[Next morning]
Doctor Jason had barely stepped into his clinic when he froze.
Daniel was already waiting inside.
"Oh my God—" Jason gasped, clutching his chest. "Do you people ever knock, or is giving a heart attack part of the plan?"
Daniel looked up calmly. "Good morning to you too, Doctor."
Before Jason could say anything else, another voice spoke.
"Good morning, Doctor Jason. We finally et in person."
Jason’s eyes shifted toward the couch.
A woman was sitting there, flipping through a magazine as if she belonged in the room.
He blinked. Then blinked again.
"Oh... you must be Anna."
Anna closed the magazine and smiled politely. "In the flesh."
Jason stared at her for a mont, clearly trying to process. "Wow. You sound much scarier on the phone."
Daniel’s expression darkened instantly. "If that’s a complint, take it back."
Jason swallowed. "Noted."
"Scary?" Anna repeated, and this ti Jason smiled, deliberately ignoring the daggers Daniel was throwing at him.
"I was expecting soone more... intense. Not soone who looks like she’s waiting for a haircut appointnt."
Jason wasn’t lying. He had never actually t Anna before, only heard about her through Daniel and Henry. And the descriptions had always been wildly different. Daniel spoke of her like she was the most wonderful woman on earth, while Henry described her as if he had personally offended a demon.
"That’s because I am," Anna said dryly. "Just not about the hair part."
She stood up. "Sorry for coming without an appointnt. But don’t worry, we booked one after checking there was no one waiting outside."
Jason glanced at the empty chairs in the waiting area, then back at them. "So you broke into my clinic politely."
"No," Daniel corrected. "We took an appointnt."
Jason dropped into his chair with a sigh. Sotis it was hard to deal with Daniel’s nonchalance, but today it felt especially unbearable.
"It’s not even nine in the morning and I already regret my life choices," he muttered.
Anna smiled. "At least now you finally know what the mysterious voice on the phone looks like."
Jason looked at her again, shaking his head. "Yeah... I definitely didn’t imagine you like this."
"And how did you imagine ?" she asked.
"Soone ready to slit my throat if I hadn’t told you what your husband was going through."
Daniel’s lips twitched. "Did you delete her number?" he asked.
Jason nodded imdiately. "Without hesitation."
Anna watched the exchange, her smile faltering slightly. She knew her husband was possessive, but she hadn’t expected him to be so openly territorial in front of his friend.
Jason cleared his throat and finally got back to business.
"So... is this appointnt for a new patient?" he asked, his eyes settling on Anna.
Since both her sister and her husband were already receiving dical care, he couldn’t help but wonder if this unexpected visit was actually for her.
Jason’s gaze lingered on Anna, already ntally running through a list of possible symptoms.
Anna noticed imdiately and lifted her hands in surrender. "No, no. This appointnt isn’t for ."
Jason frowned. "You sure? Because usually when people show up unannounced with their spouse, it’s either bad news or denial."
Anna:"..."
"She is perfectly fine. And stop staring at her like she’s so kind of experint."
Daniel’s voice snapped Jason out of his professional trance. Jason pursed his lips, realizing he had been unconsciously analyzing Anna again.
"I’m sorry," he said, raising his hands slightly in surrender.
Jason then looked back at Daniel. "So it’s about you. But didn’t you tell the dreams had stopped?"
Daniel hesitated for a fraction of a second. "I lied. They still show up... occasionally."
Anna swallowed at the admission. She hadn’t known he would say it so plainly, so openly. But now that he had started, there was no turning back.
Last night, after teasing her endlessly, when they had finally settled into bed, Daniel had confessed his fear of being in the dark about his own past. The dreams still haunted him, fragnts of sothing broken and unfinished.
And despite Anna’s resistance, he was certain those dreams were tied to mories she didn’t want him to rember.
Anna might have forgiven him because things were different now. Because they were different people.
But how was he supposed to live with the truth that, in another life, another version of himself, he had hurt her?
Jason leaned back in his chair and let out a slow breath. The humor was gone now, replaced by sothing heavier.
"Daniel," he said quietly, "you can’t keep pretending this is nothing. Recurring dreams aren’t just imagination. They’re your mind trying to process sothing it hasn’t accepted yet."
Daniel looked away, jaw tightening.
"And if I rember?" he asked. "What if I rember things I shouldn’t?"
Anna reached for his hand this ti, holding it firmly. "Then we face it together," she said softly. "Whatever it is."
Jason watched them for a mont before speaking again.
"mories don’t co back to punish you," he said. "They co back because they want to be understood."
Jason rembered how he had once dismissed Daniel’s dreams as nothing more than stress. Just a tired mind replaying fears.
But the more he had listened, the more he had realized it wasn’t sothing ordinary.
It wasn’t just a nightmare.
It was sothing that had broken Daniel from the inside.
So when Daniel had once asked him if he believed in rebirth, Jason had laughed it off and said no.
Now, sitting across from him, watching the way his hands clenched and unclenched without him even noticing, Jason didn’t know what he was supposed to say anymore.
Because if this wasn’t stress, and it wasn’t imagination... then what was it?
***
[Outside]
"Hello?"
The mont Anna answered the call, Roseline’s voice ca through, tight and strained.
"Anna, is it true? Is Daniel the reason your father has suffered such a huge loss?"
Anna’s eyes went cold at the ntion of Daniel’s na. For a brief second, she saw Hugo standing helpless under Norma’s authority, the chaos, the humiliation.
"It’s the Chairwoman," she said flatly. "Not Daniel."
There was a pause on the other end.
"Anna..." Roseline sighed, the edge in her voice softening into sothing almost gentle. "I know you’re upset, but Hugo is ruined. Do you understand what that ans? Everything he built is collapsing."
Anna remained silent.
"He hasn’t even co ho," Roseline continued. "He’s locking himself in his office, refusing to see anyone. I’ve never seen him like this. Please co here and tell him you will handle everything"
Anna’s fingers tightened around her phone. "Then tell him to step down. To stop fighting battles he can’t win.Because there is nothing I can do"
Roseline let out a bitter laugh. "Easy for you to say. You have Daniel now. You’re protected."
There it was.
"But Hugo..." Roseline went on, lowering her voice, "Hugo took you in when you had nothing. He gave you his na, his house, his status. You weren’t even his blood, Anna, and still he treated you like his own."
Anna’s jaw clenched.
"Don’t you think it’s ti you repay that kindness?"
The words felt heavier than they should have.
"He needs you," Roseline pressed. "Only you can talk to Daniel. Only you can soften him. If you really ever cared for this family, you won’t just stand by and watch Hugo lose everything."
Anna closed her eyes, the guilt already sinking its claws into her chest.
"I’ll co," she said finally, her voice quiet but steady.
****
The room was dim and quiet, wrapped in a stillness that felt almost unnatural.
Daniel lay on the couch, eyes closed, his breathing slow and even. He hadn’t moved in several minutes, not even when Jason adjusted the small lamp beside him.
Jason watched him carefully.
This wasn’t ordinary sleep.
Daniel’s face looked softer than usual, the sharp lines of tension finally eased. His hands, which were always clenched into fists even in rest, now lay open at his sides.
Jason lowered himself into the chair across from him and spoke gently.
"Daniel, you’re already safe here."
There was no reaction, but Jason knew the words still reached him. Hypnosis wasn’t about control. It was about guiding soone through a door they had already opened themselves.
He shifted the lamp, lowering the light until it barely brushed Daniel’s features. The shadows beca softer, warr. Less clinical. More human.
"You don’t need to think," Jason continued quietly. "You don’t need to rember anything unless you want to."
Daniel’s breathing deepened slightly.
Jason leaned forward. "Right now, all you have to do is exist. Nothing to prove. Nothing to fix."
A faint crease appeared between Daniel’s brows, then slowly smoothed out.
Jason reached for the small trono on his desk and turned it on, setting it to a slow, steady rhythm. The ticking filled the silence, gentle and repetitive, giving Daniel’s mind sothing to anchor to.
"Every sound you hear," Jason said, "only pulls you deeper into rest. Every breath makes you heavier. Not tired. Just comfortable."
Daniel shifted slightly, his head sinking further into the cushion.
Jason observed the subtle signs. The way his jaw loosened. The way his shoulders no longer looked like they were bracing for impact.
This was the version of Daniel no one ever saw.
Not the man in control. Not the man who carried everyone else’s burdens. Just a man who was finally allowed to stop holding himself together.
"You don’t have to protect anyone here," Jason said softly. "You don’t have to be strong."
Daniel’s lips parted, releasing a slow exhale that sounded almost like relief.
Jason adjusted the blanket over him, careful not to startle him. He made sure the room temperature was perfect, neither too cold nor too warm.
"You’re allowed to rest," he continued. "Even your thoughts are slowing down. Like waves settling after a storm."
The trono ticked on.
Daniel’s breathing matched it now.
Jason felt a quiet ache in his chest.
He had known Daniel for years, but he had never seen him this unguarded. This peaceful.
"Lets start" he said finally bracing for what they were about to witness.
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