has always controlled what she eats and works out at the gym almost every day, but…” Vin frowned deeply, thinking about the last two weeks. “Lately she has been training like a woman possessed and eating even less than usual.” He finished, sighing hard.
Dr. Jacobs looked at Vin and braced himself for his next question, suspecting in advance Vin’s reaction.
He knew that celebrities were always trying desperately to keep their private lifestyle out of public knowledge, so the following part was going to be maybe a little weird for Vin. But the young doctor was trusting in him so the actor might as well return the favor.
“Is she taking drugs?” Dr. Jacobs asked. Vin was on guard in seconds and after a moment of hesitation he answered.
“She smokes cigarettes and from time to time joints. No big deal though. As far as I know Luna never took anything more than that.”
In response, Dr. Jacobs frowned deeply, concern all over his face. Vin noticed the change on the doc’s face and tensed all at once, tightening his jaw. Dr. Jacobs shook his head and cleared his throat.
“I assume that both of you are having sex. So, I would like to know which contraceptive method Luna is using.” The doctor asked. Vin arched his brows, shocked.
“What?!” He asked in disbelief. If this kid was fucking with him, he definitely had chosen a bad day to do it. “What the fuck has that to do with Luna’s state?” Vin asked, fixing the doctor with a serious gaze. Dr. Jacobs ignored it.
“Don’t get me wrong, Vin. I’m not interested in your sex life at all. I just need to know if she is taking pills.” He added as he stiffened slightly.
“Why?” Vin asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Dr. Jacobs frowned concerned.
“When was the date of her last menstruation?” In response, Vin heaved a hard sigh.
“I don’t know.” He answered honestly.
Vin had no idea and cursed himself silently for that. The young doctor thought about his answer and after a moment he plunged ahead.
“There’s the possibility that Luna has been throwing up the pills along with the food.” Dr. Jacobs said and Vin shut his eyes tightly.
Fuck! He cursed silently.
“One of the symptoms of bulimia is the irregular periods, but still…the hormones supplied by the pills would be able to balance them. In any case, there is a 50% possibility. However, it’s hard to know for sure until we run a pregnancy test.” Dr. Jacobs explained. Vin swallowed hard and closed his hands in fists.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, he chanted.
——
Luna’s eyes fluttered open as she swallowed dryly. She was disoriented but she didn’t feel pain. Faintly inside her head Luna heard a beeping sound as if far away, it sounded a little louder after a few seconds.
Slowly Luna blinked as she tried to move, but somehow she couldn’t, her limbs felt numb. So after a moment of hesitation, she finally turned her head to one side, her eyes wandering around her.
She seemed to be in a hospital room. There was a chair in one corner and a window, the plastic blind had been lowered. The smell of some kind of antiseptic assaulted her nostrils and Luna wrinkled her nose.
Just when she was going to turn her head to the other side, a nurse entered, muttering obscenities in Spanish under her breath, cursing about doing a double shift and a damned life.
She followed the nurse through her almost closed eyes and found herself looking at an IV connected at her left arm. She drove her gaze up and found the serum bags hanging from the stand of the IV.
The nurse glanced at Luna from the corner of her eyes and started to say that all of those sluts like her deserved what they had because God was punishing them for their indecent behavior, and that she was going to burn in hell like the dirty sinner she was.
The nurse was talking, oblivious to the fact that Luna was awake and she understood everything she was saying while replacing the almost empty serum bags for another.
Luna narrowed her eyes and fought the urge to send that nasty woman to that same hell she was babbling about. Right now she had more serious trouble than spending her energy thinking about what that nurse was saying, not that Luna gave a damn about it though.
Luna knew full well what was coming. She had been in this same situation before when she was a teenager and still living in Spain. Luna closed her eyes as memories from her past came floating without warning.
Flash back
“¿Por qué nos haces esto, Luna? Te hemos dado todo.” (Why are you doing this to us? We gave you everything) her mother said, shaking her head in disgust.
“Realmente pensé que eras una chica lista, Luna. Nunca esperé esto de tí.” (I really thought you were a smart girl, Luna. I never expected this from you) her father added disappointed.
End Flash back
Luna cursed herself silently as she shut her eyes tightly, silent tears rolling down her temples. All of sudden, she remembered Vin whispering to her that she was going to be ok as a paramedic tapped her left arm, injecting a needle and Vin’s full lips pressed against her ear, saying that he was going to take care of her. Then she was in an ambulance and after that everything went black and the next thing she knew she was awake in that room.
Luna blinked and her vision cleared completely when the door opened again and a young man dressed in a white coat entered it, a gentle smile graced his lips as soon as he noticed Luna’s gaze on him.
Dr. Jacobs looked at the nurse as he cleared his throat. “Leave us alone, please.” He said and then looked at Luna again.
In response, the nurse’s brow went up at once, but she nodded ‘yes’ and left the room without saying a word. As soon as she closed the door, Dr. Jacobs smiled a little.
“Hi, Luna,” he greeted her as he leaned slightly over her body; his eyes reading some graphs drawn on a paper and then up past Luna’s body. She frowned and followed his line of vision.
There was a heart monitor that listened to the frequency of her heartbeats, emitting a beeping sound in time with her pulse.
“I’m Dr. Jacobs,” he said. “You’re in the ICU of the Central Hospital.”
Luna swallowed as in slow motion and opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out through her lips. She then tried a couple of more times and when nothing happened, she panicked.
Where was her voice? Her eyes went wide open, showing fear and the young doctor took her hand.
“Your vocal chords are slightly inflamed, but you will be able to talk in a day or so. However, I suggest you not force your voice out now. So I’ll be the one talking and you just have to nod, ok?”
Luna nodded ‘yes’, swallowing hard and braced herself for what was coming.
next…
Secrets 32
Chapter 32
Dr. Jacobs offered Vin a seat as he made himself comfortable at the other side of his desk. “First of all I would like to assure you that whatever we talk about here stays here,” he paused for a heartbeat and then continued. “All the information we are going to share will be considered confidential and it won’t be repeated outside of these four walls, Mr. Diesel.”
“Vin,” he interrupted the doctor and in response, he nodded briefly and continued as if Vin hadn’t spoke at all.
“I’m very aware of the fact that I’m walking a very thin line between what’s legal and what my own conscience is telling me to do… Vin. But I’m really worried about Luna and knowing in advance how patients who suffer bulimia act I suspect that she is not going to help me on my task.” Dr. Jacobs explained, his voice as serious as a heart attack. Vin tensed all at once. Dr. Jacobs noticed and held his gaze. “I do give you my word. Not even my wife will know from my mouth that her favourite actor was here tonight.” He finished.
Vin narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but after a moment he nodded in agreement.
“I’ll do whatever I have to do to help her, Dr. Jacobs.” He replied, making himself a little more comfortable on his seat. “I want to know how my … Luna is and when I can see her.” Vin added, frowning deeply when he thought about who Luna was in his life.
The young doctor went silent for a couple of minutes. He knew full well that he was putting his own career in Vin Diesel’s hands and he wasn’t sure if it was a wise decision, but he needed to know about the causes that had triggered such behavior in Luna.
It wasn’t that what she had done was strange at her age, but it was true that it wasn’t too common either. However, the famous actor sitting at the other side of his desk had nothing to do right now with the celebrity he thought Vin Diesel was according to his wife’s words.
Dr. Jacobs shook his head and cleared his throat.
“Luna is severely dehydrated and her electrolytes are imbalanced… her blood pressure is still low but I think that it has been always like that, so I’m not too concerned about it. Apart from that her throat and esophagus are damaged because the repeated exposure to gastric acid.” He explained pulling out a note pad from one of the drawers of his desk. “I’m pretty sure that she has been purging herself for at least two weeks if not more and I would say that she suffered bulimia before when she was younger, maybe even anorexia nervosa…” Vin held his breath, tensing every muscle in his body. “However, apart from this, I can tell you in advance that she will be fine in a few days.” He reassured Vin who let out the air he had been holding with a heavy sigh.
Dr. Jacobs smiled a little and continued.
“Bulimia is an eating disorder in which the main danger is the fact that it becomes a very dangerous vicious cycle. I’m suspecting that it will be Luna’s ‘Damocles’ sword for the rest of her life, so I would suggest psychological therapy to help her get over whatever set it off in the first place to break that cycle.” Dr. Jacobs paused, letting his words sink in. “Do you know why she has been doing this?” He asked.
Vin frowned deeply and cleared his throat. “Luna has been under a lot of pressure lately since the media found that we are together and she isn’t used to attracting such attention over her.” Vin explained, sighing hard. “My lifestyle is not exactly what anyone could call ‘normal’ and she’s having trouble dealing with it.”
Dr. Jacobs nodded in understanding and Vin continued.
“She’s strong and independent, but she’s also really fragile and conflicted with a lot of ups and downs and sure as hell I’m not a walk by the river.”
Dr. Jacobs kept writing notes on his note pad. “Is Luna extremely worried about her weight?” He asked as he lifted his head, locking eyes with Vin.
“Luna has always controlled what she eats and works out at the gym almost every day, but…” Vin frowned deeply, thinking about the last two weeks. “Lately she has been training like a woman possessed and eating even less than usual.” He finished, sighing hard.
Dr. Jacobs looked at Vin and braced himself for his next question, suspecting in advance Vin’s reaction.
He knew that celebrities were always trying desperately to keep their private lifestyle out of public knowledge, so the following part was going to be maybe a little weird for Vin. But the young doctor was trusting in him so the actor might as well return the favor.
“Is she taking drugs?” Dr. Jacobs asked. Vin was on guard in seconds and after a moment of hesitation he answered.
“She smokes cigarettes and from time to time joints. No big deal though. As far as I know Luna never took anything more than that.”
In response, Dr. Jacobs frowned deeply, concern all over his face. Vin noticed the change on the doc’s face and tensed all at once, tightening his jaw. Dr. Jacobs shook his head and cleared his throat.
“I assume that both of you are having sex. So, I would like to know which contraceptive method Luna is using.” The doctor asked. Vin arched his brows, shocked.
“What?!” He asked in disbelief. If this kid was fucking with him, he definitely had chosen a bad day to do it. “What the fuck has that to do with Luna’s state?” Vin asked, fixing the doctor with a serious gaze. Dr. Jacobs ignored it.
“Don’t get me wrong, Vin. I’m not interested in your sex life at all. I just need to know if she is taking pills.” He added as he stiffened slightly.
“Why?” Vin asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Dr. Jacobs frowned concerned.
“When was the date of her last menstruation?” In response, Vin heaved a hard sigh.
“I don’t know.” He answered honestly.
Vin had no idea and cursed himself silently for that. The young doctor thought about his answer and after a moment he plunged ahead.
“There’s the possibility that Luna has been throwing up the pills along with the food.” Dr. Jacobs said and Vin shut his eyes tightly.
Fuck! He cursed silently.
“One of the symptoms of bulimia is the irregular periods, but still…the hormones supplied by the pills would be able to balance them. In any case, there is a 50% possibility. However, it’s hard to know for sure until we run a pregnancy test.” Dr. Jacobs explained. Vin swallowed hard and closed his hands in fists.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, he chanted.
——
Luna’s eyes fluttered open as she swallowed dryly. She was disoriented but she didn’t feel pain. Faintly inside her head Luna heard a beeping sound as if far away, it sounded a little louder after a few seconds.
Slowly Luna blinked as she tried to move, but somehow she couldn’t, her limbs felt numb. So after a moment of hesitation, she finally turned her head to one side, her eyes wandering around her.
She seemed to be in a hospital room. There was a chair in one corner and a window, the plastic blind had been lowered. The smell of some kind of antiseptic assaulted her nostrils and Luna wrinkled her nose.
Just when she was going to turn her head to the other side, a nurse entered, muttering obscenities in Spanish under her breath, cursing about doing a double shift and a damned life.
She followed the nurse through her almost closed eyes and found herself looking at an IV connected at her left arm. She drove her gaze up and found the serum bags hanging from the stand of the IV.
The nurse glanced at Luna from the corner of her eyes and started to say that all of those sluts like her deserved what they had because God was punishing them for their indecent behavior, and that she was going to burn in hell like the dirty sinner she was.
The nurse was talking, oblivious to the fact that Luna was awake and she understood everything she was saying while replacing the almost empty serum bags for another.
Luna narrowed her eyes and fought the urge to send that nasty woman to that same hell she was babbling about. Right now she had more serious trouble than spending her energy thinking about what that nurse was saying, not that Luna gave a damn about it though.
Luna knew full well what was coming. She had been in this same situation before when she was a teenager and still living in Spain. Luna closed her eyes as memories from her past came floating without warning.
Flash back
“¿Por qué nos haces esto, Luna? Te hemos dado todo.” (Why are you doing this to us? We gave you everything) her mother said, shaking her head in disgust.
“Realmente pensé que eras una chica lista, Luna. Nunca esperé esto de tí.” (I really thought you were a smart girl, Luna. I never expected this from you) her father added disappointed.
End Flash back
Luna cursed herself silently as she shut her eyes tightly, silent tears rolling down her temples. All of sudden, she remembered Vin whispering to her that she was going to be ok as a paramedic tapped her left arm, injecting a needle and Vin’s full lips pressed against her ear, saying that he was going to take care of her. Then she was in an ambulance and after that everything went black and the next thing she knew she was awake in that room.
Luna blinked and her vision cleared completely when the door opened again and a young man dressed in a white coat entered it, a gentle smile graced his lips as soon as he noticed Luna’s gaze on him.
Dr. Jacobs looked at the nurse as he cleared his throat. “Leave us alone, please.” He said and then looked at Luna again.
In response, the nurse’s brow went up at once, but she nodded ‘yes’ and left the room without saying a word. As soon as she closed the door, Dr. Jacobs smiled a little.
“Hi, Luna,” he greeted her as he leaned slightly over her body; his eyes reading some graphs drawn on a paper and then up past Luna’s body. She frowned and followed his line of vision.
There was a heart monitor that listened to the frequency of her heartbeats, emitting a beeping sound in time with her pulse.
“I’m Dr. Jacobs,” he said. “You’re in the ICU of the Central Hospital.”
Luna swallowed as in slow motion and opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out through her lips. She then tried a couple of more times and when nothing happened, she panicked.
Where was her voice? Her eyes went wide open, showing fear and the young doctor took her hand.
“Your vocal chords are slightly inflamed, but you will be able to talk in a day or so. However, I suggest you not force your voice out now. So I’ll be the one talking and you just have to nod, ok?”
Luna nodded ‘yes’, swallowing hard and braced herself for what was coming.
next…