Chapter 160: Sincerity and Love

Logan did as Riley said and sat back down in his place. Riley let go of her warm hand on his wrist. He looked down to see his wrist, which had lost its warmth from Riley's.

“You scolded Archer? Why?"

"You don't remember what you did yesterday?"

Logan's face showed pure confusion. It wasn't an expression he could make up. Riley stared at him intensely for any small holes in his lies that he might be hiding. But it was not there at all. Logan was literally staring at her in confusion.

"Forgive me. But I don't remember anything."

“You left my house suddenly. You disappeared like a ghost after saying something rude to me the night before. You don’t remember it?"

"I don’t remember. I fell asleep. It wasn't me who said rude things to you."

Logan sighed in frustration. Confused about how he could explain his problem to Riley. It was part of his disgrace over the years. He never told anyone that he had two personalities ruling one body. Only Doctor Liberton knew. But now the poor old man was dead. Landon killed him. And he cleaned up the mess after he woke up to find the man dead covered in blood on the floor. There was Doctor Liberton's blood on his clenched knuckles. And in his head Landon was mocking him while laughing out loud because he managed to get rid of the doctor. After all these years, he had always managed to keep Landon from trying to kill Doctor Liberton.

“What kind of bullshit is that? You clearly waltzed out of my house. You kidnapped Archer from his day care. You talked to Ms. Anna! How could you be asleep at that time?” Riley glared at him angrily.

“You took a psychology program. So, you probably know that I have bipolar."

"And?" Riley asked, frowning.

“And there are two personalities in my body. There's another man. The bad guy you've met so far. Landon."

"Landon? You're not tricking me, are you? Don't try to trick me to gain my sympathy."

"Look at my face. If you're sensitive enough to all the things you see on my face, you should know we're different.”

Logan shook her hard, forcing her to look him in the face. There were so many streaks of sadness and despair on his wistful face. All the cynicism and evil look she had seen last night had disappeared from his face.

“You see the difference now? I'm Logan. And that damn man you saw last night was Landon. He's the one who did all this to you and to everyone he's ever hurt."

Riley removed Logan's hand from her shoulder. She inched backwards with a blank stare that disappointed Logan.

"You must not believe me. Fine. I know this is hard for anyone to accept. That's why I never told anyone about this. Only Doctor Liberton knows. But not anymore. Landon killed him. Now we're going to talk about you and Archer's future. You have to get out of here, and you can't go back to Charleston. You have to go somewhere else. I'll help you before Landon wakes up and takes over my body again."

Riley didn't really listen to what Logan was saying. She was still in shock, trying to accept all of Logan's absurd-sounding explanations. But she had read things about bipolar and alter egos. They were very likely to occur in someone with a fragile condition and a bad past.

“You must leave this country as soon as possible, Riley. You have to create a new identity with Archer, so you can't be found by Landon."

Riley blinked once, then she looked at Logan intensely. She moved forward to grab Logan's face and cupped it with both palms.

"I'm not going anywhere. I will stay here.”

“But you will—”

Riley put her index finger in front of Logan's lips and shook her head.

"No, Logan. I don't want to live like a fugitive. Every day feels like a nightmare. I'm scared, I have paranoia about things that don't make sense. I have nightmares every day. I went to a psychologist for a consultation. I was haunted by irrational fears that made my life even more miserable. This time I won't hide like a coward anymore. I will deal with it.”

“But Landon is a different case. He is a collection of evil and dark things within me. I can't even stop him myself.”

Logan lowered his face grimly. He was embarrassed to look at Riley, who was so sincere and gentle to him, even though he had hurt her many times. Landon was himself. If Landon hurt other people, it was the same as him hurting other people.

"There must be a way. There are many studies that say that bipolar disorder can be cured.”

“Dr. Liberton used to say the same thing to me. He gave me hope that I would function normally again. But after all these years, his words never came. I never recovered. Instead, Landon killed Doctor Liberton because he thought Doctor Liberton had told me to get rid of him forever from my body. Landon was afraid of being obliterated.”

“Then what about the whip? Is that one of the methods too? Doctor Liberton told you to do that?"

Logan shook his head slowly. He reflexively felt his back, which still felt sore, the scars from the whips a few days ago.

“It was my idea to punish Landon. Whenever I woke up and found a problem I needed to fix, I would end all the sins I had committed that day with whips on my back. At least Landon will also feel pain when he takes control of my body again.”

“You hurt your own body in order to hurt your other personality,” Riley looked at him with concern as she rubbed his hands that were drooping on his lap.

“You shouldn't have to punish yourself like that. You've even suffered enough with what Landon did. But if your body was controlled by Landon last night, how can you return to your body again?”

“Last night Landon controlled my body very strongly. He has accumulated various kinds of fear, frustration, hatred, all things dark and evil are the source of his strength. Landon has locked me in a thick glass wall that's kept me trapped there ever since we had lunch at that outdoor restaurant.”

Riley nodded slowly. "I already guessed. You got weird after we had lunch that day. I think your fickle attitude is influenced by your mood.”

“Landon took over my body. He did that on purpose because he wanted to take Archer away from you. Riley, you have to keep Archer away from Landon. He's a bad guy. I don't want my son to grow up to be like him."

Logan gripped her palm tightly. Tears fell from his eyes and he seemed very serious about his words. Riley had never seen Logan cry before. She felt both amazed and concerned to see Logan, who was so afraid of the fate of his son if Landon really took over his body for good.

“I've been really frustrated with my condition. Even last night, I thought I'd be trapped forever inside that glass wall and couldn't go back. But somehow, Betty managed to do something that made Landon weak. I immediately took the opportunity to regain control of my body when Landon was caught off guard. Now he was sleeping inside the glass wall he had created. But I'm afraid he'll wake up at any moment and do more evil things that I can't stop."

"Okay. So we know what Landon's weakness is. He is weak to good things. To sincerity and love."

"You think so?" Logan asked skeptically. “He was another side of me that was very fragile at first. Landon was very afraid of being left behind. The death of my parents was the initial trigger. Slowly, all the bad things happened to me. Bullying, beatings, things like that happen to me a lot at school. I was very weak because all the sadness sucked all my strength to get up and move on with my life. Then suddenly, Landon appeared as a shield to protect me from all the bad things I've been through so far."

“You and Landon are one. You two are inseparable.”

“I once thought of dying because I was fed up with all the things Landon did. But he always manages to thwart it when I'm about to shoot myself in the head or when I purposely drive my car really fast on a busy street.”

“You are wrong if you want to fight him like that. Sadness, anger, and all bad things will only give him strength. You have to fight it with good things. With love and affection."

Logan turned his face to the side. “There is no love and affection left for me anymore. Everyone who loved me left me alone.”

Riley grabbed the side of Logan's face and pulled his face to face with her.

“You have me and Archer. We are your family. Have you forgotten that I love you, Logan?”

Logan looked at Riley intensely. His heart throbbed in pain when he saw the sincerity on Riley's face. No matter how much he hurt her, Riley always came back to hug him and whisper the word love.

Logan gently pushed Riley's nape and kissed her lips gently. He closed his eyes to enjoy the touch of Riley's lips on his. He channeled all his sadness and frustration through a soft kiss on Riley's lips, because that was the best body language to express his heart. All of that was clear proof that he loved her.

"Thanks for loving this damn bastard, Riley."

"I know you're a good man. Brittany said that a hundred times in her diary."

“Brittany was the first woman to love us both. I never told her I had bipolar, but Brittany treated us gently. I thought Landon also felt the same way. He never went out to look for any more random women out there when we had a relationship with Brittany. But after Brittany's death, Landon seemed to have lost his way. He's getting wild and evil. I failed to control him to get back on track.”

“People out there, even Smillow, think that you caused Brittany to be a wild girl. But after I read the diary, I know that you two used to heal each other. I think Brittany had suppressed her grief over the loss of her brother and she couldn't tell Cooper. You came at the right time when she needed an older brother to protect her and a man to love her."

“Landon made her a party girl. It was too late to stop it because Brittany didn't seem to mind any of it. Landon and I both have regrets over Brittany's death."

Riley stroked Logan's cheek gently and kissed his lips.

“We can't bring Brittany back to this world. But we can still save our future. Do you love me and Archer?”

"Of course. There's no reason for me not to," Logan cupped her hands and brought them to his lips.

“You are very precious to me. I'm actually glad to have found you. But I have Landon that I must keep you away from.”

"You can't keep Landon away from us. He is a part of you. Archer was also his son. That's an undeniable fact. Now that I know his condition, I will be able to handle the two of you well.”

"Are you sure? Riley... he's a very evil element. He can't be stopped. The only way for him to stop is to kill him.”

"No. That's not a smart way to end a conflict. Give me a chance. I will try to fix his soul.”

Logan nodded slowly with a sad look on his face. Maybe he could give Riley a chance. The power of love might be able to soften his hardened heart and turn him into a man with a strong personality again. Maybe it will work, or maybe it won't at all. But if it worked out in the end, he wouldn't hesitate to make Riley his own. He would marry her.