9

After I went to my room, changed into jeans and a black shirt, and told Jake that Keeva and Rian were going to play golf soon and that he could get out, I made my way to the driveway and, frustrated, got into Odran's yellow Porsche.

"We mean well," he murmured, but I put on my headphones and didn't want to hear a word from him.

With the rock music in my ears, the wind on my face and the warm sun falling down on me, I found such relaxation after last night that I even nodded away briefly until Odran nudged me rudely.

"It's okay," I reassured him so that he finally let go of my arm, removing the headphones from my ears in the process. "You can also be a little more tender."

He rolled his eyes in annoyance and without paying any more attention to him, I took a closer look at the building next to us.

It even looked like a nuthouse from the outside. A crumbling yellow facade. There were people smoking everywhere and all it would have taken was a guy in a straitjacket going crazy to round off the picture perfectly.

"We used to lie on the beach for hours. Just you and me. Do you remember that?" I breathed disappointedly and gave Odran one last look as I unbuckled myself and laid my headphones on the floor in front of me. "And today you leave me alone. All you do is follow orders."

He looked at me as if he couldn't quite understand what I meant by that, but I knew it. I just felt misunderstood and let down by everyone.

"Senan," he wanted to say something else, but I got out in a hurry and slammed the door, then walked past the smokers up the few steps to the glass door.

Upon entering, I found myself in a narrow hallway filled with pictures and plants. Apparently they wanted you to feel comfortable right away. But this harmony of the colors yellow and green made me even more uncomfortable than I already felt.

"Hello?" a middle-aged woman seated behind the tall reception desk greeted me. I looked right into her eyes through her glasses, which allowed me to see her blush slightly and take a deep breath.

"Hello," I tried to come across politely, leaning on the counter with my arms to play with my lip piercing, which she seemed to be watching with fascination.

"W- who are..."

The poor !

"Gallagher," I said quickly so as not to give her a heart attack, and smiling, she adjusted her glasses before typing on her laptop.

"Gallagher," she whispered, seeming focused until she looked back at me happily. "You can go straight through to the back room. Dr. Herrera will be with you in a moment."

"Herrera?" I asked again, since no one had told me beforehand that my therapist wasn't Irish.

"Yes, Mr. Gallagher," the spectacled snake said in a friendly manner, then I ran, as she had said, into the farthest room, which seemed almost too comfortably furnished for a treatment room.

Directly in front of me there was a large window with white curtains. In front of it was a black leather couch, on which the crazy people probably took a seat.

With a view of a bookshelf to my left, I walked a few steps across the light wooden floor to stop directly at the large, dark desk. Without thinking about privacy, I grabbed one of the pictures from the table.

It probably showed my therapist with his wife. He was quite tall with black curly hair and a full beard.

Oh god... what a guy. As if I could tell him my problems.

The woman looked more interesting. She was blonde, but not this fake blonde. It went slightly into the dark and they fell to just over her shoulders. Both looked really happy. Especially her... She literally radiated pure happiness...

"We were in Spain last year," a female voice suddenly sounded behind me and, startled, I immediately put the picture back on the table and turned to the woman I had just seen in the photo.

She smiled at me, but I noticed something immediately when I looked into her dark blue eyes. The glamor she had in the photo had completely drained from her. She didn't seem so happy anymore, rather colorless, which made me think briefly about whether this job might really ruin her in the long run.

After all, she had to listen to other people's shit on a daily basis...

"What are you thinking about?" she snapped me out of my thoughts, walking past me to her desk to put the picture back exactly as it was before.

"About the fact that they seem different," I replied honestly, turning to face her so that I could watch her closely. She seemed completely surprised by my statement and let her irises sweep over me completely.

"Excuse me. Do we already know each other?"

I shook my head and then walked over to the couch to sit and breathe.

"No, but they look happier in the picture," I interjected, casually leaning back.

She looked at the photo again and then thoughtfully at me again, but she quickly put on a smile that was so feigned that it was frightening.

"Isn't everyone more relaxed on vacation?" she asked, then came over with a notepad and pen to sit in front of me in a small, black chair.

"I have no idea," I admitted frankly. "For me, every day is like a vacation."

She fidgeted with her pen and nodded, then wrote something down. My god that made me nervous.

They should at least offer alcohol here for relaxation...

"And why?"

"What?" I asked and she chewed her lip briefly before leaning back comfortably like me.

"Why is every day like a holiday for you? Are you saying that you are always relaxed and happy?"

I had to smile for a moment, because somehow exactly the opposite was the case.

"Firstly, my name is Senan. This 'formal' doesn't suit me. And secondly, no, the opposite is the case."

Instead of continuing to sit comfortably, she leaned forward again and eyed me thoughtfully.

"So you're having a long, unhappy vacation that doesn't seem to end?" she repeated my words as they came to her and after a nod from me, she wrote something down again, then put the pad and pen next to it to lay down on the floor.

"Then let's make it a point to let you live relaxed again. My name is Mandy and I really hope that we can do it together."