Shen Jingwei sat next to Song Yaya, who was still lying motionless on the bed.
After Song Yaya’s regular child psychiatrist arrived, Yan Renzhong and Song Xiaoling went to talk to the doctor who treated her just now.
Before even five minutes passed, Shen Jingwei too was summoned into the doctor’s office for discussion.
"Mr. Shen, I understood that you were the last person Yaya talked to before she had a breakdown," the child psychiatrist said.
"Correct."
"Care to share what you two talked about?"
Shen Jingwei’s gaze flicked toward Yan Renzhong and Song Xiaoling for a beat before he answered, "Yaya seed to experience a hallucination. She kept telling her ’Papa’ and ’Mama not to fight, and for her ’Papa’ not to hit her ’Mama’. Apparently, her ’Mama’ was bleeding, and she begged her not to die. Just in case you were wondering, no, Yan Renzhong did not hit Song Xiaoling anywhere," Shen Jingwei quickly clarified, just in case the child psychiatrist misunderstood the situation.
"Of course," the child psychiatrist nodded in apprehension. "Yaya was reminded of the fight between her biological parents when she saw the two of you arguing."
Song Xiaoling groaned into her palms.
Yan Renzhong rubbed at his aching temples.
"What is going to happen to Yaya?"
"It depends."
The child psychiatrist flipped through the file she brought from her office.
"For over three years now, Yaya has been in denial about what happened in the past. She refused to acknowledge her biological parents because the last fight she witnessed was too traumatizing for her to digest."
"Now that she relived her greatest nightmare, she might choose from two possible outcos. First, she might continue being in denial, and the two of you will have to continue playing her parents until she is willing to make a change."
"Second, she might decide to leave that imaginary safe space and face reality. While the first outco seems to be harmless, it is in essence stagnation. I would rather have the second outco happen. The progress will be turbulent, but it will still be progress."
"What if Yaya is hurt?" Yan Renzhong asked.
The child psychiatrist had a stern answer to that question.
"If you are afraid of pain, Mr. Yan, your little sister will never recover."
"..."
Song Xiaoling removed her hands from her face and glared in Shen Jingwei’s direction.
"See what you have done?" she snapped. "Thanks to you, Yaya has to face her trauma again."
"Are you not done yet, Xiaoling?" Yan Renzhong snapped.
"Actually, it is the contrary," the child psychiatrist comnted right after.
All heads swiveled toward her in a mixture of confusion and disbelief.
"What do you an?" Song Xiaoling asked, incredulous.
"Yaya was traumatized from watching her biological parents fight in a violent manner. Your interaction with each other must be rather fierce. Naturally, it triggered her suppressed mories. Mr. Shen here has been quite helpful."
Song Xiaoling shot to her feet.
"What do you an, helpful? He couldn’t even get us a spot into the fountain blast!"
"At the very least, Yaya trusted him enough to confide in him," the child psychiatrist replied, unbothered by Song Xiaoling’s reaction. "If both of you are open to it, it might be better for Yaya to not see the both of you for a while."
She then turned to the doctor, who until then remained quiet and watched the discussion unfold.
"Can we keep her in the hospital for several days? Just until we know what the outco of this incident is?"
The doctor nodded.
"I will arrange for a bed in the children’s ward for her."
"Very good. For the ti being, please refrain from seeing her. I will visit Yaya every day and give you updates whenever necessary," so the child psychiatrist decided.
Neither Song Xiaoling nor Yan Renzhong entertained the idea of leaving Song Yaya alone in the hospital, but the child psychiatrist was adamant about her decision.
And so, Yan Renzhong left with Shen Jingwei, and Song Xiaoling returned ho on her own.
She could barely believe it.
This morning when they left for Heyday Aqualand, Song Yaya was a bubbly, healthy little girl who was excited to celebrate her birthday. One playdate with Shen Jingwei was all it took to land her in the hospital.
Song Xiaoling tightened her fingers into fists, fury simring in her eyes.
Shen Jingwei was a bad, bad influence.
Ever since he showed up in Yan Renzhong’s life, he had been nothing but trouble.
If Song Xiaoling did not do sothing fast, he was going to ruin them for sure.
With no Song Yaya to take care of for the night, Song Xiaoling had a lot of free ti for herself. She thus ordered food from outside and ate dinner while chatting with her online friends. They had been her greatest emotional support during these turbulent tis.
Little Ling : "Ugh. I hate that guy so much."
Little Han : "Who? Your crush’s boyfriend?"
Little Wang : "Right, didn’t you say that the four of you went out today to celebrate your little sister’s birthday?"
Full of resentnt, Song Xiaoling bit into her fingernail.
Little Ling : "Yeah but now my little sister is in the hospital, and it’s that guy’s fault!"
Little He : "Ehhhhh? How co??? Did he hit her or sothing?"
Little Ling : "Worse. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it. It makes sick just thinking about him."
Little Han : "You know, Little Ling, you should be more assertive if you really want to steal your crush away."
Song Xiaoling’s hands hovered above her keyboard. She then opened a private chatbox with Little Han and typed a ssage.
Little Ling : "What do you an?"
Little Han : "Judging from all information you were willing to share so far, I can tell that your crush likes children. If you really like him, why not try to have a child with him?"
Song Xiaoling held her breath when she read Little Han’s reply, again and again.
A child?
With Yan Renzhong?
So hundred miles away from Song Xiaoling, Shang Ruohan pulled his lips into a smirk. When Song Xiaoling didn’t reply, he followed up with another ssage.
Little Han : "Why don’t I teach you how to do it?"
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