All Chapters of Pathological dependence: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The fragile, complicated calm that Paul's letter had brought was shattered two days later. Leonard was leaving the library, his head still spinning with the conflicting emotions the letter had stirred, when a smooth, cold voice stopped him."Mr. Elliot. A word?"Leonard turned to see Professor Mark Sanders leaning against a stone column, a thin, unpleasant smile on his face. Mark was a colleague of Paul's in the psychology department, but where Paul was warmth and intensity, Mark was all sharp angles and cold calculation. Leonard had always felt a vague dislike for the man, a feeling that was now intensifying into outright dread."Professor Sanders," Leonard mumbled, his grip tightening on the strap of his backpack."I couldn't help but notice you've been looking... distressed lately," Mark said, pushing off the column and taking a step closer. His eyes, pale and assessing, scanned Leonard's face with clinical detachment. "And Professor Weston seems equally out of sorts. Quite a coinc

The world, it seemed, was determined to test Leonard’s resolve. A few days after the confrontation with Mark, his phone buzzed with an unknown number. Against his better judgment, he answered.“Leonard? Hey, it’s… it’s David.”The voice was familiar, warm, and sent a confusing jolt through him. David. His ex-boyfriend from freshman year. The one “normal” relationship he’d ever attempted, which had fizzled out after three months, largely because Leonard couldn’t—or wouldn’t—let David in. David had been kind, patient, but ultimately frustrated by Leonard’s walls.“David,” Leonard managed, his voice tight. “Hi. How… how are you?”“I’m good. I’m back in town for a few weeks. I was wondering… could we get coffee? I’d really like to see you.”Leonard almost said no. His life was a tangled mess of secrets and imminent scandal. The last thing he needed was a blast from the past. But a part of him, the part that was terrified of the path he was on with Paul, saw David as a lifeline. David repr

The agreement they had reached hung in the air between them, a fragile new framework for a relationship that had been built on quicksand. The intensity of the confrontation had faded, leaving behind a heavy, awkward silence. They were no longer professor and patient. They weren't quite lovers. They were two people bound by a terrible secret and a desperate, complicated love, trying to figure out what came next.Paul hovered near his desk, looking uncharacteristically lost. His usual professional poise was gone, replaced by a nervous energy. He kept glancing at Leonard, his eyes full of a yearning so raw it was almost difficult to look at."Can I... get you some water? Tea?" Paul asked, his voice too loud in the quiet room. The offer was a relic of their old dynamic, the therapist caring for the client.Leonard shook his head. He stood by the bookshelves, not touching anything, just trying to anchor himself in this new, uncertain territory. "I'm okay."The silence descended again. It w

The email from Dr. Susan Meyer arrived two days later. It was polite, formal, and sent a bolt of pure ice through Leonard’s veins. The subject line was innocuous: ‘Follow-up regarding student wellness.’ But it was sent from the official account of the University Counseling Center, of which Dr. Meyer was the director. She was also, Leonard knew with a sinking feeling, Paul’s former doctoral advisor.The meeting was set for that afternoon. The hours dragged by, each minute a fresh exercise in anxiety. This wasn't gossip anymore. This was an official inquiry. The walls were not just closing in; they were beginning to conduct an investigation.When Leonard walked into Dr. Meyer’s office, the atmosphere was starkly different from Paul’s warm, book-lined sanctuary. This room was modern, clean, and professionally impersonal. Dr. Meyer herself was a woman in her fifties with sharp, intelligent eyes and a no-nonsense demeanor. She gestured for him to sit in a comfortable but clearly clinical c

The decision to go back to Dr. Meyer was terrifying. It felt like walking back into the lion's den after barely escaping. But the alternative—waiting for the rumors to solidify into a formal investigation, for Mark to possibly produce some shred of "evidence"—was worse. This way, they controlled the narrative. At least, that was the theory Paul, the master strategist, proposed. Now, however, he was following Leonard's lead.They met in Paul's apartment the night before the scheduled meeting. The atmosphere was tense, a far cry from the intimate, if fraught, dynamic of their recent interactions. They were co-conspirators planning a siege."We go in together," Leonard stated, his voice firm. He was pacing the living room, while Paul sat on the sofa, watching him with a mixture of anxiety and pride. "We present a united front. We admit to a personal relationship, but we insist it began after the therapeutic relationship had effectively ended. We say the 'sessions' were a pretext we both