He glanced at the note. It was an English name, Catherine. He remembered it now. It had been at his
mother’s birthday party a few days ago. Catherine had sent someone over to deliver the birthday gift,
so he added Catherine as a Facebook friend.
He had sent someone to check on Catherine’s background a long time ago. She was already a well-
known psychiatrist overseas, despite her young age. It was said that she could be ranked in the top
three when it came to this line of work in Australia.
Duke thought about it for a moment before he finally clicked on the chat box to message Catherine.
He sent her a greeting emoji. She quickly replied, “I thought you had deleted me, Mr. Winters. Turns
out that you hadn’t.”
“I have a friend who wants some consultation on a mental health issue.”
Duke pondered over it for quite a while before he sent that message to her.
In the next second, Catherine sent a smiley face over with a witty message. “Many people who come to
me for a consultation begin with the phrase, I have a friend.”
Duke did not know how to reply to that.
He suddenly felt a little awkward. Talking about such a private subject with a stranger he had never met
before did not seem like a good idea.
VI
Catherine said, “I am a psychiatrist. I have seen all kinds of situations. You don’t need to hesitate, Mr.
Winters. You can share your story with me in detail. I maintain confidentiality for every patient.”
Duke said, “My friend’s girlfriend seems to have a fear of intimacy. What can he do to help her
overcome it?” Catherine said, “If it is something that she doesn’t like to do, he can watch more movies
with intimate scenes with her. If she was traumatized by some incident that happened in the past, she
will need to consult a professional psychiatrist and undergo therapy.”
Adina got up earlier on weekdays and an hour later on weekends.
The sun shone in from the balcony. She drew the blanket over her head and went back to sleep.
“Bam bam bam!” There was a loud banging on the door from downstairs all of a sudden.
Who would come to visit so early in the morning?
Adina rubbed her eyes. When she walked out of her room in slippers, she saw that Alden had also
woken up. He was rubbing his sleepy eyes and standing on the stairs.
“Al, go back to sleep. I will get the door.”
Adina tidied up her hair when she was walking downstairs so that she would not look sloppy. She stood
at the door and peered through the peephole for quite a while, yet she did not see anyone standing out
there. Was she hallucinating?
“Bam bam bam!”
There was that loud banging again.
Adina suspiciously pulled the door open. “Mommy, you finally opened the door! I missed you so much!”
Standing before her were two little boys, who were dragging their luggage.
Adina was fully awake now. “Georgie, Hal, what are you doing here?” Harold tugged on her arm and
said joyfully, “Georgie and I have decided to stay here with you for a while. Are you happy, Mommy?”
Adina was a little dumbfounded.
She understood that Harold could be reckless and do as he wished, but why was George following in
his suit?
Besides, this was such a big deal. Did Duke even know about this?
“Hal and I will stay here for now. Do you not welcome us, Mommy?” George inquired, cocking his head
as he dragged his suitcase.
His expression was nonchalant, but his hand was clenched tightly.
This was the first time in his life that he had done something so willful and reckless.
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