However, Horace doubted the true identity of the body at first sight. He wanted to test the DNA of the body, but dropped the plan since he knew that the sulfuric acid on the body might brought troubles to the doctors and policemen.
Therefore, having pondered over it for a long time, he decided not to test the DNA.
He planned to wait for a little longer to see if the detective could dig out more information about Neo’s whereabouts because the detective once told him that Neo had once been seen recently somewhere else. This poor burnt little boy might not be him.
Having already formed a positive theory in his mind, Horace could keep sober while Clara was totally attacked by panic. She kneeled down, crying, as soon as she saw the body.
Horace was at his wit’s end how to console Clara-he had told her that the identity of the body was uncertain, and yet she did not believe him and nor was she able to suppress her agony anymore. She had already concealed her true feelings on their way to the spot. She had had enough.
She could not. She could not lie to herself that she believed Horace and was not sad but still hopeful. Desperate, Clara wanted to climb over to touch the body, but was stopped by Horace.
“Clara, there is sulfuric acid on it.”
At his command, Clara paused a little. Whereas, on her second thought, she resumed her moving, reaching out for the body. Horace hurriedly stepped forward to pull her back. It would be dangerous if Clara truly touched the acid.
Worried that Clara would run to the body again, Horace tightly held Clara’s hand in fear that she would hurt herself since if she did, he would be more than miserable and regretful.
“Clara, listen to me. That isn’t Neo. Our boy was seen after the death of Laura. That isn’t him,” Horace whispered to Clara. However, it was obvious that Clara did not believe his words now.
She knew his trick- plain lies. She would not believe him anymore. Never again. Tears running down her face, she turned to gaze at Horace coldly.
“Don’t lie to me. Do you think that we can deceive ourselves forever? Don’t lie to me anymore. I know everything!” Clara turned around and was to leave the spot. After a few seconds, she suddenly fell down and passed out, unconscious.
“Clara!” Horace exchanged a look with the policeman and then immediately carried Clara to hospital.
After some checks, Horace was told that Clara passed out because she was shocked by what had happened and she would recover and wake up after putting on an intravenous drip.
Sitting by the bed, Horace stared at Clara, wondering what she was dreaming of.
Since Clara passed out only because she was shocked, she woke up soon. When she opened her eyes, she found that Horace was dozing on the chair.
After a whole sleepless day, he was exhausted. Clara put on her shoes and got off the bed as quietly as she could so that she wouldn’t wake Horace up. Then, feeling too depressed in the room, she left for a random walk around the hospital.
“Neo boy, mommy is here,” suddenly, Clara caught sight of a figure quite similar to Neo. Yet, at her second look, that boy disappeared.
Clara felt dizzy and thought that she mistook someone else as Neo.
Yet, after five minutes, she saw the same figure again. The continuous hallucination showed that her mind had already been a little out of whack.
Horace rushed out of the room to look for Clara after he woke up and found that she had disappeared. However, he could find her nowhere. Although he was powerful, he could not stop someone who was determined to leave.
After a few minutes of crazy searching, Horace slowed down his pace and kept wandering around the hospital, desperately hoping to find Clara.
“Excuse me, have you seen a thin woman, this tall, in a hospital gown?”
“Sorry, have you ever seen a woman in a hospital gown, about this tall?”
Horace asked so many passers-by in the hospital, but all he could get from them were negative answers.
Panic gradually creeped into his spine. Clara wouldn’t totally disappear within such a short time, right?
Anxiously scratching his head, Horace stared at the passers-by blankly. He did not know what he could do next. Then, suddenly, a voice claimed his attention.
It was Clara’s voice! Afraid that she had met some dangers, Horace ran across the hall in a hurry and finally found Clara in the crowd.
“Clara,” Horace found that this Clara was no more the beautiful and elegant one that he knew-she was crazily chasing the air with disheveled hair.
Horace thought that Clara had gone mad. He squeezed himself through the crowd and walked closer to her. Then he found that she was mumbling something.
“My dear Neo boy, we miss you so much! You’re finally back,” her words startled Horace and made him frown. He soon twigged that Clara must have been trapped by hallucination after the shock.
“Clara, we don’t have Neo here. He is not our son,” Horace walked over and said with his index finger pointing at the air in front of her. Whereas, Clara ignored his words and directly pushed him away.
“Horace Kirkland, you’re Neo’s father. How could you say so? Our Neo boy is standing right here in front of us!” glowering at Horace, Clara pointed at the air and shouted angrily.
Horace was at his wit’s again how to draw Clara back from her hallucination.
Logan suddenly showed up and ran over when Horace was brain storming.
After greeting each other, Logan asked Horace about the current situation.
The onlookers gradually left the spot after a while. Then, Horace told Logan the whole story.
“That body was actually not Neo. Yet, Clara doesn’t believe me anymore. I don’t know what I can do now,” eyebrows knitted, Horace looked at Clara in great sympathy.
“Do you still remember the psychiatrist whom she once went to? Maybe he could help her. Let’s go meet him,” Logan thought that the psychiatrist was the last straw they could turn to for help, so they must have a try.
Horace nodded his head to show his approval. Indeed, last time, Clara recovered after taking the pills given by the psychiatrist. Although he was still skeptical about whether the psychiatrist could help, he decided to have a try.
After three knocks on the door, Clara was guided into the psychiatrist’s office by Logan and Horace.
The psychiatrist knew that Mrs. Kirkland was ill again once he saw Horace.
“Can you please help us to do a checkup on my wife?” staring at the psychiatrist, Horace made Clara sit down. Although she did not want to be seated, she could not fight against two strong men.
Only with one simple check did the psychiatrist find out that Clara was now trapped in her own hallucination where no one could get in and she herself could not get out-the only thing they could do now was wait for her to wake up from it.
“Can you help us?” Horace looked hopefully at the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist squeezed a bitter smile and concluded secretly that Horace indeed loved his wife so much.
It was more than surprising that the poker-faced Horace would look like this one day, with eyes glinting with hope and eagerness.