Page 204 of Scarbound

No answer.

Chung-Hee walked toward the door.

“Wait.”

Chung-Hee stopped.

Noeul stared at him, trying desperately to remember what he wanted to say. The thought wouldn’t come.

“Please…”

That was all he managed.

Chung-Hee stood there for a second. Then left. The bedroom door closed.

Noeul stared after him.

The phone continued ringing somewhere beyond the walls.

Again.

Again.

Again.

He listened because the sound seemed important.

Somewhere beyond the fog in his mind, the ringing told him one thing he could almost understand.

There was something outside this room.

He just couldn’t remember what.

SESSION 20

“After Gong’s diagnosis, everything fell into place,” Noeul said.

Dr. Kim looked at him over the rim of her glasses. “Everything?”

“The hyperactive days. The days when he wouldn’t get out of bed. The mood swings. The hallucinations.” Noeul rubbed his thumb against his palm. “Suddenly, all of it had an explanation.”

“Did having an explanation make it easier?”

Noeul thought about it. “Yes.” Then, after a moment, “And no.”

Dr. Kim waited.

“It made him easier to understand,” Noeul said. “But it also meant some things weren’t going away just because I tried harder.”

“What things?”

Noeul looked down at his hands. “You asked me before how he treated me.”

“I did.”

“It depended.” He shifted in the chair. “There were days when he saw me as the enemy. Other days, he clung to me like I was his lifeline.”

“And which was harder?”