The Secret Island
CHAPTER 50: The Therapist Part 3

"Doc, what did she mean? What do you think she wants me to do?"

Today, Martin had an appointment with his therapist. He still saw her weekly. The issues he discussed were usually his fear and worries during the week. The bad memories reemerged once in a while, some weeks more frequent than others, and each set of sessions focused on any issue he wanted to work on. And the topic of discussion today was the matter of the heart.

His therapist, Gisele, kept her cool once she knew she had to advise on his love problems. Her expertise was in treating trauma victims, and he had never thought of bringing this personal issue to her, but he didn't have that many options. In the past few years, he talked to her about all sorts of problems-his nightmares, his panic attacks, issues with his parents, his fears, and now his love life. The reason he could recover and walk around town and go about his day-to-day business was because of her. She had been his rock.

The bottom line was that he trusted her. The primary reason was that he trusted her, and everything we discussed was confidential. He trusted her medical ethics. Besides, he truly had no one else to talk to about this in an emotionally healthy way-Joe was too macho alpha male to talk about love problems. Martin assumed so anyway. The guy always goes with the flow. And he believed Joe was definitely on Celine's side-he went to Italy and flew her in with him on his private jet, for Heaven's sake. How could Joe be nonpartial in this when he did that? And she just showed up in front of his condo like that. Joe was definitely biased. And Martin was confused about how the man got the idea of bringing Celine here. And what did he say to persuade her to fly across the ocean?

"Well..." Gisele was finding the right words to respond to the events he had just told her. The event that just took place in his condo and more. He figured out it was an unbelievable story when he told her. He told her everything-the two weeks on the island in Italy and the recent event that the woman he loved and dreamed about suddenly showed up at his door. The question he couldn't answer was the message behind that statement:

"If you don't prove yourself that you genuinely love me, I really cannot forgive you."

He sensed there were hidden messages, and he wanted to decipher them with his therapist. For the longest time, he believed women were difficult to understand, and so he thought Gisele could help with this. His conclusion was that Celine was furious at him and refused to forgive him.

She wanted him to prove himself, but how? Is there a standard protocol for this type of issue?

Gisele was quiet for a while. She seemed stressed-the first time he saw her like this, and he became visibly nervous.

Maybe the situation was worse than he initially analyzed. Maybe he misinterpreted the situation. He had hoped Gisele could read the situation in his room and what Celine said better than he could.

"I think she wants you to make up for your mistake. There is nothing more into it. By proving yourself, you spend time with her and do anything you think can regain her trust. Trust is the focus here. What do you think you can do to regain her trust, Martin?" She explained honestly and asked him more questions.

"...?" Martin tilted his head slightly in suspicion and continued asking more questions. This wasn't what he expected. He thought there was a manual his therapist could give him-a list of things to do. But that was what Gisele always did anyway; she asked him questions and made him reflect. Gosh, how he hated reflection.

"But how? Just by being nice? What else can I do? I did tell her I love her, and I also apologized but apparently, that's not enough. What else could I do?"

Martin asked straightforwardly. He really had no clue.

In all his experiences-his life experiences, his works, his study-none of that had to deal with the complex and unpredictable nature of individual humans. Alright, he did know human psychology when it comes to trading, but that was only greed and fear-the irrational exuberance in the bull market, the obsession with wealth, the fear of loss in the bear market, and knowing how to compute that into the risk calculation. That was all he had to do to survive on Wall Street. Greed and fear were the ultimate truth that drove the buy and sells decisions in the market-makes and breaks businesses and the force behind enormous wealth.

He learned all that, but not love.

The matter of love, sacrifice, devotion to loved ones-these things he learned from Celine. He learned it from her example.

Gisele hadn't responded to his answer. The therapist spun her pen in her elegant fingers. Martin got more nervous, awaiting her answer.

Are his questions really that difficult?

"Reconciliation. Do anything. It's up to you. You need to find the answer for yourself, Martin. You know her more than me. How do you want to regain trust with the woman you love?" That was all she said. The question that created more questions.

Gisele also appeared to be tired. She was hiding it, but he could tell that his love questions took a toll on her. This was strange. Even when he first left prison and came out with a lot of anxiety issues that she had to design special treatment for, she wasn't this tired.

"Oh...err...alright. I will think of something." He could only nod in response and promised himself he would try.