Brighton Mall
Shengyi
The receptionist stares back at me with beady eyes. It's the second time I have come back to look for my psychiatrist older half-sister, identity still unconfirmed. After some online stalking for weeks, I am unable to find anything satisfactory on her.
"Dr Jewel is seeing a patient now," she just answers in an uncaring voice. For some reason, the receptionist isn't the exact person I had spoken with during my previous visit. I am not surprised. After all, young people tend to be frequent job-hoppers. I just seat myself down on the couch calmly.
"When is the next available slot to see her, then?"
"In two hours," she answers, to which I just lean back and make sure I am comfy sitting where I am. I gather a few magazines from the rack beside and ingest the words on the front page.
Another exaggeration. I could have memorised what they had written about me each time, some calling me a demoness and others thinking I am cold and heartless. Which is why I don't bother reading gossip columns much.
Too boring. I don't need to know what the public believes about me. Furthermore, the sources of such information are highly questionable and the facts are untrue. I'll pass.
I flip randomly to another page somewhere in the first 'section' of the magazine (I have this habit of manually dividing a magazine into sections in my head). Now, this looks better.
Cullen Fu has been spotted with a mysterious woman. I never bore reading about these never-ending love interests of my eccentric rival. Soon, we will both contend for a project tender - and I deeply believe that the results won't be pretty. It is a half-a-million-dollar project, with a very sophisticated information management system. The authorities plan to have this system to integrate with their hospitals and utilities but in phases.
Compatibility of operating systems proved a major issue. To match up with the new host system, all the target systems have to be upgraded for it to work. There is just so much to do.
I know about Shan Hanyu being hired by my partner Dewey. As long he stays out of mine and Xiaoxian's way, I guess I can pretend he doesn't exist for the time being. I cannot allow history to repeat itself, and at the same time, I understand the corporation's manpower need. Dewey means well.
If he decides that Shan Hanyu is a beneficial tool for the corporation, then I will not argue with him on this point. In time, when a better candidate comes along, I can always find a way to retrench Shan Hanyu. But I'll not think about this right now. I have a bigger war to fight.
I still haven't heard from my father, which prompts me to dig out more information about this 'sister' of mine. She has done a good job hiding her true face and secrets from social media, which perhaps is good considering her career as a psychiatrist.
In my initial meeting with Jewel, all we did was talk. Her receptionist had then attempted to schedule a few appointments with me, but I made up countless alibis to postpone the next meeting. It wasn't very hard to create a convincing excuse that my car broke down or that I suddenly had a job interview. I find myself a good actress in this life, pretentious yet convincing in my act.
I cannot stop until I dig out if Jewel is truly my half-sister and why she denied having a father at all, even when I used my interrogation methods on her. Discovering whether she has a hidden agenda on reuniting with my father should be my focus. If my father can survive the years, then I will not allow him to be taken from me.
"Miss?" a female voice greets me. I look up.
"Dr Jewel will see you now."
"So fast?" I fake a confused look, acting emotionally. In my mind, I had all the acting lines ready - I would submit a sob story I had created while I was in the shower: Rejection by a love interest, and feeling down and depressed! I am sure that Jewel will buy it, as it happens to everyone.
"She is planning to knock off early for a family dinner," the receptionist revealed. It was already three in the afternoon, and after completing a two-hour session with me, it would be close to the evening. If she was going to go have dinner after that, it would be the right timing. But first, I wanted to know if she would be having dinner with my father.
Jewel Xia, just what secrets are you hiding? I whisper in my mind. I can't let my guard down around her until I find out what is on her mind. If only I had the power of reading minds…
'All you have to do is ask for it.' I hear an eerie voice say inside me. How creepy! A shiver descends my spine upon hearing the voice. I can feel my hair standing on end.
But such power is tempting.
No, I tell myself. Other than Devil Cullen, I probably should not fall prey to any other devilish presences. They might eat away my life force. (Maybe I have been reading too many novels, but nothing good can come out of this!)
Cullen! Cullen! Cullen!
I called out his name thrice to distract myself from hearing the voice again. If done right, maybe it would invoke Cullen so that he could fight the rival devil to prevent it from seducing me with its power!
A long pause ensues. I question in my head, Did it work? I don't think I hear the eerie voice any more.
'Shengyi, focus your mind. You are powerful. You just need to know how to use your power,' Devil Cullen's voice soothes me from inside.
Ahhhhh! Devil Cullen is speaking to me! Does it mean that he heard me calling him?
'Shengyi, don't forget I know what is on your mind,' Devil Cullen's voice sounds in my ears. 'Be patient. Before we meet, you have to shield yourself from dangerous psionic attacks by other… demonic souls.'
Demonic souls? Did it mean that these evils were around me? The knowledge of what he had just said freaked me out!
Calm! Calm! Calm! I try to stabilise my emotions, but I am too fidgety. Jewel looks flustered as if she has never seen a patient like me before. Is she truly a psychiatrist?
"Dr Jewel, what is it?"
She shook her head. "Sorry, I got distracted for a moment."
Devil Cullen's last words to me before his voice appears to fade away are 'For now, I will grant you some powers, but it's on you how you want to use them. Remember, at the end of the day, you belong to me.'
I am sure he means the deal we made, and he owns my soul, even though he hasn't collected on his dues yet. Hopefully, when he does, I am not an enthralled spirit trapped in a vessel but have a symbiotic relationship with the devil.
But before that happens, I have to achieve my utmost in my life and my career. Maybe I am greedy, but I want too much. Starting from Shengyi Corporation and my father to unravelling the mystery behind the woman who birthed me.
"Shengyi, how do you relax normally?" Jewel asks suddenly.
Music is the solution to most stress issues, although I could easily answer that I would go for a calming massage at the spa. But this will only give out clues that I am rich, and I don't want Jewel to find out anything about me, lest she transfers me to another psychiatrist and ends my endeavours.
So I answer that I play a musical instrument and beamingly take out my harmonica.
"You seem tense, Shengyi. Would you mind to play a tune to relax your self before we go on further?" Jewel suggests.
That sounds weird coming from her, but each medical personnel has their own ways of handling patients. I recall how a mist rose from using the harmonica once, but that could just be a coincidence. I decide firmly that there is no harm to allow Jewel to hear me play the harmonica.
I hold the instrument to my lips and blow on it to create a tune. I wait for any possible outcome, but there is none. After five minutes, I feel relieved to see that there is nothing extraordinary.
I don't know how long I have been blowing on the reeds of the harmonica, but the next thing is, I can suddenly hear Jewel speaking. Yet, her lips do not move and she just looks at me intensely.
[I need to know what connection she has with Ant Lu. She just resembles him too much to not be related to him.]
[Does she really need professional help? She seems fine, just a bit tense at times… but she should know that what she is experiencing is downright normal for most people?]
I almost fall off the chair I am seated on.
Did I...just read Jewel's thoughts?
Then, as quickly as it happened, all these thoughts come to an abrupt end...