Chapter 54 Chapter 54
Chapter 54
"Let me understand this clearly,” Doctor Lui said with a slow smile as he pushed his glasses up his nose. “You slept. For more than two hours. In peace. No shaking. No noise in your head. And no pills?”
Ethan mumbled quietly, “Yes.”
“With your head on her lap?”
Ethan let out a slow breath. “Yes, my head was on her lap. No voices in my head. Nothing. Just… sleep.”
Doctor Lui leaned back like someone had just told him a miracle had fallen from the sky. If he could clap, he would have. This was the man who spent nights screaming and waking up drenched in sweat. This was the same man who couldn’t close his eyes without hearing crowds shouting his name, reporters and cameras flashing through his mind, and that haunting moment that destroyed his peace.
But here he was. Talking about sleep like a normal human being.
Doctor Lui narrowed his eyes. “You said she works in your office?”
“Yes,” Ethan answered quickly, as if he didn’t want any misunderstanding forming in the air. “She works in my office. My personal staff. And before you start thinking rubbish, there is nothing between us. Her dress tore at the company dinner, I didn’t want her to get embarrassed, so I helped. That’s all. I just took her home so she could ”
“And you put your head on her lap because her dress tore?” Doctor Lui asked with a raised brow.
“That wasn’t intentional!” Ethan snapped. “We fell asleep in the sitting room. I don’t know how it happened. I just slept. You know I don’t sleep! You should be focusing on that part!”
“I am focusing,” Doctor Lui said calmly. “On the part where your head was on her lap.”
Ethan tensed. “Mind you, I just did her a favor. She needed help. That’s what a boss should do. I volunteered.”
Doctor Lui shook his head slowly.
“The Ethan I knew never cared about things like that. You remember what you used to tell me? You said you had no heart for pity. You said you were empty… that nothing was inside you except guilt after that incident. You didn’t care if someone was in trouble, you didn’t care if they fell, you believed everyone should face life alone because no one stood for you. That was the Ethan I knew. A man who didn’t bother himself with anyone’s pain, who never looked twice at anyone, who never felt anything unless it came from his own guilt.”
Ethan swallowed once, irritated. “You’re twisting this.”
“No,” Doctor Lui replied gently. “I’m pointing out that you’re changing.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “I’m not changing. I still hate people touching me. I still don’t like anyone close. I still don’t trust anyone.”
“And yet your body trusted her enough to sleep,” Doctor Lui said quietly. “You don’t realize how big that is.”
Ethan looked away. He didn’t want to admit anything. The idea of having feelings… it irritated him. Love was a distraction. Attachment was dangerous.
“I can’t fall in love,” he muttered, almost to himself.
Doctor Lui nodded as if he didn’t disagree. “You don’t have to fall in love. But don’t lie to yourself either.”
Ethan clenched his fist slightly on his knee, annoyed. “I have other things on my head. Responsibilities. Deals waiting. My parents and their nonsense with Amelia. My reputation. I don’t have time for this. What I did was normal human decency. That’s it.”
“Normal human decency?” Dr. Lui repeated slowly. “You, Ethan Castellan, bought her a dress, cancelled part of your own event, took her to your home, stayed awake near her, and slept for the first time in one year. All thanks to what you call ‘normal human decency’?”
The way he said it sounded like a joke without laughing. Ethan pressed his hand on his forehead. Everything Dr. Lui said irritated him not because it was wrong, but because it sounded too right.
.
“I didn’t buy her a dress because I care,” Ethan muttered. “It was because she was representing my company. She would have embarrassed my name if the tear got bigger.”
“Your name?” Dr. Lui asked. “Or your eyes?”
Ethan opened his mouth to reply, then closed it. He hated how Dr. Lui talked like he could see through his brain and read what even Ethan didn’t want to read.
“Stop assuming things,” Ethan said quietly.
“I’m not assuming,” Dr. Lui said, calm as ever. “I’m observing. You’re reacting in a way you don’t even understand yet.”
Ethan stayed silent.
Doctor Lui leaned forward. “Listen. I didn’t say you are madly in love. I didn’t say she is your soulmate. I didn’t even say you want her. All I said was there is something. Something you can’t label, something you’re denying, something new. You don’t have to fight it.”
“I’m not fighting anything,” Ethan replied sharply.
“Yes, you are. You’re arguing with me like a teenager who got caught smiling at a girl for the first time.”
“I’m twenty Five” Ethan said dryly.
“And you’re acting like you’re sixteen,” Dr. Lui shot back.
Ethan stared at him speechless for five seconds. He hated that this man had a point. He hated it even more because Celine wasn’t someone he wanted to think about. She wasn’t supposed to matter.
She was a staff.
Someone on a salary.
Someone beneath his world.
Someone simple.
So why was she in his mind?
Doctor Lui softened his tone. “Ethan, she didn’t just let you sleep. Your body chose to rest near her. Your brain found comfort. You’ve been fighting your trauma alone for years. Maybe someone walked in without you noticing. You don’t have to label it. Not now.”
Ethan looked at the floor. “I don’t want to need anyone.”
“I didn’t say you need her,” Dr. Lui said gently. “I’m saying maybe… your heart has stopped rejecting everyone. Even if just a little.”
Ethan didn’t reply. He just sat there, staring at nothing, fighting a storm he didn’t understand.
Dr. Lui stood up, picked a small notebook, tore out a page, and placed it on the table. “Keep tracking your sleep. If she is around you and you experience peace again, we continue from there. If not, we go back to treatment. It’s simple observation.”
“And what if it happens again?” Ethan asked.
Dr. Lui smiled knowingly. “Then maybe she isn’t noise. Maybe she’s silence.”
Ethan didn’t like that answer. But he didn’t argue either.
He picked up the paper and stood to leave.
“I won’t fall in love,” he repeated stubbornly at the door.
Dr. Lui laughed quietly. “The people who say that are always the ones who fall first.”
Ethan paused, stared at him, but didn’t respond. He walked out, but the echo of those words chased him even after the door closed.