Chapter 13 - Goodbye, My Little Marble

The first thing Wu Yaya did after entering the office was admire Yi Ling’s eyes with a tilted head.

Then, she saw the barren coffee table. Her happy expression immediately flipped into a frowning disappointment.

“Where are the fruit candies?” She extended a slender fingertip and jabbed where the bowl of candies should have been. Her neatly trimmed, rounded nails made crisp tapping sounds against the table.

Yi Ling replied in a gentle tone, lips slightly curved, “As you can see, they’re gone.”

“What do you mean, gone? Buy more!” The girl kept tapping at the table, her clear, round eyes full of blame.

The doctor took out his notebook. His alluring voice carried a barely noticeable hint of teasing, “I don’t want to buy more.”

“You want to,” the little crow ordered him, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “Go buy them right now.”

“No, I don’t want to,” He took his time to write down basic information such as the date, symptoms, and the patient’s name in his notebook.

“You do. Go already.” She dragged over a chair and placed it across from the doctor. She sat down, glaring at him squarely with her arms crossed. She was always bossing people around with such righteous indignation, as if it was only natural that she was the centre of the universe.

That was how she was raised. She spent every moment within Daddy Curtain Fig’s embrace. Every leave on him served her every desire.

Yi Ling shook his head, the teasing in his voice turned into a faint mirth, “I don’t want to.”

He seemed to have gotten accustomed to this kind of childish bickering.

“You do want to,” she suddenly softened her tone.

The doctor had his head lowered as he was writing. Wu Yaya couldn’t see his expression from her position. So, she folded her body down and tilted her head to look at his face from the side. She placed her hands on his knees for balance and lightly rocked them under her palms cutely.

She only acted this way with people she really, really liked. In the span of her life thus far, this list consisted of only two people—her daddy and Yi Ling.

Yi Ling put down his notebook and sighed deeply. He grabbed the childish woman’s wrist and pushed her away.

No overly intimate touches ever sat well with him. Had this been anyone other than Wu Yaya, he would’ve called security.

“You can tell him to go.” The doctor pointed to Yu Haowei.

Cued, the man spoke up, “Xiaozhu, what kind of candy do you want?”

“But I don’t want candies from him. Just seeing his face ruins my appetite.” She made no attempts to hide her disdain for him.

Yu Haowei’s head hung down. His heart was filled with rage, but he didn’t dare let it show on his face. Her losing interest in him was a good thing. Who knows, maybe she would let him go one day.

These thoughts calmed him back down. It wasn’t like he was oblivious to how obsessed the girl seemed with the doctor. Rather, he was happy to see it.

“Let’s start our session.” Yi Ling tapped his pen on his desk.

Wu Yaya knew she wasn’t getting her way, so she straightened herself and walked to the lounge chair unwillingly, all while pouting. Her boyfriend immediately stepped forward to help her take her shoes off, then shook out a blanket to drape over her legs.

After all that was done, he stepped out of the office quietly, whispering his leave before closing the door, “I’ll be waiting outside. Take your time with the doctor.”

Appearances alone made him seem like a model boyfriend.

However, Yi Ling knew the truth was far from it. He couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked, “What did you do to him?”

The girl curled her index finger twice. Her sweet voice was now tinged with a mysterious throatiness, as if she was about to share a big secret, “Doctor, come closer, I’ll whisper it to you.”

He raised an eyebrow and leaned in.

“Even closer.” She beckoned him with her finger again.

He moved in again.

She was right next to his ear, hot breaths tapping against his eardrum, “I… am not telling you.”

Her eyes curved into a smug smile. Then, her arms circled the doctor’s neck, and her luscious red lips headed straight for the slender corner of his eye.

His glasses would block a kiss from the front.

He wasn’t surprised in the least by her sudden assault. He simply held up his notebook to block those soft lips. However, at the same time, his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. It was as if the sweet-and-sourness of huamei candy filled his mouth, making him salivate.

His throat felt dry for some reason.

“Stop fooling around.” His voice was hoarse.

“Let me have it once. I’m about to leave, you know?” She swayed her slender arms that were hanging loosely around his neck back and forth.

Barred from kissing his eyes, she chose to bury her face into his broad chest. She rubbed her cheeks against him gently.

Her touch was sending a tingling sensation throughout his body. It felt like he had a piece of burning coal placed on his chest, making his blood boil.

“Stop that. Talk properly.” He grabbed her overly thin shoulders and pressed her back into the lounge chair firmly.

This time, Yi Ling didn’t toss this girl out of his office. He caught something important from her words.

“You’re about to leave? Is your primary ego waking up?” He asked seriously.

“I’m here to fulfill Lin Xiuzhu’s wish. Now that the wish has come true, it’s my time to leave. That is my raison d’ete.” Wu Yaya looked at him unblinkingly. Her dark orbs were overflowing with all sorts of warm emotions, like attachment, longing, and affection.

The doctor felt uneasy, as if these emotions had consumed him. This was a rare occurrence for him. After all, his heart had long grown hard as iron.

He lowered his head to avoid her gaze and continued asking her questions while jotting down notes, “Since her wish has been fulfilled, you don’t have a reason to exist anymore. Is that correct?”

“Yes. Lin Xiuzhu will be continuing on with the rest of her life on her own. I won’t appear again.” Wu Yaya waved her hand. “I’ve come today to give you my farewell, Doctor.”

Yi Ling suddenly lost all interest in making records of their conversation this time. He put down his pen and looked at the girl with tender eyes. “You will wake up again if the primary ego receives another intense shock. You’ll only be in a dormant state—not gone forever. You will always exist,” he comforted.

As Lin Xiuzhu’s psychiatrist, he should be treating her DID with professional techniques. He should be encouraging this alter ego with sociopathic tendencies to stay dormant for a long time, or even disappear forever.

Yet here he was, comforting her gently so she wouldn’t be sad. He was even making subtle verbal suggestions to strengthen her conviction—the conviction that will surely awaken her again one day.

He was doing something against his professional duty.

The doctor took off his glasses and rubbed his high browbone, sighing inwardly. He vaguely sensed his concern for this child had crossed a certain boundary.

Wu Yaya waved her hand again, “That’s not it. I won’t appear on Lin Xiuzhu again. Her deal with me is over. You don’t understand.”

Yi Ling said in a low voice as he put on his glasses, “Did you know, if you insist that you’ll disappear, it’ll only become real. You’re the product of thought, and thought will be your end. Is that what you want?”

He could hardly believe a dominant, vibrant soul like Wu Yaya would willingly relinquish control over the body. This was against her nature.

The girl looked up at the sky and repeated her words, “You just don’t understand. I’m here to say my farewell.”

Verbal communication was no longer a viable option for analyzing her current internal state with someone this antagonistic. 

So, he took out a piece of blank paper and a pencil, speaking softly, “Then, can you draw me a picture as a parting gift? I want you to draw a house, a tree, and a person.”

This is the classic “House-Tree-Person Test” in psychology. The internal world that the test-taker tries to keep hidden would all be revealed in the very drawing they make. The house, tree, and person represent their understanding of society, family, and self.

He also handed her a hard file folder. “Put this under the paper. Just draw a house, a tree, and a person. It should be simple enough. Don’t tell me you can’t.”

That last line was a blatant provocation.

For the highly combative, highly antagonistic Wu Yaya, it was nothing short of an insult.

“Who doesn’t know how to draw?” She immediately padded her paper with the folder and made swift work with the pencil.

She first drew a tree. Then, it was a shambled house with a pointy roof. She drew a small window on the wall, and inside was a boy curled up in a ball. There were thick scratchy ropes binding the boy’s legs tightly. His arms were behind him, likely bound as well. 

Finally, she drew a small crow standing on a branch of the tree. The crow’s beady eyes were pointed straight at the window, as if staring at the bound boy.

Yi Ling had his arms crossed, watching over the girl with detached interest.

His eyes remained cold when she drew the tree. His brows furrowed when she drew the pointy-roofed house. Something stirred in his mind. His bottomless eyes were churning up a storm when the boy and the crow appeared on the page.

He stood up abruptly, towering over the drawing and its creator. 

His breathing quickened. His cold nature broke through his gentle facade from how tense he was.

“I’m done. Here.” She handed the paper to him.

Yi Ling took the drawing from her and glanced over it again and again with his piercing eyes, tracing, interpreting, analyzing.

This is a coincidence, right?

To protect his stepmother and the child in her womb, his father had mobilized the family's resources to erase the kidnapping from existence. The police never so much as received a report. No outsider caught wind of it either. And he had been dragged onto a plane by several bodyguards and exiled.

His father had dealt with the two kidnappers long ago, and the old man himself had passed away not too long after. His stepmother became a raving lunatic, and her child was a useless fool who knew nothing. No one should remember that incident except for Yi Ling himself.

Yet, this childish drawing replicated that exact scene. The pointy-roofed warehouse left a deep impression on him. He had gone back to it after he was safe, hoping to find any remaining evidence left by the kidnappers.

Where did this drawing come from? How did she know about the kidnapping all those years ago?

Was it a coincidence?

Yi Ling analyzed every detail in the drawing with even greater composure.

Just then, the girl who had finished putting on her shoes circled behind and embraced his neck. She swayed him lightly, lowered her head. and kissed the corner of his sharp eyes longingly. “Goodbye, my Little Marble,” she said with a light smile.