Stuck in a Chinese novel Chapter 427

"Why did you do it?" He asked. He was dressed in a white long coat, a pen and a pad in his hand, writing the replies of the boy who was no more than fourteen sitting across him. A small black badge on his chest, on the left side of his white coat, read Dr. James.

"Why did I do what?" The boy asked without any apparent expression on his face that would convey his emotions to him. There was nothing but coldness on his face, a chill that froze whoever was to gaze in those eyes deep down to their soul.

"Anything. Everything." Kevin asked.

"That's new. Usually, everyone just asks why I hurt those people." The boy replied.

"I know why you hurt those people. I simply want to see if you know that as well, or are you just deluding yourself." Kevin said.

"Oh? You know? Then why don't you tell me as well? It would make my life easier." The boy replied sarcastically.

"Your life is hard?" Kevin asked.

"With everyone asking the same question, yes, it is." The boy replied with a tinge of annoyance in his cold tone.

"And what?" The boy asked.

"Do you hate that? Do you hate the fact that you have to be restrained by everyone?" Kevin asked.

"I'm not retrained." The boy replied defensively.

"You're not? Then why did you stop?" Kevin asked.

"..." The boy remained silent. Kevin smiled and placed some photographs on the table. They were the photographs of a man who was missing half of his mouth. There were signs of other forms of torture as well, but the most evident was that half his face was missing.

Half from below, so his eyes and nose were perfectly fine, but his mouth sure wasn't.

"Why did you stop? Why didn't you finish the job?" Kevin asked.

"I took mercy on him." He lied. The boy was lying, he knew himself, but he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth.

"You think if you eluded the truth, it wouldn't be called a lie? That it would eventually become the truth?" Kevin asked.

"I don't lie." The boy calmly replied, but the slight quiver in his eyes wasn't missed.

"Haha." Kevin chuckled, which only served to make the boy even more annoyed but he remained silent. He wasn't the type to give in to his emotions so easily. "You really think it's the truth, don't you?"

"Because it is." The boy simply replied with utmost belief.

"Why, though?" Kevin asked, "Who are you so afraid to disappoint that you refuse to see the truth as it is?"

"No one." The boy replied but the slight quiver in his eyes wasn't missed again by someone as keen as Kevin.

"You know. Parental love is unconditional. They would love their child no matter what. The same stands for a brother who has raised his younger brother with utmost care. Yet you still think they would hate you if you admitted the truth?" Kevin asked.

"..." The boy remained silent. Although those words were ambiguous, the boy perfectly knew what Kevin was talking about. The frightening part was that those facts hadn't been revealed by the boy or anyone else. Kevin had picked up those points from that brief conversation.

Of course, Kevin knew who the boy's parents and brother were, but he didn't know what the boy was afraid of deep down. He had picked that point up by simply talking with him.

"You're as good as they say." The boy said. It was an understatement. It was frightening. How could someone pick up emotions from small quivers of one's eyes or the speechlessness to specific questions? Yet, knowing a little bit of his history, his family relations, and from this small conversation, he had learned the deep secrets of the boy.

"I'll take that as a compliment from the boy who has driven countless therapists mad," Kevin replied with a soft chuckle.

"But that doesn't change anything." But the boy was defiant. Just because he could read some emotions didn't mean he knew everything about the boy. That didn't mean he knew everything about him.

Kevin nodded as he replied, "You're right, it doesn't. Nothing changes from the first time. You have to give things some time."

Then, he procured another set of pictures and showed them to the boy, which made him inhale deeply. "Tell me about these. Did you feel the same emotions during these?"

"Enough!" The boy finally stood up, a clear emotion of anger on his face. He had been defeated. That fact struck him more than the fact that his secrets were being laid bare in front of him.

"So you don't like to lose?" Kevin deduced.

Another fact about him was gleaned so easily. For the first time in his life, the boy felt fear from someone other than his father or brother. He feared his mother and sister in law too but that fear was different. Even the fear of his father and brother was different.

This fear was different. Everything about him was being exposed. No matter what he did, he couldn't find an opening. He couldn't find a way to defend himself. He couldn't stop the onslaught by this therapist for the first time in his life.

"Why is that so?" Kevin calmly asked. The boy calmed himself by taking deep breaths and then settled back down in his chair. As he expected, there was no opening. No matter what he did, he couldn't find a point to catch on.

The other therapists, they let something on whenever he would engage in a conversation with them. A family photo on their desk, or some other sort of sign in their conversation which they would often use to show him as an example.

He could pick those points and turn them against them, use their personal life on them to break them.

But the same couldn't be said for this man. The same couldn't be said for Kevin. He wasn't seeing this man for the first time in his life, he had seen him before, too, but not as a doctor but as a family friend. And that was precisely why he couldn't use anything against him.

Even during this conversation, Kevin hadn't used himself even once. He had only used the boy. Every topic of conversation was about him. There was no opening to even turn the conversation elsewhere.

It was, once again, frightening.

"You know, you are quite interesting." Kevin spoke once the boy had calmed himself down. "These are the notes left behind by your former therapists. Do you want to see what they said about you? How did they define you?"

"I know how they defined me. A monster." The boy knew that much. He was sure of it after what he had done to them. After he had driven them to the deepest bit of insanity, he didn't expect anything else.

"Nothing too innocent." Kevin, however, disagreed. "They called you the devil himself."

A glint passed through the boys eyes which he so desperately, very, very quickly suppressed but alas, he was too late.

"Happy, aren't you?" Kevin asked.

The glint of happiness wasn't missed by Kevin, and he made sure to point it out. The boy remained silent to that question, but Kevin didn't need the boy's answers anymore.

Finally, he had figured the boy out. He had figured out what the truth was.

"Misery makes you happy. You didn't stop at these guys," Kevin said as he pointed at the pictures, except for the very first one, "Because they kept asking for mercy. They kept asking you to let them go. But this..."

He tapped on the very first picture he had put on the table. the one with the picture of a man who was missing his mouth, "This man couldn't plead for mercy since he couldn't speak anymore. You messed up. There was no fun in finishing the job if he were not to beg, right?"

"..." The boy remained silent. Each and every word struck him like a brick that weighed a ton. The only problem was that even though it was a harsh wake-up of reality, he already knew about it.

Deep down, he knew each and every word Kevin had said was the truth. He was afraid to admit it because he was worried his brother might be angry with him, and his mother would be disappointed.

He denied the truth, hoping the lie would indeed become the truth. However, as if to hit him by the truck of truth, Kevin finally asked the question, a question that set the final nail in the coffin, shattering the lie the boy had convinced himself to be the truth, "Did you enjoy it, Damien?"

He looked down, his eyes cold, and he stared at the man who was on his last throes, his expression not letting any of his emotions out as he replied in a heavy voice...

"I destroyed your life because it was fun, and I enjoyed it."

He had finally accepted the truth.