“Doc, what did she mean? What do you think she wants me to do?”Today, Martin had an appointment with his therapist. He still saw her weekly. The issues he discussed were usually his fear and worries during the week. The bad memories reemerged once in a while, some weeks more frequent than others, and each set of sessions focused on any issue he wanted to work on. And the topic of discussion today was the matter of the heart.His therapist, Gisele, kept her cool once she knew she had to advise on his love problems. Her expertise was in treating trauma victims, and he had never thought of bringing this personal issue to her, but he didn’t have that many options. In the past few years, he talked to her about all sorts of problems—his nightmares, his panic attacks, issues with his parents, his fears, and now his love life. The reason he could recover and walk around town and go about his day-to-day business was because of her. She had been his rock.The bottom line was that he trusted he

Martin opened the curtain to admire the view of the London skyline. He booked a five stars hotel in the middle of the city. He planned to stay here until he had more idea of the direction of his life. It could be weeks or months. He sighed at his predicament.The sun slowly rose. It was almost autumn, and he couldn’t imagine the UK to be this sunny. A gentle ray of light shone on buildings in the city that were strangers to him. He stared into the distance and reminisced. Everything that happened pained his heart to even think about, but worse yet—he became a person that lived without purpose.This was the first time in his life he had lived without a plan. The complicated past had ended, but his thoughts circled back to his mistakes, always. He started to find it boring; he found his fear boring, his nightmares boring, and he wanted to do everything to get out of it.He did discuss this with his therapist in detail, and nothing came out of it. He came to an understanding that it was

“I’ve told you everything, Vera. Now, it’s your turn. What should I do?” Two palms covered her face. Celine nervously asked her best friend. The claim of an urgent meeting outside of the office was a lie. Celine intended to spend a few hours in the afternoon resolving the issues that weighed down her heart by discussing them with Vera. But to say that it was an urgent matter was not a lie. Martin was just sitting there, at the reception, being his usual calm and relaxed persona, reading. That was all he did, reading. But that was enough. He let her personal assistant, staff, and suppliers mistake him for her boyfriend. He was her ex! People should just understand that he was only her ex-boyfriend. She hadn’t forgiven him. We hadn’t gotten back together. He wasn’t her boyfriend. Please, stop calling him her boyfriend! “Well, it seems you can now leave your convent. After living like a nun for a long, finally, your hubby has returned

This was another day that Martin just sat there outside her office. He didn’t talk to anyone. He simply read his book. Celine didn’t know if or how long she could endure this situation. The situation had no ending in sight. She didn’t understand Martin. He only had to explain what happened. The explanation was more than self-blame. But that man…she didn’t know how he truly felt. Celine was quite concerned. She observed that he wasn’t well. He looked quite frail this morning. Probably from not enough rest or jetlag. Why didn’t he take care of himself? She got mad just thinking about it. “Kathy…for two hours I have to be away for my meeting outside of the office, well, can you please tell Martin for me that…hmm, I will come back to have lunch with him in the afternoon.” Kathy probably got confused about why she didn’t speak directly to Martin. She just didn’t want to appear too soft. Yesterday, there were already a lot of emotional d

The hopeless four years Celine had waited and waited for someone she dearly loved had changed her. And once he was right here, sleeping here in her arms, his face revealed dark, mysterious misery from his memories—his untold past she didn’t understand. Suddenly, Celine understood that despite what he did, she was now being selfish and mean. The only thing she did was wait. She waited while he went back to fight an unnamed demon in the hell she didn’t understand. All she did was wait…and he had to face a million hurtful experiences he refused to retell. Although he didn’t choose to come back as he promised and not as soon as possible, he did say he loved her. He hugged her that day we reunited, and he confessed his love to her, didn’t he? Although he didn’t come back, he was here now, didn’t he? He sat and waited on her day after day, waiting for her to turn in his direction and care for him for just a little, smile at him a little—that was