96. Payback Time

"With his dainty eyes, he snatches your sympathy away, taking you to an unknown universe. Can't you see? He is playing a trick on all of you! With his subtle look and timid demeanor, he melts your heart away...

At this point, who will believe me?

...Having been part of this wretched family, of course Mora would have mastered the art of manipulation. That's all we thrive on don't you think so father?

You've ruined us all, using us as pawns for your selfish gains!

Where is mother?

WHERE IS SHE!?"

"Look, he keeps switching from one mood to another. We do not know what he is thinking about but clearly, he is torturing himself staying quiet."

Mora's brother had been sitting in one corner of the room with not a single object next to him. His eyes were fixated on the two nurses who had been watching him for hours. Separated by them with a glass wall, it made him feel like an outcast, like an animal capable of causing potential harm to anyone that came close to him.

"His victim is the same. She won't say a word either of what transpired. According to her parents, she talks in her sleep...speaks of strange things that do not make sense. I heard the doctor mention earlier. Hypnosis might be the best way to tap into their subconscious and find out what really happened. He looks so wretched and unkempt."

"I think not. Hypnosis might make them worse. Most people prefer to completely shut out whatever makes them guilty or in pain. Look at him. Does he look like someone who wants to make peace with the things he has done both willingly or otherwise?"

"As per the report, majority of the time, he acted under the influence of the drug. It has synchronized with his blood like his scent. If we give him a new transfusion now as the doctor earlier mentioned, he will die. It's not just the drug we are seeking to clean out of him but his blood too. Doing that procedure will render him scentless."

"Look at them? They want to test me yet again.

Father, I thought I was your favorite child, your pride and joy... I thought you cared for me...for us, for Mom!

If I leave this place, will you torture me again? No! I don't want to take after you. Not at all. I'm a weakling like Mother. Mora is the one who is couragious just like you are. Yes. She was right...without you in our lives, we would be better off.

You're a monster...I'm the son of a monster. Mora said I look just like you.

I hate you father... You took Mijin from me... I will never forgive you for that."

"We should probably keep a close eye on him especially during his sleep. This guy is completely damaged."

"His medical report showed he had scars in hidden places."

"Don't even go there. The fact that we aren't allowed to administer even a painkiller on him is unthinkable what he must be enduring."

"...And you said his family did this to him?"

"Yes. I saw it in the news some years back. He used to be married I heard, to some pretty rich girl. They said it had been forcefully arranged that's why they divorced after a few weeks."

"I heard it was two months."

"Look at him. Does he look like he'd make it that long? Maybe it was exaggerated in the news as usual. I'm sure they divorced after a few days, has to be."

"He is a proper example of all that glitters is not gold. To think his own family is supporting this institution to help the recovery of their son..."

"That drug, because of it..."

"Doctor!" One of the nurses exclaimed at the sudden appearance of the doctor.

"Good evening. I'm going to assume you two weren't gossiping about my patient. Do you have all his files ready?"

"Yes." One of the nurses replied nervously while the other glanced at the man standing beside the doctor. He looked intimidating, his face tout showing not a slight of emotion. "As per these medical reports, he appears to be normal however his behavior doesn't match..."

Raising his hand to gesture at the two nurses, the doctor said, "leave us."

"Yes doctor." The two nurses quickly left the room, hiding their faces from the guilt of being caught.

Once alone, the doctor spoke. "What I want to discuss with you is quite personal and knowing my nurses, I'm choosing to treat this case as discreetly as you've requested."

"Tell me his diagnosis. I do not have time for this." The man replied, seeming unimpressed.

"As you are already aware, the brain does work in mysterious ways and in order for me to give a proper medical report, it is mandatory to do a good medical evaluation of my patient however, there are some things that I can not explain medically according to how our brains function."

"Then what was the reason for my client hiring you in the first place?"

"Please be patient. My answers to your questions will not be straightforward but I will try and simplify the medical jargons to the best of my capability."

"Go on."

"The drug that was given to him initially was in it's purest form and that has been proven to be harmless. That is why it's medically used by pairs to see the person they truly love. The side effect is it takes longer to leave the body. In his case though, he had already met his fated mate and even though there was no marking or imprint exchanged, there was sexual intercourse. That would explain his attachment to the girl he keeps going after.

Our blood carries most of our scents but other body fluids carry less of it. If one is fated, all these scents unlock after a complete marking involving imprint and intercourse.

It may seem mild to many but this important factor was overlooked by his previous doctors. They did exchange body fluids during intercourse and I'm not talking about just saliva but semen and vaginal discharge. The fact that they were fated then means their scents were drawn to each other and it left a residual attachment on the other...sexually of course.

When the patient was introduced to someone else, of course he'd feel repulsed. I'm sure his former fated's eyes had already started showing evidence of a bonding waiting to happen but that had to be initiated by my patient first for scent manipulation to occur. However, that did not happen. He ended up marking another which was the worst of things to have done to someone who had already met his fated.

I will bet on my life, the night of the marking, he must have assumed he was marking his fated which wasn't the case.

To cut the long story short, the longer he was separated from his fated, the more he craved for her and drugging him only heightened his tendencies. His body rejected the mark he gave however, what's done is done.

At the moment, he is in a state of physical shock. Having marked his former fated and not being able to properly receive her imprint is what confuses him the most. He might not realize it yet and if that is truly the case, things could get complicated.

I have studied his blood, urine, saliva, stool, semen and even sweat. They all appear corrupted from a drug similar to the one given to pairs."

"That is impossible. This boy does not have access to any..."

"Yet the tests show otherwise." The doctor cut in.

"What are you getting at doctor?"

"This same drug has been administered to him gradually for months or even years otherwise, how is it that the drug itself would corrupt his blood or his very being this way? From the look of things, he was someone who lived in a violent environment, constantly using his scents because of stress. I'm assuming he did it to protect himself but the result is it made his overal primary scents weak. That would explain why when he met his fated, she didn't go into heat. If the purest form of the drug takes weeks to be completely emitted from the system, imagine what a corrupted version can do when administered overtime."

"Does that explain his behavior? His sister often spoke of his violent tendencies and his parents concurred."

"Like I said earlier, all tests done on him show that his body seems to function normally. His vital signs are normal too. It's his mental state we need to be worried about presently. Looking at him, he appears to be in a battle with himself and it's only natural he wouldn't want to sabotage himself. The human brain is fragile and sometimes does not want to take responsibility for anything. When a body experiences excessive stress as I can tell from the scars found on him, the brain transfers or interprets physical stress to mental pain. Worst case scenario, the brain would erase or alter the memory of the time that stress took place. That drug, when it's pure, creates hallucinations of the one we love. A corrupted version accompanied by an extremely stresfull situation is a remedy for disaster. That is why he will not remember some things he did or what has happened to him so far. Perhaps that's the reason he doesn't talk to anyone simply because he has no memory of anything."

"Then he doesn't belong here. Keeping him in this institution only makes him a potential witness in the event he rememberers anything."

"There is no need to be hasty sir. In this institution funded by his own family, we prioritize in providing the best medical treatment for him. My staff are fully capable to handle his case and keep it confidential."

"So, exactly, what kind of treatment is he getting if you're saying he is in good physical shape and can be cured mentally? Our priority at the moment is to make his statement completely undependable..."

"With his father's approval, we can clean out his blood though that will make him scentless. It will shorten his life span but for the remaining months, he will live a normal life."

"That is out of the question."

"Why not? Clearly even if you see him as a lost case, allow him a little joy in life before he dies."

"At the moment, legally, his father has no rights over him or any member of the family from his father's side. This wretched boy disowned his father after he got married. He made sure to make it official by the books. His mother on the other hand has been rendered mentally unfit years ago therefore isn't reliable to make a decision as big as this. That leaves only his younger sister."

"Then get approval from her."

"Unfortunately, she has joined the enemy's side. We put a spy on her and saw her visiting the victim's house, his presumed fated that is."

"Wow. Things have indeed turned from bad to worse. So what do we do now?"

"He won't die if he stays like this right?"

"Not at all."

"Then let him be. This boy is my client's most treasured possession."

"What about the daughter?"

"I'm suspecting she is the one who has been administering the drugs. She has been jealous of the attention the brother has been getting for the longest time, and if I'm to relate her case to her own mother, then, it has to be her."

"What happened to the mother?"

"If my speculations are correct, whatever the father did to the mother is exactly what the daughter is paying back to the son."