Chapter 37 - Trauma

Emma seemed confused, but she hung up nonetheless. I gritted my teeth, still clenching the driving wheel. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Emma, but I still hadn’t been able to leave the parking lot. Thanks to having expended all my energy on leaving the house and getting in the car, I had already been sitting in the driver’s seat for a whole hour, unable to move.

‘I have to go to work.’

I fixed my hands onto the driving wheel and regularly breathed out shaky sighs.

‘It’ll be okay. I’m okay.’

When I closed my eyes and opened them again, I turned pale as another thought invaded my head.

‘I’m not okay.’

*

*

Slam!

I jolted and screamed at the sudden slamming of the window. Hahh, hahh… The sound of my own breath was banging on my eardrums, and I couldn’t come to my senses.

“…”

Somebody was talking. I blinked multiple times over, trying my best to stay conscious. When I finally managed to turn my head, I was met with a truly unexpected face.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I blankly stared at Keith’s face that was behind the window, staring at me with an irritated expression.

Act 7

‘Why is this man here?’

I managed to squeeze out a thought with my cloudy brain. A moment too late, I realized that I was still sitting in my car and that the sun was already crawling beneath the horizon. However, what I still couldn’t understand was that Keith was standing before my eyes. Was I seeing things?

When I continued to stare at him blankly, Keith clicked his tongue in exasperation. Immediately, he once again slammed his fist onto the window.

“Ngah!” When I cried out and hunched over my body, Keith gritted his teeth.

“What are you trying to do? Open the door and get out right now!”

I couldn’t reply. I desperately tried to stop my body from trembling and bit my lip. Even biting my lip gave me much trouble as my teeth were chattering.

Click.

I barely managed to open the door. Only when I peeled myself out of the car and straightened my back did I realize that my car was surrounded by multiple men in black suits. I saw Whitaker’s face among the crowd. I somehow whipped my brain to form some words.

“I’m sorry. I, couldn’t, bring, myself, to drive.”

Did my sentence sound so choppy because I was stuttering, or because my ears weren’t working as they were supposed to?

That was where my conscience cut out.

* * *

I smelled a vague whiff of sweetness. It was a scent that I recognized. What was this scent?

I jolted myself awake. My entire body bounced like I had been electrocuted. I blinked with my sluggish eyes. I came to a late realization that I was sitting inside a car. Of course, it wasn’t my old car. As I leaned my body against the leather seat that was more comfortable than my own bed, I slowly rolled my eyes and looked around.

A marble-finish interior, the scent of pheromones mixed with a subtle scent of leather, an elegant carpet lining the floor—and, although I wished it weren’t true, Keith was sitting beside me. I only realized then that the sweet scent that I had been smelling was the scent of his pheromones that had seeped into the interior of the car.

I heard the click of Keith igniting his lighter. When I hesitantly shifted my gaze onto him, I saw Keith lighting the cigarette that he had hanging from his mouth.

As he slowly inhaled, a red flame flared up and disappeared from the tip of the cigarette. He deeply exhaled the cigarette smoke before finally asking, “Tell me, what’s the problem this time?”

I slowly blinked my eyes. Keith seemed fed up. I was put on the spot, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. To be exact, everything in my head was so jumbled that I couldn’t form a proper sentence. Thankfully, it was just him and me in the car. The driver’s seat was blocked off with a panel, which created a perfectly separated space.

‘Have I ever fainted before?’ was my first thought. I couldn’t recall anything right now.

Keith was waiting for my answer. Just then, I felt dizzy. I tried my best to somehow explain the situation to him. When I managed to puzzle together my memories and opened my mouth, I suddenly replayed what he had once said.

“What’s so big about that?”

Just then, my voice fell silent. What meaning was there for me to rant about everything? Keith would never understand, and I would get hurt once again, so I bit my lip and swallowed my words. I took a few deep breaths before opening my mouth.

“… I would like to receive therapy,” I said in a voice that sounded exhausted even to my own ears. “I believe I have some mental issues. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you in advance. It happened all of a sudden.”

Thankfully, I could finish my sentence normally. I sat there, staring meaninglessly at the tip of my fingers when I suddenly sensed Keith calling somebody. It didn’t take long for him to say, “Tell Steward I’m coming now.”

Steward was the name of Keith’s personal doctor. Everyone, including me, had wondered why a man who was able to do anything he wanted would ever need therapy. True enough, I had never once had to book an appointment with the doctor for Keith’s therapy. He was therefore just a doctor whom I remembered by name.

When I turned my head in surprise, Keith massaged the crease between his brows with his hand that was holding the cigarette. Suddenly, he snapped, “Not me, my secretary. Why does it matter? Yes, now.”

Under any other circumstance, I would be the one calling Steward. Since I wasn’t in a state where I could work this time, he must have called Whitaker or Emma. Who could have been the one to call the doctor? I felt a surge of meaningless curiosity but, of course, didn’t ask anything.