13 What was happening with them?

At the top floor of Lee Group, the sky was clear and the weather was fine, as if mocking the owner of the building for his loss of a certain prisoner.

"And regarding the grand ball of Min Corporation, they sent the invitation to us but we haven't verified it yet. Would you like to attend it, Chairman Lee?", a young woman around her twenties said, she was beautiful and full of charisma, being the only personal secretary of the chairman. She finished her daily report in the record time again.

Adamson sat across the desk in his office, he had not once lifted up his head to look at the secretary, instead he busied himself with the paperwork and documents in his hands.

"Rejected.", he only said one simple word, and then he decided to face the woman in front of him.

"... is what I wanted to say, but Min Corp is important to us. You know how to deal with it.", he was referring to their recent cooperation. He then proceeded with the documents. Not minding the woman at all.

"Noted. I shall prepare for your order.", with that, she walked out from the cold icy room.

When he saw that he was now alone, Adamson put down all his work and he began to smoke. He took out one cigarette from his Marlboro Red, and he went to the glass window that reached up to his ceiling.

His room was full of nothing but simplistic design, contrary to the previous chairman's room that was full of leather furniture from right to left.

"You did it Aubrey. You ran away.", he said to himself.

He continued gazing at the whole city down there where not a single foundation was not built based on the shares he possessed. He was a very powerful man one could not afford to mess with. But his younger brother just did.

"Let's see what I'll do when we meet again.", he inhaled the smoke, and then exhaled. Repeating the same action for quite some time.

•••

At Kalla Villa, the second session of QnA began.

"Alright, tell me. Who is this friend of yours?", Lucy began asking.

(A friend from the same university.)

"You went to university?", she asked again, forgetting the rules. She was surprised to know that he was a university student.

(It's my turn to ask question.)

Eh?

"Uh... fine!", Lucy looked away in disappoinment. She wanted to fire every question she had. But it looked like she could only wait for her turn.

'Patience is virtue, Lucy..', she calmed herself down.

Aubrey picked up a paper and showed it to Lucy. He seemed to have wrote it in advance when she was not home.

(Are you going to be my doctor?)

Lucy smiled. She didn't know what to answer.

'Will he find it annoying if I said I'm already set on it?'

"Hm well.. I'm the one who found you when you lied on the grass with that cold body of yours. And your faint pulse and heartbeat... and I treated your injury to prevent you from getting further infected.. and I gave you the way to neutralize the poison in your body.. and I gave you a place to stay without asking for anything. So yes, I'm going to take full responsibility for what I started, I will become your doctor, Aubrey.", Lucy explained, she was satisfied with her own words.

As usual, Aubrey didn't directly respond. He contemplated a bit, and then he just nodded.

"So, you went to university?", she asked again. She might already have some ideas about his schooling, but she decided to ask anyway. Her observation radar was turned on.

'His manners are good and he seems to be smart as well. Judging from his appearance, he must come from a wealthy family. So it's only right to say that he got his education despite being confined in the house.'

(Yes.)

Just one word?

"Hey! Answer truthfully please! I answered your question with my heart and soul! Why can't you do the same?!", Lucy snapped. This guy was doing the impossible..

Aubrey scrabbled against the paper. His face blank.

(I didn't go outside, it was a distance learning program. I took business course and gain an MBA just recently. My friend was also the same, we met through online chat platform in the group.)

It felt like a snowstorm was bombarding her way. This guy has an MBA? How old was he? Did that also mean he has some working experience? How could that be?

'Damn... so many questions I want to ask.', Lucy pinched the area between her brows. She felt like the more question she asked, the more entangled it became.

"Okay.. here come my next question.", she took a deep breath.

"How old are you?"

'What happened to you?'

'Where are your family?'

'Why did they lock you up?'

'Who exactly are you?'

The other many questions were left insaid. She was afraid to ask. She knew she was beginning to cross the line. She wasn't this type of woman before. She couldn't care less about other people. So why?

He wrote again.

(I'm 25.)

She got to know the answer..

'I'm actually older by two years.'

But she didn't get what she really wanted. She felt weird suddenly. She faced him up front, looking straight into his dark purple eyes. Hollows could be seen from the outer of his irises.

She could sense the emptiness in them. Although he was being honest, she felt like there was a wall between them. Perhaps many more walls to cover his entire broken self. She couldn't cross it. The boundaries.

Lucy sighed aloud. What was happening to her? She actually wanted to get closer to this man.

'Maybe it's because of my profession that I couldn't ignore him..', she thought. Perhaps her pride as a psychologist was on the line if she couldn't help him?

Then.. the best way to help him was by going for an official procedure. He should go the the Department of Phycology at her hospital. To get the exact diagnosis and to take the treatment like any of her patients did. Why was she being lenient only for him?

'Geez.. am I smitten by him or what?', Lucy shook her head, strongly denying the weird thought.

Aubrey could see that Lucy was acting weird, but he didn't point it out. He picked up another paper, and showed it to Lucy.

(Will you lend me your computer?)

Lucy smiled a little, though it was wry.

"Of course, I'll help you in any way I can.", she stood up and went away. Not long after, she came back with a laptop in her hand.

"My turn, you really don't want to go to the hospital? Why?"

He paused.. and then he wrote something.

(The people who locked me up will find me if I go. I don't want to stay there anymore. Please understand.)

'Hm.. so it's because of that..'

Lucy narrowed her eyes, she got another piece of information. He wrote 'the people who locked me up' instead of his family who locked him up in his own home. It was not his family? Why did he say he ran away from home then?

'Ah.. so he didn't see them as family anymore.. I get it. With the amount of depression he got from the tension alone was enough to severe all ties they have.'

Hm?

'Wait! I was supposed to ask one important question!'

Lucy suddenly remembered one question she was meaning to ask before, but was interupted with the sudden widrawal symptom he had at the time.

Aubrey took her silence as a que to ask question again.

(Can you help me get rid of the choker?)

Lucy realized another trait of the confinement.

'He wants to get rid of it.. that only means one thing, the choker was put on him by force. The cracks might be his doing too..'

Lucy nodded. She could ask Olivia for this matter. Her father's Min Corporation was a high tech company that specializes in gadgets and other heavy industries machine. But then she remembered Olivia's invitation to the grand ball.

'Damn.. I have to go if I want to ask for her help..', Lucy sighed. Fine, just go there and show her face once and then go home. That was the plan.

Lucy tried to not dwell on it. Though she really hated going to such events, she had no choice. Olivia was a hardheaded girl. If she said she was not her best friend anymore then she wasn't.

"My turn, this is quite a sensitive question but I need to know as your doctor.", Lucy said, focusing her attention towards Aubrey. It was the question she had wanted to ask before..

He seemed reluctant. But knowing how much she was willing to help him, he nodded in agreement.

"You have severe case of PTSD caused by the trauma since you were young, but if you were locked up while given the necessary education, then your life in that cage must be lavish right? My question is.. have you experience something other than being locked up elegantly in your house?"

'Have you experience something painful not just from the past but from the present? If so, then the reason you could not get over your own nightmare must be because you were forced to live in it everyday.. through some pain..'

She waited, but he didn't say anything. He clenched his hands, shaping a fist in both hands.

Aubrey didn't want to say it. How could she be this observant? How could she easily know? How could all her questions throw him immobile? Could she actually see past him? That was why she wanted to help him? Because he so looked pitiful in her eyes?

The thought of getting pitied by her didn't sound pleasant to Aubrey. He hated it.

He wanted to claim his stake as an independent man once he escaped. But this woman took it away so effortlessly. He had no choice but to turn to her for help. He hated that fact. But why?

Why he desperately wanted to appear equal with Lucy? He frowned when he realized that he wanted to stand at the same footing as this woman. A ridiculous thought indeed.

Lucy saw him getting agitated by something, but his expression didn't give away anything. She was perplexed, knowing she couldn't read him like she always did.

'What's wrong?'

Lucy thought he was having a dilemma again, so she stepped closer towards him and she touched his hand slowly. Aubrey's fist turned soft and he released the hard grip unknowingly.

"Aubrey? Are you alright?", she asked, looking genuinely worried.

Her expression made Aubrey relax. Just a second ago he was hating the fact that she was having an advantage over him.

He then decided to return her hold. He gripped her hand. His cold hand started to become warm. He strangely didn't hate the way her warmness spread through him.

What was happening with him?

Lucy's eyes went wide when her grip was returned back. She faced her hand in his cold one. She could feel her face heated up. She blushed, she didn't know why she reacted that way when she was the one who initiated it!

What was happening with her?