Kaj snorted. “It’s not like I came here for the pastries.”
A playful smile curved the side of her lips. She was more than used to his snarkiness. “Go ahead.”
Kaj looked down at his leg, focusing on the lines of ink curling on the back of his calf. “You remember I told you I had a stalker a while ago?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s back.”
Silence.
She always did that. Waited until Kaj had finished telling her the whole story before asking the next question, making him reason and see a possibility he hadn’t considered before.
“I’m not the target this time, so I’m good. Kinda.” Kaj reached for the laces of his Vans and fumbled with them as he started bouncing his foot. “I mean, it’s not affecting me or my cravings. Not directly. Noah, on the other hand… This shit is hard to deal with.”
“How’s he doing?”
“Not as bad as one would expect. Or maybe he’s just become much better at pretending. But anyway…” His eyes drifted to the tree outside. “After months of having to deal with this crap and the gossiping about our relationship—I told you about that, right?”
“Yes.”
“After months of all that,” he said, “I figured who it is.”
Dr. Mortensen’s expression remained neutral, though her digital pen stilled against the screen of her tablet. She waited, giving Kaj time and space to gather his thoughts before continuing.
“The stalker is Jesper, my stepbrother.”
Kaj clenched his jaw as another beat of silence stretched between them.
“During a live interview we had yesterday, people were allowed to pop in to ask whatever they wanted, and there was this creep… The messages were disturbing, but there was something he said that… he used to say to me. I had a panic attack, but honestly, what bothers me the most is that I didn’t see it before. I mean, the messages, the photos, the obsession… I should have seen it.”
“Hindsight often gives us the clarity we couldn’t have in the moment,” she said simply to counterbalance Kaj’s tendency to blame himself for everything.
“Yeah. I know.”
The clock on the wall ticked loudly in the silence that followed. Outside, a bird chirped, its song piercing and clear.
“There’s more, though.”
“I’m listening.”
“After I freaked out like a little boy, Noah took me home with him, and I told him everything.” His voice dropped, becoming lower and grittier. “Not just about who the stalker is.Everything.”
“How did that feel?” she asked.
Kaj laughed, a hollow sound that gave him the creeps. “Like ripping my heart out and dragging it through the dirt before putting it back in.” He ran a hand through his hair.
It’d been almost twelve years, and he still wasn’t over it.
Kaj hated it.
The word weak hung from the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t say it out loud. Instead, he mentally repeated like a mantra the words Dr. Mortensen had said a hundred times—“Healing is a process”, “Healing is different for everyone”, “For you, it wasn’t just the act itself, there was a lot that came afterward.”
“How did Noah react?”
“I asked him to not interrupt until I was done, and then he just… held me. He also said he loved me and that he’s not leaving me again, and a bunch of other cheesy things I’m not used to but I loved.”
Dr. Mortensen nodded, her pen now moving slowly across her tablet. “That sounds like a significant moment of connection between you two.”
