I Am An Illegitimate Child With A Legitimate Reason For Revenge-Chapter 125: Please, free your heart

Alexa was a bit stunned. She didn’t know ’she’ in the context was his wife and simply concluded that it was a lover. It made her feel bad.

She had never been in love before but she could tell that the way this man loved his wife was extremely extraordinary. And so, the reason why he reacted like that after she grabbed his hand was because he felt ashamed, right?

Seeing her probably brought back mountains of crushed hopes and dreams.

"I’m sorry to hear that." She said and scribbled down on her notepad. "Please, I know this might be too much to ask but for future purposes, can you tell me more about your wife? It would be good if you went as detailed as possible and..."

"I can’t do that." Raymond immediately declined in a cold tone. "I’m already having a difficult time as it is, trying to forget her as well as the pain her death brought me. Why would I want to reopen such a closed Chapter?"

"Why would you ever try to forget her?" Alexa asked him and he raised his head, confused. "Those memories you made together, those laughter and tears you shared together, they’re all a part of you and there is no way you can forget them. In times like this, you shouldn’t try to forget the other, you should try to live with the absence and let the happy moments you shared together be your strength. That’s the proper way to move on. Trying to forget the other will just make it seem like you were trying to forget them because they were some sort of sin in your life and that shouldn’t be."

Raymond was stunned beyond words. True that he heard something similar a couple of times during his past therapy sessions but hearing it come from her... with that voice, it hit differently.

When others said it, his mind immediately shouted out ’easier said than done’ but when she said it, it felt like a simple task. He felt he could do it.

"I will... try that." He said and she smiled.

"I’m glad to hear that. Now, about what I asked... Can you do it?" She asked.

Raymond was silent for a moment. Telling someone else tales about his wife. Now that’s something he had never done since the past five years. Nevertheless, this lady looked like a professional so he was going to trust these fond memories with her.

"Alright."

As the session was going on, Raymond was trembling with his hands firmly clasped together. These were things he didn’t want to dwell on too much in the past and remembering them so vividly to the point of saying them out loud...his eyes almost brimmed with tears as he reminded himself that he could not do any of that or see any of her either.

It was torture.

Alexa observed this and wrote it down but she was not comfortable with the way he shook in pain. So she said,

"Please, free your heart. There is no other way for you to fight it. Accept her absence, can you do that?"

"No. I can’t do it."

"Then do this, think of her as me." She said and he raised his head. "It’s rude of me to assume the position of your late wife but for the sake of this session, I will need you to imagine that she is sitting right in front of you. Tell yourself it’s a figment of your imagination, an hallucination, whatever but the most important thing here is for you to remember that she... though gone, her presence will forever live on in your life. Do you understand?"

Raymond was silent for a while and he bowed his head again. A single tear drop rolled down his left cheek as a gentle smile played on his lips.

"Yes. I understand." He said and Alexa stared at him with bated breath. For some reason, seeing his smile made her heart feel warm. Was it the satisfaction that came with her job?

Anyway, she had to continue.

"Now, it wouldn’t be too much to ask you to continue, would it?"

Starting to think that her aim for asking for his wife’s backstory wasn’t just to help him, Alexa found herself keying into those moments. There was this little selfish voice, desiring to know more about the woman that received heavy affection from this man.

At the end of the four hour therapy session, Raymond was once again reminded of how much he loved Ariel. After embracing the absence and feeling her warm spirit smiling at him every now and then, his heart felt so much relieved. Now, it wasn’t the dark side haunting him but rather the sweet sensation of loving such a lady.

"When should we fix our next meeting?" Alexa asked as she closed her notepad.

Honestly, he didn’t think this session would go so well so he didn’t plan out for it. Now, he’d have to make a whole new schedule just to fit this in. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"My secretary will contact you about the details." He said and got up. Before heading out, he glanced at her wrapped hand but did not say anything about it. She said she was fine so he didn’t need to bother himself.

Plus, he felt a bit embarrassed. It was the first time he was actually opening himself in front of a psychologist and so many things happened inside him. Paige really knew her stuff when she hurriedly sent him on his way.

"Thank you." He muttered and made his way out of the office.

Alexa watched the door for a while. She definitely did not expect a ’thank you’ from him but since he did, she gladly accepted it.

Smiling and nodding to herself, she said,

"You’re welcome." Then, she tilted her head to the side while thinking. "He is such a different breed." She said to herself. Raymond Stein... Now that’s a name worth remembering.

In the long run, this was the first time she was receiving such a tough case. A guy who was haunted by his wife’s death even after five years.

Five years... That number of years felt itchy in her ear. Her tongue wanted to repeat it as well. Five years... that’s how far her memories went.

In fact, her life started exactly five years ago.

Five years ago... What a coincidence. This man’s wife lost her life five years ago while she got hers at the same time. Fate really had a way of bringing things together.

"If I didn’t lose my memories, would I be dwelling on the pain that came with my husband’s death?" She wondered. "Due to how heavy my heart felt," she touched her chest. "...I must’ve loved him as deeply as this."

A sad smile displayed on her lips as she thought of this and then she sighed. There was no use dwelling on the past like this.

What she had to do was look through this man’s problems and come up with the ’best’ solution like she always did.