Heart Disease

Psychological Trauma

Hah. Miss Bu had certainly changed.

Xing Yue sneered, her expression barely softening. Bu Yao used to order her around and bully her. Now she had merely changed tactics, turning commands into requests and asking whether Xing Yue was willing.

But Bu Yao's rotten nature hadn't changed. She actually wanted Xing Yue to kiss her foot? Damn it... Xing Yue was a little tempted!

Xing Yue wondered whether this was a lingering effect of their marriage ten years ago. Why else would she be so twisted? It was unforgivable!

Once she realized she wanted to obey, her scorn turned to embarrassed anger. She couldn't tell whether she was angry at herself or at Bu Yao.

"I'm telling you," Xing Yue said, tugging irritably at her collar. Her white silk V-neck blouse fell slightly askew, revealing the petal-trimmed bandeau beneath. She gritted her teeth. "This is the last time."

She took off her glasses, lifted the soft, porcelain-white foot in one hand, and planted a swift peck on its instep. The whole thing took less than a second, too little time for the sensation to register.

Bu Yao's toes and heel were flushed red, her skin fine and delicate. She had clearly lived a sheltered life.

A moment later, a red tail slipped out from behind the curtain and swayed aimlessly in the air, bewildered and flustered. After a few seconds, it curled up on the hospital bed and disappeared beneath the blanket, along with Bu Yao's burning face...

Xing Yue angrily pulled back the curtain and went into the corridor to wait. The doctor passing her gave her a peculiar look. Xing Yue was painfully sensitive to it, and her anger flared. She was sure a third person had found out she'd kissed Bu Yao's foot.

Fuck! Why had she listened to Bu Yao and kissed her foot?! She'd never live this down!

Xing Yue looked perfectly calm, but inside she was losing her mind.

She paced the corridor until she wandered to an office tucked into the far corner. A sign on the door read "Hypnosis," with an introduction to the hypnotherapist below it.

Xing Yue had heard a little about hypnosis. Supposedly, it could help diagnose psychiatric symptoms and psychological disorders. She didn't have an appointment; she was just curious enough to peek inside.

The room looked much like any other consultation room, except for a strange chair.

"Want to give it a try?" The hypnotherapist emerged from the break room in a white coat and raised an eyebrow at Xing Yue. "You look stressed."

Xing Yue approached the strange chair, felt around it, and lay down. It would pass the time. "Do you see patients in person too, Dr. Tan?"

What adult didn't have a little stress?

Tan Xiang'e smiled without answering. She lacked the gentle compassion Xing Yue expected from a doctor. Instead, a restless, almost wanton excitement glimmered in her eyes.

She switched on the chair, and a faint current spread through Xing Yue's body.

"Fill out a questionnaire, Ms. Xing." She produced a questionnaire card.

Xing Yue took the paper and pen. "How do you know my surname?"

"I can do magic," Tan Xiang'e teased.

Xing Yue thought nothing of the joke. When she married Bu Yao ten years ago, magazines had been full of stories about them.

Anyone who followed celebrity gossip might recognize her. There was nothing surprising about that.

Xing Yue looked over the questionnaire. Question 1: What was your most recent nightmare about?

a. Family b. Romance c. Ghosts and monsters d. I haven't had one

Question 2: If you had to spend a night alone, which place would you choose?

a. A boat on a lake b. A yurt on the grassland c. A small European-style apartment d. A treehouse

Question 3: Around which people would you feel comfortable showing your tail?

a. A lover b. Family c. Friends d. No one

Xing Yue focused on the questions. As she considered each one, she found herself drawn into the scene it described. It felt startlingly real.

A warm current spread through her limbs. Tan Xiang'e hummed a wordless tune, her voice sounding as though it came from deep within a dark, fog-shrouded forest. Xing Yue found it deeply unsettling. Her heart felt suspended in midair.

Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep...

Harsh noises filled the living room. Bowls and cutlery crashed, an ashtray shattered, and the floor was a mess.

A little girl asleep in her room jolted awake and sat up, wailing. Her tail rustled as she hurried out. Almost by instinct, as though she had done it countless times, she clung to a woman's leg, seeking safety.

"Mommy..." she called, reaching up with both little hands, begging to be held.

The woman was arguing with her husband. No matter how hysterically she screamed, the man remained silent, as if the home had nothing to do with him, and neither did she.

His indifference drove the woman over the edge. She snatched up a freshly boiled kettle and hurled it at him. He shifted slightly and dodged it with ease, but someone else was caught in its path.

The kettle struck the wall, and scalding water splashed back onto the little girl, drenching her small snake tail just as it was shedding.

Agonizing heat seared through her. Her screams rang out at once. Pus-filled blisters rose on her half-shed tail, its scales lifted, and the flesh beneath was burned raw.

But her cries drew no tenderness from her mother. The woman lifted her into the air and shook her wildly. "Shut up! Stop crying! I said stop crying, do you hear me? Ah—stop screaming! No crying!"

When Xing Yue woke, a projection of a Jiangnan waterside town covered the ceiling. Her mind was hazy, and her whole body felt as though it might fall apart.

"How do you feel, Ms. Xing?" Tan Xiang'e asked softly. The instrument screen connected to the chair was crowded with tangled electrical readings.

It was enough to tell her that Xing Yue's dream had been distressing.

Xing Yue seemed unable to hear anything around her. She climbed off the chair in a daze. Her legs gave way, and she nearly fell to her knees. Her eyes were so red they looked ready to bleed.

She had no tear glands. Otherwise, she would have been drowning in tears.

Xing Yue tried to appear normal, clenching her hands until her fingers went white, but she couldn't stop trembling. Instead of answering, she asked, "Did you find out what's wrong with me, Dr. Tan?"

Tan Xiang'e handed her a handkerchief that smelled strongly of disinfectant. "An emotional wound. Possibly stress-related trauma. It's strange, though. I didn't see any readings from your tail nerves..."

The equipment should have displayed readings from every organ and nerve in her body. Why were there none for Xing Yue's tail? Could she have no tail?

Tan Xiang'e startled herself with the thought.

She was about to ask more when a figure in red entered. Tan Xiang'e immediately fell silent. Patient confidentiality meant she couldn't discuss Xing Yue's condition in front of someone else.

Bu Yao stood there holding a prescription sheet. When she saw Xing Yue, she stepped back out and took a careful look at the sign on the wall.

Had kissing her foot left Xing Yue so traumatized that she needed a therapist...?