After leaving La Marquesina, Amber returned home, took a bath and changed her clothes. After refreshing herself, she arrived at the hospital at 11 AM sharp. She had a lunch meeting and then for the rest of the afternoon, was on duty at the psychiatry division.
Nancy had sent her a few documents rted to Ian. Nancy flipped through them briefly and found that the recorded information was quite straightforward, the Axton household was a family of merchants and businessmen, rich and affluent. Their family tree was simple, Ian’s father was an only son and Ian’s mother had died in his youth due to an ident. Thus, the Axton household, beyond Ian himself and his grandparents, consisted solely of his father and his younger brother Daren Axton.
Ian’s life was no different from that of an ordinary nouveau riche, whether in terms of his birth, education and grades, nothing was particrly prominent, good or bad.
He had left the country at eighteen before returning to Axton Group at twenty four to take charge of a project to build the country’s first aquatic sci-fi themed hotel, the Axton Grand Hotel. And finally, he formally took over at Axton Group at thirty years old.
The Axton family did not have a history of mental illness and the reason for and when Ian had been stricken by illness were both unclear. ording to his family, Ian had been introverted from youth, but had disyed no unusual symptoms beyond being somewhat indifferent to others.
Even when Nancy had met him for the first time, she didn’t think that he was suffering from emotional detachment, only that his disposition was unusually calm.
Amber could empathize with her teacher’s ‘misdiagnosis.’ Many people in the modern world suffered from emotional detachment, only to varying degrees. From Ian’s behavior, Amber guessed that he already knew that he was suffering from such an illness and that it was also the real reason why Nancy had introduced her to him. Had he been pretending to treat their introduction as a blind date and then brought her to La Marquesina to embarrass her and force her retreat voluntarily?
Mm, he was a surprisingly logical patient, but his methods were overly simple and rough. Given his upbringing and decisiveness as a businessman, such a series of actions didn’t seem to suit his personality or habits. So, there must have been another reason why he would deliberately stage a one night stand besides not wanting treatment from her.
Amber was unable to even guess at what Ian’s other goals might be. She knew far too little about him, even after she had carefully perused the patient file that Nancy had sent her again.
She decided to let it be for now, disregarding the issue of whether Ian’s actions were premeditated or a result of his illness. She had no way of knowing that her next meeting with him woulde so quickly.
***
On Saturday, Amber’s high school ssmate, Trysta, got married.
Amber had studied medicine all the way up from the postgraduate level. Most of her ssmates had long since gotten married and had children, and even dying marriage till Trysta’s age was already consideredte. As for Amber herself … ording to a ssmate of hers, she was destined to be a model example of someone who marriedte and had children eventer.
This was because she had never expressed any interest in falling in love or finding a man.
Trysta’s wedding was at the city’s most luxurious double five star hotel. By the time Amber arrived, the wedding was just about to begin, with Trysta and her bridegroom standing at the door to wee guests.
Amber smiled and walked forward, hugging her. “Congrattions on your marriage and may itst for a hundred years.”
“Thank you.” Trysta smiled, gaze sweeping over her face as she terselymented, “You’rete.”
“A few things dyed me, but I’m not toote, right?” Amber said that as she turned toward the bridegroom. “Congrattions.”
Trysta’s bridegroom’s surname was Yuval, reportedly also the son of somepany’s CEO and naturally a member of an affluent household. But Trysta herself was also outstanding with a good pedigree, good looks and good personal ability. The two were well matched in all respects.
The bridegroom, Frank Yuval, was very polite. He smiled and thanked her. “Thank you for keeping Tatapany. It’s really helped abate her recent anxiety.”
Trysta had a slight phobia against marriage and Amber and a few other ssmates had kept herpany during a few rough times.
Amber smiled, but Trysta clearly didn’t like his mentioning this matter and she poutinglyined, “Why would I worry? Should I be afraid that you won’t treat me well?”
Hearing this, the bridegroom responded somewhat begrudgingly, “Who else would I treat well except for you?”
Trysta poked him bashfully as her face radiated happiness and then grabbed Amber’s hand. “Let’s go. Sign in at the guestbook and then go upstairs. Silvia and the others are all waiting for you.”
Silvia’s full name was Silvia Smith. She was another one of Amber’s high school ssmates and she was the one who’d said that Amber would be a model example of marryingte and having children eventer.
Amber signed in and went upstairs, expecting to receive a warm hug from Silvia. But when she found her ssmates’ table, no one, Silvia included, paid any attention to her.? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.
Even Amber herself, when she saw the man sitting at the other end of the table, was slightly taken aback.
A male ssmate noticed her first and subsequently waved at her. “Ah, Amber’s here.”
He motioned toward a seat by his side. “Sit here with us. We left a seat open just for you.”
The others at the table turned around, looking at her. Normally, they acted likescivious wolves, but on this asion, they were reserved and smiling. “You’re here, Amber?”
Silvia hissed at her, “Come join us instead. That’s a den of wolves, don’t go there.”
She hollered to the people at her table and finally cleared out a seat next to her for Amber. Amber had just sat down when she heard a mellow, gentle voice call out, “Long time no see, Amber.”