Chapter 40 - He Needs You Now

It almost 5 PM when they going back home. Its quite tiring day for Raymond and Luna. She thought that grandma Victoria just wants to have brunch, but then she brings them to the brand outlet mall.

She buys a lot of new dresses, shoes, accessories for Luna and Raymond. They also eat ice cream and enjoy the breeze near the beach. Its summertime and there's a lot of young people from other towns playing at the beach, camping and traveling.

When she arrives home, the maids already waiting at the entrance. Ready to pick up the shopping bag from the trunk and arrange it into the closet room.

Raymond doze off once he landed on the cozy, big leather sofa at the living hall. He feels like his energy has been drained. He doesn't like crowd place. Yet, because he saw how Luna's smiling with his grandmother, he had to endure all the time. Trying to fit into their world.

Luna chuckled at Raymond who looks more exhausted than her. Just when she wants to go upstairs, Victoria calls out her name in a low voice. Afraid it would awake Raymond who just asleep.

"Luna.."

Luna turns to look at the old lady sitting near where Raymond lies down.

"Yes, grandma?"

"Can we talk?" She signals her to follow her to the garden.

Nodded, she then follows Victoria from behind. They did not talk until they reach the swing on the terrace facing the flower garden.

Sit on the swing, Victoria then pats at besides her. "Come here." She smiles.

Slowly, Luna takes a seat beside her, facing the beautiful flower garden in the evening. She's not a fan of flowers, but, she still appreciates it if someone gives it to her. And that someone who's the one who gives her flower is none other than her adorable husband.

"I just want to hear about your career path. Have you make your decision?" Victoria started.

"Uh..I've been thinking of pursuing BA Psychology at Yale University. I'll send my application once I return to school." Luna lowered her head a bit. She knows Yale is not as great as Stanford or Harvard, but it's within her grade and is still in the top ten schools that offer the Psychology major in this country.

Victoria turns silent hearing her choice. Only for a minute before she starts asking again. "Why Psychology?"

"I..want to understand Raymond more, so I decide to take this major."

Victoria sighs. It feels a bit unfair to her for what she was about to tell her after this. But, she has to...

"Listen, Luna. I'm very sorry about what I'm about to tell you. But, can you postpone your application into Spring intake next year, instead of Fall intake?"

Luna blinks her eyes a bit. Surprise to hear that. Why would her grandmother-in-law say that?

"Raymond..he can't bear to be apart from you. Connecticut is quite far from here. Until I make sure there is no problem if you both staying there, will you please..postpone it for only one semester?"

Connecticut is far from South Carolina, but its quite near New York City. That makes her worry a bit. So, until there's no problem with her and Raymond, she has to stay here first.

Luna wants to say something, she opens her mouth, but there's no word coming out at all. She then closes it back and stares at the various flower in front of her eyes. Even though it was beautiful, there's a hollow inside her heart right now which she can't enjoy the view.

"I don't want to drag him back to the city where there are a lot more people when I already save him from there. He's..not ready yet to stay close to that city yet. You know..there are a lot of his past memories that hurt him there. If you go alone, studying there..what about Raymond here? He will surely be depressed and worsening his condition."

"..." Luna did not utter one word at all. She knew what her grandma Victoria just said is true.

"How about this, within this period until you apply for Spring intake, why not you be my friend apprentice? He had asylum near here. You can learn there and gain more experience before you truly went to the field. I'll give him a note later." Victoria turns to her, holding both of her hands to accept her offer.

Luna faintly smiles while nodding her head. "Thank you, grandma."

"I promise you. Once he's alright, I give you what you should have. He needs you now."

"I understand." She caresses Victoria's hand before she excuses herself to upstairs for taking a shower.

Victoria did not say anything else afterward as she hopes that Luna did not hate her. Doing something like that for her future..she knew, it was wrong. But, Raymond is not ready yet to return to city life. He still in his trauma.

…

Treatment building.

"Fang, explain to me about your email a few days before." Victoria sits on the white sofa inside the treatment room where Raymond always gets his therapist session.

"Right away, Ma'am." He took out the document that his wife already prepared for him yesterday.

Giving the report to the old lady, he then starts explaining.

"There's a possibility that Raymond..has a third character."

Victoria scrunches his eyebrow. "Another one?"

Dr. Fang nods his head. "Yes, but there's no specific time where or what triggers the third Character to come out. He just...surface whenever he wants to."

"What kind of character did he have now?"

Dr. Fang sighs. "That..we don't know for sure. So far, it was a normal character. Like a normal person. A combination of night and day character..however, we still have to confirm it since he did not show up too often."

"Is he a threat?"

Dr. Fang shakes his head.

"No. This is my only assumption, but this new character developed because of Mrs. Luna's presence."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, he..only appear in front of Mrs. Luna. He only shows himself and indulges with her. Sometimes, he will resurface when it was daylight, and sometimes, at the nighttime."

"Oh dear."