Chapter 38

The atmosphere in Miss Kai’s opulent villa was a suffocating layer of tranquility, a soft, rich velvet that violently contrasted with the shattered, bleeding state of Adeline. When Miss Kai finally appeared, draped in elegant silk pajamas, her serene expression instantly dissolved.

Adeline stood, her body still trembling, her posture rigid with the adrenaline of recent terror. The sight of the psychiatrist, sweating, her face swollen with fresh bruises, the delicate silk dress hanging shredded from one shoulder, was a profound physical shock.

“Adeline… what happened? Did you fight with your husband?” Miss Kai whispered, already stepping closer, alarm swelling in her voice.

“Madame Kai, please, don’t worry about me, we must…” Adeline paused, her eyes locking onto the uneasy security guard near the door. The secrecy of her mission was paramount. “It is urgent,” she emphasized, her voice raw.

Miss Kai nodded sharply, adjusting her pajama collar, and took Adeline’s clammy hand, leading her toward a private office. She gave a terse hand signal to the guard to hold his position.

“Give me one moment,” Miss Kai murmured.
She slipped out.

Left alone inside the Oval Office, Adeline inhaled the scent of antique wood and leather, momentarily paralyzed by the contrast between this hushed, stable luxury and the raw violence she had just endured. Her mind flashed to Williams’ face, a mask of dark, drug-fueled rage. She touched her bruised cheek, a sharp intake of breath signaling the physical pain.

A few minutes later, Miss Kai returned, carrying a small, pristine first-aid kit, a thick cashmere blanket, and a steaming cup of milk. Adeline watched, transfixed. This was the authentic Miss Kai: simple, wealthy, powerful, yet attentive to the primal need for human comfort. This maternal attention twisted the knife in Adeline’s heart, for the news she was about to deliver would destroy this serenity forever.

“Here.” She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and set the milk within reach. “You’re safe. Now tell me… what is going on?”

“Madame Kai, I am sorry to come at such an hour.”

“Oh no, Adeline,” Miss Kai said, smiling sadly as she tucked the blanket over Adeline’s legs and placed the hot milk near her. “I wasn’t busy, just watching TV, and Ralph is asleep. Now, tell me what is going on.”

Adeline paused, the warmth of the blanket suddenly suffocating. “Madame Kai, this is about Williams.”

The air between them shifted.

“But before.” Adeline gripped Miss Kai’s hand. “You once told me Williams had been bullied. You had to change schools, and before me, she had gone through numerous therapies.”

Miss Kai’s face instantly darkened, the shadow of old pain falling across her features. “Are you going to suggest I have Williams institutionalized again?”

Adeline held her gaze. “No. I need you to remember the last therapy before she came to me. The therapy that changed her for the better. What happened?”

Miss Kai straightened, her body stiffening with the effort of recalling the abyss. “Well, after the bullying started, I took her to a psychologist. I tried to talk to her but failed. With the psychologist, I thought it would work, but her condition worsened violently. She cried every night, she stopped eating, she became like a zombie.” Miss Kai looked away.

“That’s when she had to be hospitalized for the first time, malnourished, dehydrated.”

Miss Kai stood up, walking toward a portrait of a younger, vibrant Williams. “At the hospital, I was asked to commit her to a specialized asylum. There, things got worse. She attempted suicide and behaved so violently that we had to transfer her to an even more specialized facility, where she lost a total of two years of her life.” Miss Kai looked at Adeline, tears finally escaping her eyes, yet strangely, she smiled. “It was my last resort and the best. williams came out changed.”

Adeline let out a slow, controlled breath, absorbing the full weight of the trauma.

Miss Kai continued, her voice trembling with pride and relief. “Since then, she resumed her studies brilliantly. She achieved such phenomenal grades, I was impressed. She wanted to be a doctor, to help others, to change the world. She had regained such a powerful self-esteem, you cannot imagine.”

Hearing this, Adeline recalled the extreme, sculpted perfection of Williams’ body and mind. This was not the humility of a healer. It was the ferocious hunger of someone who needed to feed on fear and suffering to maintain existence. If Romaric hadn’t intervened, Williams would have crossed the threshold of no return.

Miss Kai wiped her tears, murmuring, “She became Dr. Niran Williams.” She turned back to Adeline, her motherly veneer cracking under the strain. “So, tell me. What is wrong with my daughter again?”

Adeline stood, unable to sit any longer. “Madame Kai… has Williams been under stress lately? Any strange behaviors?”

“Adeline…”

“Please, answer me first.”

Miss Kai hesitated. “Since I left the hospital, and Ralph… she rarely visits. But given the news, the only stress I see is the operation.”

“Madame Kai, is there any possibility for me to access Williams’ file from before she came here?” Adeline moved closer, her voice urgent.

Miss Kai recoiled, shocked. “No, that’s not possible. Williams is an adult. I no longer have power over her, and above all, I made sure that nightmare would never be known.” She saw the raw bruises on Adeline’s shoulder, her patience snapping. “Adeline, enough. What is it?”

Adeline sighed. It was time to unleash the lava, the destructive, hidden truth. “Madame Kai, have you ever heard of War Survivors Syndrome?”

“No, never.”

“When a soldier endures continuous, merciless torture, they often cling to an image, a beautiful ideal, to survive the pain. They cling so tightly to this ideal that their spirit leaves their physical body and soul behind. They begin to live entirely in that ideal, that other world, and that detached spirit is what gives them the strength to endure, until they are rescued or they die.” Adeline breathed out like whispering to herself. “They create an inner world, a perfect sanctuary, to survive. A place where the pain cannot reach them.”

Miss Kai stared, aghast. “But what are you trying to say, Adeline?”

Adeline looked into Miss Kai’s eyes, speaking the painful truth of a decade of denial. “Madame Kai, I am sorry to tell you that your daughter has never been cured. Your daughter is a War Survivor, and she is still inside that inner world.”

“Adeline, I am lost.”

“Madame Kai.” Adeline gripped her hand. “I know you love your daughter. If you don’t allow me to help her get out of this, she will collapse. I promise to fulfill the mission you gave me. But Williams is very sick.”

“William is very sick.” The words echoed in her head. Miss Kai began to cry silently. “A mother will do anything for her children, Adeline, but Williams is brilliant.” She looked at Adeline. “She’s just not sociable, that’s all. I just want her to open her heart.”

“Listen, Madame Kai, I am a psychiatrist. I can’t tell you everything, but trust me, and I suspect Mirror Therapy.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Williams only sees herself in the portrait.” Adeline looked at the beautiful portrait of Williams’ younger self. “She was helped to create a new version of herself, the perfect, genius Dr. Niran Williams you see now. This Williams is insensitive, tough, hardworking, but entirely detached from reality. And unfortunately, that façade is starting to crumble. She is beginning to lose the sense of this virtual reality, which no longer adapts to the current, messy world.”

“What?”

Adeline knew the professional explanation was impossible to fully convey, especially to a frightened mother. She used a simple example of Williams’ emotional disconnect.

“Madame Kai, when you began your relationship with Ralph, you told me Williams did not object.”

“Yes.”

“But she didn’t accept it either.”

Miss Kai nodded slowly.

“A normal person would either reject him, out of love for her father’s memory, or accept him because he makes you happy. But Williams did not react because she couldn’t see him.”

Miss Kai stood up, shaking her head. “This is too much, Adeline.”

Adeline followed her, her own expertise troubled by the depth of the case. “He does not exist in her internal system. Your daughter interacts with people only if they fit the categories created in her survival world. Anything outside that world, her brain filters it out.”

Adeline’s eyes were fixed on the floor as if she were searching for a plausible theory. “It’s as if the day Williams came out of that third therapy, it was no longer your daughter who came out. Your true daughter, Williams, is hidden deep inside the perfect soldier you see in front of you.” She whispered.

A profound silence settled. Miss Kai remained frozen. This truth, that the last decade had been a magnificent, terrifying lie, was impossible to accept. “Adeline, I think you have a lot going on in your life, and I prefer that you terminate your therapy immediately.”

“Madame Kai—”

“No, Adeline, please.” Miss Kai’s voice was firm, driven by absolute denial. “You have clearly come from a tumultuous evening. You are not yourself. I think it is time for you to rest.”

Adeline looked down at her ruined clothing, the bruises throbbing. There was no way to explain the brutal scenario she had orchestrated to confirm this diagnosis, dressed like a Playboy’s girl.

“Please, leave.”

Adeline stood defeated. She had no choice. But then her gaze spotted a white sheet of paper and a pen on a nearby desk. She ran toward it and began writing furiously.

“What are you doing, Adeline?” Miss Kai moved closer, alarmed. “Stop that immediately!”

“Wait, Madame Kai.” Adeline wrote quickly, desperately. “You told me you would have dinner with Williams tomorrow…”

“Adeline, please go away!”

Adeline thrust the folded note into Miss Kai’s hand. “Listen to me. I understand you don’t want to believe me, but at this dinner, play this game. It’s a simple logic game. If Williams answers you normally, and you see nothing strange, then fine. I will be wrong.”

“Adeline, go!” Miss Kai dropped the note, but Adeline placed it gently on the desk, a silent, damning piece of evidence left behind.

Sa ii ko thanks you for your reading. Every vote and comment helps this story continue.