Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2452

Chapter 2452 Red Pool

The coffee tasted heavenly. It was strange, really… Sunny had been suffering from insomnia for a while now, surviving on sleeping pills and still having nightmares every time he did fall asleep. Perhaps as a result, everything felt tasteless to him — but whenever his therapist offered him coffee, he could not help but enjoy it.

"So, where do I start?"

As she opened her notebook to silently take notes, Sunny sighed.

"I don't get those recurrent nightmares often, anymore…"

He still saw them every time he slept, but he rarely slept, so that could hardly be called "often".

"The world is sort of annoying, but I don't get irrationally angry either. It feels like I have a firmer grasp on myself."

He had smashed his TV just this morning, but that anger was perfectly reasonable. There were many good reasons to hate the Valor Group and its CEO.

"...I don't think I really felt paranoid about something since our last session. So, I guess that is an improvement?"

He had considered the best way to kill the supposed drunk in case the man attacked him, earlier this morning, but that was not paranoia. That was just experience, and Sunny would be a fool not to pay attention to strangers around him.

Sunny continued spouting confident half-truths to give the therapist the impression that he was a stable, well-functioning member of society. Someone whom she should give a clean bill of health and never see again. He wasn't sure if his act was fooling the taciturn beauty, but she did not question his account even once.

He was not sure if she believed him or simply didn't care.

After a while, Sunny found himself simply recounting his thoughts to her without much pretense.

"I am bored. I am restless… I want to get back to work. I tried doing things that normal people do in their free time, like going on a picnic or taking a walk in the park. But it has been raining the whole damn month. Staying inside is infuriating because of all the bullshit on the news, and I can't really go to a bar, can I? You told me not to mix sleeping pills with alcohol. I feel like... I'm missing something that I never had. So…"

He hesitated for a few moments, and then asked:

"Can't you just pass me, doc? We both know that I am only here to comply with what the judge said. And the judge only sent me here to comply with people paying for his vacation home."

Of course, Sunny had failed to disclose a few important facts about himself to his beautiful shrink.

For example, the fact that he sometimes felt like his nightmares were the actual reality.

Or that he sometimes believed himself to be the only real person in the world.

Or that he sometimes hallucinated foreign sights, sounds, and sensations, as if he possessed multiple bodies. That was probably because he often spaced out for a few seconds because of the insomnia, falling into bouts of microsleep.

Little stuff like that.

The therapist looked at him with her usual aloof expression.

"Do you think you are mentally fit to resume work, Detective?"

Sunny laughed, hiding the literal shivers her sonorous, enthralling voice sent running down his spine. It was probably a good thing that his therapist did not speak a lot… her voice was just as perilous as her looks, if not more bewitching.

He shook his head.

"Me, mentally fit? God, no. But who the hell is, anyway? I mean… with the way the world is, wouldn't it be stranger if I was perfectly fine? I'd definitely turn around and run if I ever met a person who seemed happy, healthy, and completely sane."

She studied him for a while, then nodded and closed her notebook.

"Alright, Detective. To be honest, I am not a fan of mandatory counseling myself. Despite the circumstances, however, you did show considerable progress in these few months we have been seeing each other. So, I am ready to report that you are fit to resume service… on one condition."

Sunny raised an eyebrow, surprised. This was probably the most he had heard her talk ever since they met.

"What's that?"

The therapist studied him for a while, then said in her usual aloof tone:

"I want you to continue therapy even after you are reinstated… in fact, I insist that you do. You are my patient, and I dislike the idea of leaving things unfinished. I abhor it."

Sunny chuckled.

"So… either I continue to see you, or I can't go back to work? How is that different from mandatory counseling?"

She shrugged.

"You can refuse."

He remained silent for a few moments, then scoffed.

"I am sorry, doc, but you seem to be overlooking something. These sessions were being billed to the Mirage City Police Department. If we continue to see each other after my mandatory therapy is over, though, I'll have to pay for the sessions myself. And I am very sorry to say this… but you are way out of my price range."

A peasant like him would not even be let near this exclusive hospital in normal circumstances, let alone receive treatment here. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

His therapist gave him an impassive look, then sighed and reached into her pocket. Producing a beautifully embossed business card, she offered it to him with a graceful gesture.

"This is my personal number. We can work something out."

Sunny received the card with a stunned expression and looked down at it.

'...Saint? No way, that's her actual name?'

The saintly therapist was actually called Saint. Learning that fact, Sunny really felt crazy for a moment.

Plus, she was giving him her number…

Pushing silly thoughts out of his head, Sunny looked at the aloof beauty and cleared his throat.

"Well, alright. I'll call you when things settle down a little, doc."

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