“I’m indeed telling you the truth, but that doesn’t really matter. Anyway, there is something I want to ask you. Is a hypnotist capable of causing chest pain to their target?” Toby asked, staring at Kurtis.
Kurtis responded with a low hum. “Would you mind telling me more about it, President Fuller?”
“Sure.” Toby nodded. “I believe you can still remember how I described my fiancée to you, as well as the promises I made that I would protect and love her, right?”
“Of course!” Kurtis nodded.
Toby’s face darkened. “Here is what happened. In the past two days, I realized I felt intense chest pain when I didn’t do as I promised.”
“I see. Well, that was indeed a hypnotist’s doing, but I want you to know that the pain you felt wasn’t real. In fact, it was more like a psychological pain,” Kurtis looked at him and replied.
“A psychological pain…” Toby looked down in a preoccupied manner. “So, you’re saying the pain that I felt was caused by my mind and subconsciousness?”
“Exactly. Hypnotists may be good with what they do, but they are no gods, which makes it impossible for them to control anyone’s pain reception. In fact, this is one of the ways to hypnotize a person, and it’s called the ideomotor phenomenon, which only works on your mental consciousness. In your case, whoever did this to you just wants you to love your fiancée. If you don’t do as instructed, you will suffer from intense chest pain.”
Toby clenched his fists so hard that a popping sound could be heard from his finger joints. “I see. Can you undo it?”
“I doubt I can. After all, I failed to even detect his hypnotist’s influence in the first place, so I don’t think I can rid you of those effects. Therefore, I can only say that whoever did this to you was super talented and… young! Wow! I can’t believe that there’s someone so good hiding among us!” Kurtis exclaimed.
After hearing the doctor’s reply, Toby had his face darkened. When Kurtis noticed that, he chuckled in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, President Fuller. I guess I got a little too carried away.”
Oh man! I just made a fool out of myself. I was rubbing salt on his wound by complimenting the hypnotist who brainwashed him, wasn’t I? Ugh! It’s no wonder he doesn’t seem so happy about it.
Nevertheless, Toby only shot a cold gaze at Kurtis and asked, “I have another question. Since you can’t remove the hypnotist’s influence from me, why does my chest pain go away whenever I’m close to Sonia?”
“Who is Sonia?” Kurtis asked instead of answering Toby’s question.
“The love of my life.” Toby’s eyes seemed to become slightly friendlier.
Kurtis raised his eyebrows. “Are you referring to the one that you truly love instead of the one you’re hypnotized to love?”
“Yeah.” Toby nodded.
Kurtis pondered for a short while and replied, “Well, maybe it’s a miracle. In fact, hypnotism has its fair share of limits, even though it may be able to do a lot of wonders. Sometimes, the power of love is far beyond one can imagine. Thanks to your love for her, you managed to subconsciously snap out of your influence when you were around Miss Reed, which is why I think your chest pain went away.”
Toby jutted his chin in a preoccupied manner. “Alright, I understand now. Thank you, Dr. Anderson.”
“Don’t mention it.” Kurtis waved his hand.
“Tom, please see Dr. Anderson out.” Toby pinched his own nasal bridge.
“Sure.” Tom nodded and showed Kurtis the way. As both of them arrived at the door, Tom saw a familiar silhouette standing outside the ward. “Dr. Lancaster, what brings you here?”
“I heard your boss has been admitted to the hospital, so I figured I should drop by and visit.” Tim calmly replied, his hands in his medical robe’s pockets while having his eyes glued to Kurtis.
Meanwhile, Toby, who heard Tim’s voice, squinted and called out to his assistant. “Tom, please let Tim come in.”
Upon hearing his boss, Tom stepped aside and made way for the doctor. “This way please, Dr. Lancaster. I’ll have to see Dr. Anderson out now, so please excuse me.”
While Tim chuckled and entered the ward, Toby squinted and fixed his eyes on him. “You heard everything, didn’t you?”
Tim adjusted his glasses and replied, “I guess so. I heard that you were hypnotized to fall in love with Tina through the influence of the ideomotor phenomenon, which compels you to care and show your affection to her. Honestly speaking, I’m as shocked as everyone else would be upon hearing this.”
“So, are you going to tell that to Tina?” Toby’s face darkened.
This man has always been on the same side as Tina. Before I realized I was hypnotized and found out my true love, he was already not happy with me. Thus, I can’t help but feel disgusted to see him show me his fake sympathy now. At the thought of that, Toby told himself that he mustn’t let Tim know that someone hypnotized him because he feared that Tina could do the same thing and enslave him to love her. Therefore, he swore to remove the hypnotic influence that remained within him as soon as possible.
However, Tim seemed as if he could read Toby’s mind while sluggishly leaning against the wall opposite the latter’s bed. “Relax, I won’t bite. Besides, I’m not going to tell Tina about everything we talk about here because she and I have history too.”
Toby’s expression remained the same as he sneered, “Why should I believe you?”
Tim shrugged his shoulders. “Well, it’s fine if you don’t believe in me, but do you really think Tina isn’t aware that you’ve been hypnotized all this while?”
Toby’s eyes dilated in horror when he heard that.
At the sight of Toby’s response, Tim smiled and said, “I may be a physician, but I’m also a brain and psychology specialist, so do you think I wouldn’t be able to tell that Sonia is the one you’re in love with instead of Tina? In fact, I’m not the only one who is aware of that. Tina also knows you don’t love her at all. Anyway, now that I know you’ve been hypnotized, this should explain why I was so bewildered previously when you seemed so confused about who you’re in love with. After all, who would be that dumb?” Upon a brief pause, he added, “When Tina woke up, I asked her whether she was afraid that you would find out that you didn’t love her at all. Guess how she answered.”
While Toby’s face turned more and more glacial, Tim went on and revealed the answer before he could say anything. “She said no because she was confident that you wouldn’t discover anything. Upon hearing that answer, I confusedly wondered why she was so confident, but after putting all the pieces together now, it all starts to add up that she could be referring to your hypnotic influence. I guess I’m surprised to find out that she does know a hypnotist herself!”
“And you’re aware of that too, aren’t you? You’re close with her after all.” Toby responded with a glacial voice.
Tim produced a scalpel from his pocket and fiddled with it like he was spinning a pen. “She and I only started growing close to each other eight years ago, but how was I supposed to know her story before we met?”
Toby looked down slightly, unsure whether he should believe Tim’s words. A few seconds later, he looked up and asked, “Can you undo the hypnotic influence within me?”
“I’ll have to know who hypnotized you first because every hypnotist has a unique way of going about his or her hypnosis. If I were to remove the effects recklessly, it could cause damage to your mental health,” Tim explained.
“It’s a good-looking man who did this to me,” Toby pursed his lips and answered.
Tim, who was spinning his scalpel, paused and asked, “A good-looking man? Does he have long hair? Was he wearing a white robe?”
Toby’s face changed after he heard Tim’s response. “You know him?”
“It’s my senior!” Tim’s expression eventually changed from an unconcerned look to a serious one.
“Your senior?” Toby clenched his fists.
Tim responded with an affirmative hum. “Yeah, I think it’s likely him. If he was the one who hypnotized you, I don’t think there is anything I can do. The most I can do is just help you keep the situation under control.”
“Even you can’t remove the effect?” A surprised look flashed across Toby’s face.
Tim nodded in response. “My senior was born to be a hypnotist. Since he is plagued with Schizoid Personality Disorder, there are no emotional feelings or traumas that can hurt or harm him, which makes it a lot easier for him to learn and practice hypnotism. By the time I was taken in by my mentor, he was already among the world’s best hypnotists. With a snap, a simple eye contact, or anything as subtle as a few mere words, he can literally just control his victim’s mind without anyone knowing.”
