“Have a seat. Want a drink?” Stanley asked her.
“No need. Let’s get straight to business.” As soon as Summer said that, she noticed that she sounded too eager, and she added, “Rosie’s still napping at home, I need to head back early.”
“Okay.” Stanley nodded in understanding.
He sat on the sofa facing Summer and asked with a slightly serious expression. “Why the sudden question about hypnosis? What happened?”
Summer hesitated for a moment.
Stanley saw the hesitation, and he gently curled his lips as he said. “All right, just ask what you have been meaning to ask.”
“Can hypnosis seal off a person’s memory?”
“Hypnotherapy itself is a method of psychological counseling for patients with psychological disorders, and we might hypnotize the patient according to their needs, which is a kind of psychological suggestion.”
As Stanley said that, he paused for a moment.
Seeing that Summer was listening earnestly, he continued, “As for how one does that psychological suggestion I’m not clear, but a person’s mind is complex and very difficult to control, so I won’t discount the possibility of it blocking off someone’s memories.”
What Stanley said was nothing but an affirmation of the power of hypnosis.
Summer solemnly asked, “If someone’s memories have been sealed, can it be restored? Or rather, will it cause someone’s memories to go into flux?”
Stanley suddenly smiled as his gaze was affixed on her face. “Everything is possible, it’s just like how you miraculously woke up after three years in a coma.”
Summer said, “You mean to say that it’s possible for a person to regain his memories?”
“I’ll put it this way.” Stanley pondered for a bit and said, “Hypnosis is actually not as godlike as people say. It is, after all, a psychological suggestion. If a hypnotized person could overturn the hypnotic suggestion himself, then the hypnosis may begin to fail.”
“Just like what you said about memories being sealed off, a person that is hypnotized like this were repeatedly given and accepted the psychological suggestions that the hypnotist had given him, telling him that he should be forgetting those things. But if someone beside him could repeatedly mention the things he had forgotten, or if there are people or items that could touch him, restoring his memories is just a matter of time.”
“Then, aside from restoring his memory, are there any other possible situations?” She understood what Stanley said, but Leonardo’s condition was not that his memories had been restored, it was something else.
“It’s possible to have dissonance and confusion in one’s memories.” Stanley leaned back and changed into a much more comfortable posture. “Just like how you lost your memories when you woke up from your coma. Everything will have some element of uncertainty to it. But if a hypnotized person’s memory is in flux, that means that it is possible the hypnosis was too deep, and the person was too eager to regain his memory. So, there will be conflict that causes memory confusion. ”
What Stanley had said was consistent with Leonardo’s current situation.
Thinking of that, she frowned and asked, “If a person’s memory is in flux, what should we do?”
“I’m not a hypnotist. I’m not able to answer this question for you. Perhaps, you should look for the hypnotist who hypnotized him for a possible solution.”
Stanley’s words clearly meant something.
Only then did Summer realize that she had been so anxious about the matter of hypnosis she had allowed Stanley to guess the situation.
Facing Stanley’s gaze, she was slightly at a loss for words.
Stanley casually asked, “Is it Leonardo?”
With Stanley already explained so much seriously to her, Summer had no reason to hide the matter. “Yes.”
As she said that, she seemed to have thought of something, and said to Stanley. “You need to keep this matter a secret. No telling anyone else.”
“Do you still not trust me?” Stanley tilted his head and said with feigned disappointment.
Summer was relieved and seriously said, “Of course I trust you. By the way, do you know any expert hypnotist? The type that can hypnotize someone until they lose their memories.”
“Is it really Leonardo?” A flash of surprise appeared on Stanley’s face. “Both you and Leonardo sure have a colorful life.”
Summer said helplessly, “Are you being sarcastic now?”
“Of course not.” Stanley adjusted his expression. “I’ll help you to take note of the matter with the hypnotist. While hypnosis and psychology are regarded as part of the same school, they are still different fields, so I won’t be able to answer you just like that.”
“Sorry to trouble you.” Summer felt a little guilty.
She seemed to be troubling others now and then.
Stanley smiled. “A simple matter.”
Summer did not say anything and smiled in return.
No amount of thanks was as worthy as a proper favor returned.
…
Summer left Stanley’s clinic and took a cab back to Jessica’s place.
Not long after she got onto the car, she got a call from Jessica.
Jessica asked her. “Are you coming back soon? Rosie’s awake. She said that she wanted to eat some cake, she’ll tell you herself.”
Summer heard that and smiled. “I’m on my way back. Pass the phone to Rosie.”
“Mommy.” Rosie had just woken up, and her voice was still soft and sweet, much like a freshly-baked, fluffy cake.
“Rosie, you want that cake Daddy bought for you, right? I’ll be back soon, and I’ll buy you the cake.”
Earlier on, Leonardo had bought Rosie a small cake that was exquisite and especially sweet. It was the type that suited a child’s taste best.
Rosie had always loved sweet things, and Summer was afraid that she would ruin her teeth so she rarely gave her any.
As she hung up, Summer got the driver to instead go to the nearby shopping mall.
The mall was not that big and looked like it was newly built without much of a crowd.
Summer located the bakery on the second floor and found the small cake that Rosie loved to eat.
She was overjoyed and smiled at the salesperson. “Please help me pack this cake.”
Yet, the salesperson did not seem to be overly enthusiastic and smiled at her reluctantly before absent-mindedly packing the cake and passing it to her.
Summer took out her purse and asked, “How much?”
The salesperson did not seem to hear her and looked at her. “Huh?”
She noticed the cake in Summer’s hand and said, “No need, it’s on the house. Go ahead.”
On the house?
Summer found the salesperson very weird. In fact, the individual did not seem like a salesperson at all.
Summer frowned and handed a hundred yuan note to the person behind the counter. “Change please.”
The salesperson looked anxious but still leaned over the cash register to give Summer the change.
Summer took the change and counted, noticing that the salesperson had given her back sixty yuan.
She gave the salesperson ten yuan back and said, “The cake is forty-five, you can give me back five yuan.”