The Devil's Secretary

Chapter 143: Hallucinations

So, when Helian Chen expressed his desire to marry Alice, while being backed up by Old Master Chen, they had no rights to refuse.

However, when the news reached Alice, she expressed her blatant displeasure about the arrangements. She was not happy with her initial engagement but the change in her marriage prospects did not make her happy in any way because throughout both the processes, nobody asked for her opinion.

"I would like to talk to Alice alone.’’

Once they were alone in each other’s company, she spoke, ’’I don’t want this marriage.’’

There was a hint of anger in his tone, ’’You’d rather marry that bastard than marrying me?"

’’What difference does it makes if I marry an old man or you, a stranger? Nobody asked for my opinion anyway.’’

’’The difference...? The difference is that, unlike him, who is involved in scandals for his weird sexual fetishes every other week, I have no such kinks. I won’t touch you unless you want me to. He is old, ugly and not a bit worthy of you,’’ he stepped towards her, ’’And I am certain that you can’t say the same about me. He is poor. I am not.’’

The old man he was calling poor was in no way poor but Helian Chen’s cockiness rendered Alice speechless.

’’So you are saying that I should marry you just because you are rich?"

’’You don’t seem very happy about the marriage arrangements anyway, Alice. So, if you are going to get sad after being married, then why not cry while being surrounded by money and servants who will readily wipe your tears? Why go and cry in front of that asshole?" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Her lips twitched and she looked like she could not comprehend the man in the slightest, ’’And what do you get out of this whole thing?"

"You... A wife.’’

’’What?"

’’As the sole heir, my parents will expect me to get married eventually but I am not interested in it so this will help me. You don’t want a conventional marriage nor do I then we can get married and live the way we want to.’’

Although the marriage started on a rocky note but Alice gradually fell for the man, who had knowingly or unknowingly loved her all along as well, even before he understood what love was.

But good things were bound to not last forever.

There were times when Alice would get unconsciously triggered by trivial things. After his parents’ passed away in an accident, Helian Chen took over the company affairs and the transition period was hectic. There were times he would be too busy at work and Alice would think he was avoiding her, he was bored of her. In the initial days, whenever she showed such insecurities, he would coax her until she was not overthinking again.

Then as time passed, he realized that something was wrong. Even when a maid just served him food, she would claim that he was interested in her. And he could tell that those were not words she said out of anger, she really believed them.

Her symptoms started getting more chaotic when she was pregnant with Daisy. Under the guise of a pregnancy check-ups, he took her to numerous psychologists. But when it got out hand, he hired a top psychologist and eventually told her about her past.

"Hallucinations can be a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder, which can occur after experiencing trauma. Hallucinations can involve any of the senses, such as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling things that aren’t real,’’ the doctor informed him, "From her symptoms, it looks like it is not happening to her for the first time. She must have experienced such symptoms during her teenage years or her early 20s but her condition was not paid attention to. Only long-term repression can cause such intense relapse.’’

With some subtle lifestyle changes and medications, Alice’s conditions got slightly better for a period of time but when she was pregnant with Diana, she overheard his conversation with the doctor and threw a fit when she realized that the woman was a psychologist. She lost her temper again, claiming again and again that she was not crazy. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

With the discontinuation of her treatment, she once again started hallucinating things. She would think someone was plotting against her, the maids were jealous of her, and worst of it all was her thoughts about Helian Chen who she thought was cheating on her with various women during her pregnancy.

Helian Chen made her sit and explained to her with all evidences that he had never been unfaithful to him. He had always ever only looked at her. He thought his actions would console her to at least a little extent until later that night when she woke up in the middle of the night, utterly terrified, after she had a nightmare.

’’More... More security... No.. I...’’

’’Alice, what happened?"

’’I... I don’t feel safe... I don’t... They will kill me... Pain... It’s painful.’’

The next morning when she woke up, she did not seem to have any recollection of her nightmare.

...

’’The doctor told me that there were chances of her recovering her memories. But with her condition, if she remembered those things, she would not have been able to cope with it. And, she was pregnant with Diana. It would have been difficult for the both of them,’’ So, Helian Chen did what seemed like the best choice.

He distanced himself from her so as to not trigger any of her memories and he let her think what she was thinking. And somehow, over the time, the gap between them increased more and more till she did not even bother herself with him anymore.

Every once in a while, she would pull tricks to get his attention and it would give him a chance to interact with her, to look at her closely but like a routine, they would argue and he would go back to pretend to hate the sight of her.

Daisy listened quietly as the man spoke, her fingers had long turned cold. There were dried tear stains on her face.

...

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