7. HE KNEW THE GIRL'S NAME

It had only been a week since their last meeting, but they once again sat opposite each other with only a table separated the two men.

“So, I guessed it right, didn’t I? You come to see me again just a week after our last consultation,” Damien opened the conversation as he grinned naughtily.

René, who was sitting in front of him, scoffed in annoyance before he replied, “It’s your fault, Dam. You shouldn’t have jinxed it. I’ve warned you before.”

The doctor laughed at his friend’s statement. “I don’t have the power to see the future, Ren,” he denied the accusation. He then erased his playful grin and plastered a serious expression when he said, “So, you painted someone you’ve never met in your sleep?”

Before he came to see the doctor, René had told the doctor the general issue he had been experiencing. He called the doctor and told him about the mysterious girl in his painting. He thought the phone consultation was not enough, so he decided to see the doctor today.

“Yes, and I’ve painted that person’s face twice. Last night was the second one.”

The young painter was panicked the moment he opened his eyes this morning. His body trembled as he stared at the painting in front of him in horror. He was in his studio again, and he painted the mysterious girl again in his sleep.

That's why he rushed to the hospital after calling the doctor. He needed a solution from his best friend now.

It had been several years that Damien became a professional in the field of psychiatry, but he did not expect that René would be one of the people who suffered from mental disorders and needed his help―even though what his friend experienced was relatively mild.

“Are you sure you don’t recognize her, Ren? You could have met her while you were drunk and you ended up spending one hot night with her. In the morning, you probably just forget all about it.”

René put on a straight face before replying, “I’ve never been so drunk in my entire life that I’ve done such a thing, Dam. You can ask anyone who knows me.”

The doctor chuckled at his best friend’s reaction. “Okay, no need to put on that scary face. I’m just trying to analyze,” he said as he raised his hands in surrender.

The two of them fell silent. They both analyzed the situation, trying to formulate presumptions that could be drawn into a reasonable conclusion.

“You can just live with me and my wife, Ren,” Damien suddenly spoke again.

The younger man frowned at the suggestion. “Why should I do that?” He asked in confusion.

“We can help you to prevent your actions in your sleep. I’m a light sleeper. If I hear your movement in your room at night, I can help you to go back to your sleep. It can prevent you from painting unknown people again.”

René didn’t immediately agree or reject the suggestion. He was contemplating the idea.

The doctor once told him that the easiest way to prevent him from doing his weird sleeping habit was to help him go back to sleep. To be able to do that, he needed other people in his house who could help him go back to sleep. He had no one in his apartment, so he dismissed the advice.

But, the doctor suddenly suggested he just live with him and his wife. That was a bizarre idea.

“I can't do that, Dam,” the painter finally replied. “I don’t want to be a burden, and I also don’t want to disturb you with your wife.”

The doctor sighed, but he didn’t look surprised. It seemed that he had expected the rejection, so he remained calm.

“Moreover, I have an assumption that the girl has something to do with me. I painted her twice in my dream, and that's not normal. I can’t just let this matter go. I want to investigate the girl.”

Now, Damien frowned at his best friend. “I remember that you also said that one of your students has a very similar face to that girl, right?” He asked again, and René nodded to answer the question. The doctor then continued, “Why don’t you try asking him? Who knows he knows the girl.”

René sighed. He had thought about it too. He thought that the boy named Alain Kim, who had the same face as the girl, was the only available clue for now. Even so, the painter was not sure of the solution. He had a reason for his uncertainty.

“Dam, you once asked about the possibility of me experiencing stress, depression, anxiety, or something like that, right?” Now, it was the doctor’s turn to nod to answer the patient’s question. “I didn’t experience it before, but after I painted the girl’s face for the first time, for some reason I became restless. I felt uncertain like something was stuck in my chest. My chest felt tight and hurt. I even felt it when I saw my student’s face for the first time.”

It seemed that Doctor Lau was in a state of confusion now. The young doctor remained silent. His right hand unconsciously started to rest on his chin, gently rubbing the chin free of fine hair.

“If that’s the case, it means you have no other choice but to ask your student,” Damien finally spoke up. “Besides, didn’t you say earlier that your second painting also contained a name that could be the girl’s name?”

René nodded, confirming Damien’s question. There was a difference between his first and second paintings. The first painting only contained the girl’s portrait, but the second painting contained a handwritten name in the bottom left corner of the painting.

René noticed that it was his handwriting, and he assumed that the name probably was the girl’s name.

“Ren.” The sound of the doctor’s call made the owner of the name turn. “If I may ask, what is the girl’s name?”