Doctor Lu's Rainbow Candy Therapy

Sigelica felt as if the question had scalded her brain.

That pig.

The words overlapped with Zhou Yu's lazy, salted-fish face, and somehow fit perfectly.

She opened her mouth, heat spreading from her cheeks down her neck to her collarbones.

Sigelica: (〃＞皿＜)

"H-he's not a pig."

Her protest was barely audible.

"He's just a bastard."

Lu Hesi said nothing. He simply pushed the candies closer to her and gestured for her to help herself, his gaze gentle and patient.

That was worse than being urged to speak.

Sigelica felt like a punctured balloon, all her disguises and stubbornness leaking away in the warm yellow light of the consulting room.

She stared at the candies without taking one, her fingertips picking wrinkles into the military uniform fabric over her knees.

"His name is Zhou Yu. He's from the Logistics Department."

"Before he showed up, Dania and I were always close. We fought side by side in Lahai-Roi. I protected her, and she depended on me."

A tremor crept into Sigelica's voice, though she didn't notice it herself.

"He interrupted Dania's most important ritual with a loaf of bread, lured her away with an Excel spreadsheet, and even threw her some kind of birthday party!"

"Now he's the only thing Dania can think about!"

"Sweet-and-sour pork ribs, orange soda, crab roe buns!"

"Whenever something happened, she used to come to me first. Now all she asks is what Zhou Yu's having at the cafeteria today!"

Sigelica: (ꐦಠ皿ಠ)

"He kicked the statue of a god in an underground chamber, and the six-figure bill was put on my tab!"

"He cleared out the claw machines at the amusement park, and it was my student card that paid for it again!"

"Every night, I'm working out how to pay that money back with my scholarship, and what about her? She hugs the teddy bear Zhou Yu won and calls out 'Xiao Yu' even in her dreams!"

"Tonight, she wanted to go stargazing with him, so she sent a message saying she wasn't coming back to the dorm!"

"I feel like an abandoned old mother hen! I raised my cabbage, and now it's learned to root around in the dirt, and it's completely forgotten the gardener who watered it!"

She finished shouting it all in one breath, her chest heaving violently as her eyes reddened beyond her control.

The room fell silent, leaving only her ragged breathing.

Lu Hesi had listened quietly the whole time. His eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses were like a deep pool, holding all her anger and hurt.

He picked up a pen, drew a small circle on a sheet of paper, then drew a larger one beside it and connected them with a line.

"Sigelica."

He spoke in a rich, warm voice.

"Have you ever considered that your task is already complete?"

Sigelica froze.

"What task?"

Lu Hesi turned the paper around.

"This small circle is Dania as she was before, trapped in 'fate' and in need of your protection."

His fingertip touched the larger circle.

"You did an excellent job."

"But now Zhou Yu has appeared."

"He shattered that fate in a way none of us can understand."

"So, you see."

Beside the small circle, Lu Hesi drew a little figure running freely.

"Dania no longer needs a protective shell."

"She's started running, learned to smile, learned to be happy over a bowl of sweet-and-sour pork ribs, and learned to like someone."

"She's no longer a 'vessel' you have to watch over constantly to keep her from sacrificing herself. She's become a living, breathing person."

Sigelica: ( ☉д⊙)

"Isn't that what you've always wanted to see?"

Lu Hesi's voice was soft, yet it was like a key thrust into the rusty lock buried deepest in her heart.

"Your sense of loss, your anxiety, even your jealousy-none of it is because Dania no longer loves you."

"In psychology, we call it 'guardianship separation anxiety.'"

"It's like a mother raising a bird. When the little bird flies into the sky on its own for the first time, the mother is glad, but at the same time, she feels the emptiness of 'no longer being needed.'"

"You're not jealous that she's in love. You just haven't gotten used to the fact that she can fly on her own now."

Sigelica stared at him blankly.

The clouds that had hung over her heart for days seemed to have been pierced by a few words from him, letting the sunlight through.

That's right.

She had always made it her duty to protect Dania.

But now Dania was so happy, every day as sweet as if she were soaking in honey.

Didn't that prove she was safe?

All those sleepless nights, the dread she felt when she saw the bills, the disappointment of being left out—was it all just because she hadn't yet stepped out of her role as "protector"?

"Then I..."

She licked her dry lips.

"What should I do?"

"You don't need to do anything about it."

Lu Hesi smiled, the curves at the corners of his eyes gentle and lovely.

"You need to go live your own life."

"Finish your studies, become an outstanding Sunspeaker, and as for that six-figure bill... find a way to get that 'pig' to reimburse you."

When he said "pig," he gave her a playful wink.

Sigelica burst out laughing.

But as she laughed, tears fell first.

They weren't tears of hurt, but of relief.

The great stone weighing on her heart seemed to vanish in an instant.

She hastily wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Looking at the candies on the table, she suddenly found them impossibly cute.

"Thank you, Doctor Lu Hesi."

Her voice was still nasal, but much clearer.

"I-I think I understand now."

"I'm glad you do."

Lu Hesi stood up, took a glass jar full of colorful candies from the cabinet, and unscrewed the lid. He poured the candies on the table into it, closed it again, and handed it to her.

"This is for you."

"Huh? This is too precious."

"It's nothing expensive. A souvenir to celebrate your 'leaving the nest.'"

Lu Hesi pressed the jar into her hands.

"Sweetness can stimulate dopamine secretion. The next time you feel like an empty nester, have one."

"If that doesn't work, come find me. I have plenty of candy here."

Sigelica held the heavy glass jar, warmth filling her palms.

She stood up and bowed solemnly to Lu Hesi.

"Thank you."

When she walked out of the consulting room, the night wind no longer felt cold against her face.

She looked down at the jar of colorful candies in her arms and carefully tucked it into her shoulder bag, as though carrying a treasure.

Sigelica: (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

She took a deep breath, her military boots striking the ground with crisp, strong echoes.

An empty-nest old mother hen?

To hell with that.

Starting today, I'm going to enjoy my own happy single life.

As for that six-figure bill...

The corner of Sigelica's mouth curled coldly.

Zhou Yu, just you wait.

I have no objection to you making your girlfriend happy, but you're paying back every last cent.

I'll go to the Logistics Department tomorrow and make you write me a repayment schedule.

Make it in Excel, with a red official stamp.