Filed to story: The CEO’s Wife Is a Secret Boss Novel (Allison & Jeremy) Free Online
*Jul… Why-why did Jeremy become like that?” Alyssa choked.
It took her a long time before she finally managed to get a full sentence out of her. “His memory is intact, he remembers me, but his character changed… Why is that so?”
Holding onto the latest scan, Julien frowned deeply. He explained, “Jeremy’s amygdala, which is where feelings and emotions are processed, was severely damaged. Jeremy is cold to everyone because he’s unable to process any emotions.
*Just like a cell phone without any reception, he has sealed himself off completely in a closed space, away from contact with anyone.”
Alyssa’s head buzzed. She was mind-blown by this series of bad news. In a quivering voice, she asked, ‘Then… Then, how will that affect his daily life?”
“There’s basically no impact on his daily life. He can continue working, possibly with even better efficiency than before because he will have no emotional distractions and will be even more focused.”
Julien couldn’t bear to look at Alyssa. He simply stared at the scan in his hands. “However, he has lost the ability to love, protect, and care for people.”
Alyssa’s heart wrenched. “What do you mean?”
“He doesn’t know how to love anymore. In other words, all he sees in his emotional world is himself.”
Julien took a deep breath. His eyes welled up. “In his eyes, his relatives, friends, and even you are the same.
“He remembers all of you, but that is all there is. No one is special.
“How can that be… He didn’t forget me. He still retains the memory of us being in love!” Alyssa exclaimed in a raspy voice. She was extremely dissatisfied with what she heard.
“But he’s unable to feel anything. Even if he retains those memories and knows that you were both once in love, so what?”
Julien looked toward Alyssa. What he uttered next was brutal. “Lyse, memories are only memories. In the heart of someone with an emotional disorder, their memories carry no meaning.”
He didn’t want to lie to her.
It would be better for her to get the pain over with rather than drag it out.
Just as before, Alyssa was not convinced. With tears in her eyes, she pressed on, “Is there no way to stir the emotions up in him? I don’t believe that there’s absolutely nothing we can do!”
‘As a follow-up, I will conduct hypnotherapy on him. But this is not a treatment that will work 100% of the time. There’s only a 50% chance that it’ll work. Moreover, it has to be conducted carefully. Otherwise, he will end up delirious.
‘There’s also shock therapy. It might help to send strong electrical currents to stimulate him.’
Alyssa closed her eyes. She shook her head hard. “No… I know what shock therapy is. That is a form of physical and mental torture. He had depression when he was young. After retiring from the military, he’s tried it once to treat his PTSD. I don’t want him to suffer through that again…”
Julien pondered it. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “How about we stimulate his emotions? Extreme anger, extreme sadness, or an extreme blow could very well help him find his own emotions again.”
This was an approach they could try.
But how would they get a chance to try that?
*Lyse, I’m not saying these to discourage you. I just want you to be mentally prepared.”
Julien got to his feet and gave Alyssa a tender hug. “You are the strongest woman that I have ever met. You have to take good care of yourself. Take it one step at a time. Jeremy will get better.”
Alyssa emerged from Julien’s office alone. Not knowing where to go, she was just like a soulless shell.
Feeling dazed, she walked to a balcony and looked up at the dark skies. Moments from her sweet past with Jeremy replayed before her eyes.
The cruelty of this moment was as great as their love for each other in the past.
At first, she had kept her emotions in check as she had decided to face everything bravely. Yet, the more she let her mind wander on her own, the more painful her heart was.
Once again, she covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
Suddenly, Alyssa felt a gentle tap on her arm.
She panicked. She wiped her tears away and looked down.
A slender hand reached out in front of her, holding a clean handkerchief.
‘Don’t cry, Ms. Alyssa. Or you’ll just cry your eyes out.”
Justin was sitting in a wheelchair. He looked up at her with that elegant and warm face of his. The corners of his lips were slightly curled as he comforted her in a gentle voice.
Justin seemed to embody every word that defined gentleness, composure, and grace. Despite his physical imperfections, he never gave up on himself or resented others.
Even so, Alyssa felt an inexplicable sense of unease around him. Standing beside him left her feeling oppressed in a way she couldn’t quite put into words.
“I’m fine, thank you.” Alyssa raised her arm and wiped her tears with her sleeve.
She remembered how she used to cry so freely, especially in front of Jeremy. She’d ruin her entire image, sobbing into his shirt or tie. Unlike Justin, Jeremy never offered her a handkerchief. He was more like a giant tissue- always there, letting her cry on him, no matter how disheveled it left him.
Even so, he would still coax her tenderly and plant kisses on the tip of her reddened nose. He made space for her boundlessly.
Justin smiled slightly. He stuffed his handkerchief back into his suit pocket. In a soft voice, he said, ‘Jeremy has now regained consciousness. I heard that his brain was damaged, so he’s changed as a person. I’m afraid that the problem couldn’t be solved even if I managed to find out what that medication was.
‘Give him some time, Ms. Alyssa. He will recover eventually.”
“I don’t care how he changes.” Alyssa choked back her tears. An optimistic and determined smile spread across her face. “I’m still young. I have plenty of time to stay by his side while he recovers. Is a lifetime enough?”
The look in Justin’s eyes dimmed. However, he sighed from the bottom of his heart, “I’ve never envied anyone in my life. Jeremy is the only exception.”
Alyssa looked toward him again.
He leaned forward slightly. A subtle, cool scent wafted around Alyssa. In a deep voice, he continued, “It’s only because he has you.”
On the way back from the hospital, Justin maintained his usual composed posture. For some reason, that made Sheryl’s heart race as she sat next to him. She felt like the air in the car was thin, making breathing difficult.
“What’s wrong, Mr. Justin?” Sheryl probed gently and cautiously.
‘As expected, Jeremy became like a different person after he woke up. He treats Alyssa differently from before too. Aren’t all these within your prediction?
“Didn’t you want Jeremy to lose everything and for him to become a useless man in Walsh Group, so that you can overthrow him completely?’
With an indifferent expression on his face, Justin gazed out the window with a deep, frigid, and sharp look in his eyes.
He answered, “However, even if he loses everything, I believe that there’s one thing that he will never ever lose.” Sheryl asked, “What is it?”
“Alyssa’s love for him.”
Sheryl clicked her tongue. “If you ask me, I think it’s just a matter of time. No woman will be able to handle having the love of their life treating them coldly each day.
‘Everyone has emotions. If she’s hurt again and again, by the time that passionate heart of hers is tattered, torn, and bled dry, how is she going to keep holding on?”
A cold gleam flashed across her eyes as if she could see through it all. “Back then, Alyssa married Jeremy behind everyone’s backs. Shouldering that immense pressure, she had to face Sophia and Betty’s harsh treatment, her own husband’s heartlessness, and she’d even lost a child.
“In the end, Alyssa was the one to leave Jeremy when his first love came back, and this was just three years ago. So, don’t worry. There will only be one of two outcomes for them.
“They’d either split up or they’d be parted by death.”
She made “just three years’ sound as insignificant as three days.
Some of the gloominess disappeared from Justin’s appealing face. “After Julien leaves, I will make arrangements for you to approach Jeremy.”
Even though Sheryl was aware that this was already part of the plan, she still felt nervous now that it was actually coming to pass.
“Mr. Justin, Jeremy didn’t lose his memory. He’s emotionally handicapped. He doesn’t even care about Alyssa anymore, so how could he even pay any attention to someone like me, whom he has known previously? He might even be resistant to me.
“I’m just… afraid that you’d be disappointed.
‘I’ve never considered having you be in a relationship with him. Because he has lost his emotions, he does not love Alyssa. In the same way, he will not love you. But your presence can, in the greatest possible way, make Alyssa give up on Jeremy.”
Sheryl was still hesitant. “Can I?”
“Did you think that the one that Jeremy couldn’t forget was Liana?”
Justin closed his eyes slowly. An inexplicable allure radiated from his face within the dimly-lit car.
After going through all that and finally getting permission from Newton, Alyssa couldn’t bear to leave the hospital. All alone, she kept watch quietly at the door to Jeremy’s ward.
She felt lost. She didn’t know what she had to do to revive the love they shared.
