Chapter 25

Chapter 25
Marianne smiled at Vivienne as she sat back down in the room. It was the only room they could get that was away from the noise and somewhat like an office. There were couches and a coffee table, but everything looked tropical. The coffee table was literally made out of bamboo and there were various paintings on the walls of coconut trees and flowers and all colorful things of a sort.

Vivienne returned her smile with an awkward laugh. She crossed her ankles and leaned back into the couch. There were a few moments of silence and Marianne knew that it was her job to move past it all and put on a brave face. Besides, she was over what Vivienne had done. Mostly.

"Alright. It seems like forever since we had one of these sessions huh?" Marianne chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah... it's been a while." Vivienne nodded.

"So I think we should just get the rough stuff out of the way first. Tell me about what happened after everything unfolded. When you and Dylan went back into the house. What did he say? What did he do? What did you do?"

"Well... he was pretty upset. As you could have seen. He didn't really talk to me for a while. He just stayed away and then we finally talked about it. Things got heated when we did. It seemed like he was trying to calm himself down first before we addressed the situation but that all flew out of the window and we fought. Again."

"And what was the context of the argument? What was he telling you and why were you arguing back?" When you were clearly in the wrong. It seemed like those words did not need to be said and just hung in the air for the time it took Vivienne to respond back to her.

"He was upset because of the entire thing and was demanding what was going through my head when I decided to do it. He told me that he could not understand why I behaved the way I did and basically scolded me for things like that, Telling me that I should be grateful that you decided to drop the charges. I just argued back because I did not like the fact that he was angry at me. I don't like when he scolds me."

"Ms. Owen. It seems like you have clearly understood the reason for Dylan's anger and yet you were only upset because he was upset at you. I don't think that's a very valid reason to start an argument. And if you don't like when he is mad at you then why not refrain from doing things that will make him angry at you."

Vivienne rubbed her hands through her hair and sighed deeply. "I know. I know. And I'm sorry to him and to you for what I did."

"It's great that you are sorry. I'm glad that you have acknowledged that your actions are wrong. And with that, I want to get to the root of that. Why you do the things that you do and how to improve and get rid of them. In the past, I had touched on your childhood and how that it most likely had a huge effect on your actions today. So I want you to tell me what you think the biggest, most prominent, important, emotional memory of your childhood is."

Trying to get Vivienne to speak was her goal. She, like last time, hoped that she could get Vivienne somewhat invested in what she was saying, and then she would say something without thinking. If Marianne was able to get Vivienne to be vulnerable and then emotional then she could admit something or let something slip, and so she had to aim for the part of her life she was not too fond of.

Marianne knew that Vivienne was not happy about what she said but when getting therapy, it was not always easy.

"Didn't we do this already?"

"I tried to get something out of you last time but you didn't really want to speak about it. But now, the topic is solely about this. So tell me, what memory sticks out the most to you. Affected you the most."

Vivienne thought for a few seconds. "You know I don't really know."

"Come on. Think just a bit. What's the most painful memory of your childhood. There should be something."

She groaned but was silent again, this time for longer. Marianne wondered if she was actually thinking up a memory or just pretending like she was. In this session, Marianne also wanted to get a feel for her actions and see if she really had changed as Dylan proclaimed. It did seem like she was calmer and more reasonable but that was it. She saw nothing profound yet. But Dylan, he obviously exaggerated it, insisted that she was an entirely new person because of all the time he spent with Vivienne and for how long he had to deal with her. With just the slightest change in personality, he would think that it was the best thing ever and therefore go around announcing to the world that Vivienne had changed for the better. Marianne gave her a sad smile at that, hoping that he was right in his assumption.

"I guess it would have to be the countless times my mother abandoned and ignored me. I had tried with her in the past and she didn't care about me in the slightest. When she dumped me on my grandparents, it really sucked I guess. I would say that those times were when I felt the most emotion towards anyone. And it just had to be sadness and anger. Some luck I have."

Marianne nodded and jotted that down. She remembered Vivienne mentioning her mother in the past. If she had to guess, she would say that Vivienne probably yearned for some sort of relationship like that. Anyone who had not gotten proper love from their parents can try to compensate and make up for that in their romantic relationships. Maybe that was why Dylan babies Vivienne a lot and she didn't have a problem with-

"Oh." Marianne put her book down as a new thought hit her. "Of course."

Vivienne straightened up and looked at her curiously. "What is it?"

"I just solved it. Why you act like this. I'm honestly surprised as to how I could not have come to the conclusion before. I feel like a fool."

"What. Tell me."

"No, I think I'll keep that to myself until I can find a way to try and help you out of your behavior."

The reason Vivienne acted like that was because she never had the chance to as a child. Because she did not have a parental figure that she could cry and complain to then she never had a chance to properly express those feelings and emotions. And so, as an adult, she is unconsciously acting like how she would have as a child. She's being bratty and clingy because she never had someone to be bratty and clingy to. And that's why she became overbearing and possessive.

"What's the point? Just tell me so that I can work on it as well."

"Next time. I need time to come up with a plan. I'll tell you during our next couple session. This is going to take the work of all three of us."

Vivienne huffed and rolled her eyes, but quickly coughed and shook her head, as if to try and cover it up. Marianne pretended like she never saw it and was looking at her notepad when Vivienne looked back in her direction.

"Since I came up with such a wonderful revelation. A late revelation. But a revelation nonetheless, I'll end our session here today. I have some thinking to do."

Vivienne didn't question her anymore and got up, she thanked her for the session and then left the room. Marianne was glad that she could end the session early. She could tell that Vivienne was trying her best to keep up her changed persona, but it was not really fooling Marianne. There were some moments where she could see a change, but the change was not genuine. It was not a change of the heart. It was simply a change of actions and behavior.

And Marianne would have preferred if Dylan would find out about it himself instead of Marianne having to tell him. She did not want to deal with him denying her words and then getting upset with her because he so desperately wanted to hold onto the chance that it could have happened. If she told him, then he would probably believe her and know that she was telling the truth but he would deny it until he would be blue in the face because he would not want to accept the fact that Vivienne had not really changed.