Ha ha

It was Bai Qi who opened the door, and Katie was busy in the kitchen.

Xu Chenchuan walked over to say hello, the kind-faced woman turned around, saw Xu Chenchuan who was dressed neatly and decently, and asked with a smile: "I'm making an omelet, come and see what I want to add?"

Katie prepared a particularly rich brunch, and Xu Chenchuan kept praising it while helping to bring it to the table plate by plate.Bai Qi was assigned a task earlier, sitting at the table and slowly cutting oranges, looking up at the interaction between the two without making a sound.

Finally, the three of them sat down to eat, and Katie asked, "Chris, so are you visiting DC?"

"Yes, I am very lucky to catch up with the cherry blossom season." Xu Chenchuan said with a smile.

"Now is the most beautiful time in DC. In fact, this is the first time Qi has seen spring here, right?"

"Have you been here before?" Xu Chenchuan turned to Bai Qi.

Bai Qi nodded: "I come every year."

"But he only stays for a short time each time, and this should be the longest one. —Oh, I forgot to introduce you, this is Oscar. Oscar, this is Chris."

The big dog strolled to the dining table, sniffed Xu Chenchuan vigorously for a while, then turned around and put its head on Katie's lap. Katie freed a hand and reached under the table to stroke it.

Xu Chenchuan remembered the reason why Bai Qi stayed here, and asked casually: "By the way, are you still considering whether to go to rehabilitation?"

"What?" Katie looked up in surprise, her brows beaming.

"Not thinking about it. I'm not going."

The atmosphere was a little cold for a while. Katie was silent for a while and stopped talking, but Xu Chenchuan asked: "Why?"

Bai Qi thought for a while: "It's not necessary."

Oscar rubbed a few times but couldn't ask for a touch, so he left Katie in dissatisfaction, shifted his position to Bai Qi's lap, and looked at him eagerly.Bai Qi lowered his hands, and gently combed through the dog's hair with his slender fingertips.

Xu Chenchuan blinked in confusion, his attitude was quite different from last time.

Seeing that Bai Qi didn't intend to continue explaining, Katie decisively changed the topic: "Chris, where have you been in DC?"

Xu Chenchuan paused, and cooperatively counted a few scenic spots, Katie smiled and chattered with him.The topic didn't lead to Bai Qi, and Bai Qi didn't use his skills anymore, and even said a few words now and then.

After the meal, Xu Chenchuan expressed great interest in the antique music box collected by Katie's grandfather, and followed her into the study to have a look.

"That's it." Katie opened the mottled wooden box, twisted the mainspring a few times, and the golden gears started to turn.An unknown lyrical tune echoed in the room, and the timbre was still clear.

Katie glanced outside the door and asked in a low voice, "Where's Qi?"

"Maybe go to the bathroom."

"Hmm." Katie and him looked at each other knowingly, "When did he tell you that he would consider rehabilitation?"

"Well... almost a week ago, I think."

"Is it the night I called his cell phone?"

"It was that night. He was quite determined. What happened after that?"

"I really didn't notice. I wasn't home during working hours, maybe it happened at that time. He didn't show anything when we got along..." Katie tried hard to recall, and inadvertently saw Xu Chenchuan also had a worried expression on his face .She suddenly smiled: "Chris, do you care about Qi?"

Xu Chenchuan was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously said: "Yes."

The music stopped, and Katie gave the clockwork another twist. "I'm so happy. He had so little close family and was so alone. His brother cared about him, but didn't know him well. I thought I knew him enough, but I missed a lot too..."

What about the parents?Xu Chenchuan held back and didn't ask.

Oscar squeezed in the door, feeling that he was familiar with him, and circling around Xu Chenchuan's legs.Xu Chenchuan squatted down to touch it twice, when it lay flat and spread out its soft belly.

Katie watched him play with the dog, and asked thoughtfully, "Do you know how Qi was injured?"

Xu Chenchuan nodded: "I've heard about that car accident."

"He lost his then-boyfriend in a car accident."

"This... I've heard a little bit about it too."

Katie smiled bitterly: "I'm sorry to bring this up to you, but I just discovered recently that the impact of that incident on Qi may be much deeper than I imagined."

Xu Chenchuan's heart tightened, he raised his head and waited for the next sentence.

"Do you know about PTSD?" Katie asked.

Xu Chenchuan had vaguely heard this term. "Is it post-traumatic—"

“PTSD, yes. It’s a common response after experiencing a sudden traumatic event, and Qi’s behavior fits perfectly,” recalls Katie. “Traumatic re-experiencing, anxiety, and self-harm… What's more, his situation was more complicated. The mental shock and physical disability were entangled together. Qi's mental state hindered his physical recovery.

"It's just that no one would have thought that after such a long time, his situation would be..." Katie paused, she knew that Bai Qi didn't want her to mention the terrible scene of falling ill in the street.

Xu Chenchuan didn't notice that she hesitated to speak, and listened intently.

"I checked some information in the past few days. The depth of PTSD's impact on people varies from person to person, and it is related to many family and social factors. Not all people who encounter traumatic events will have attacks. The recovery is as good as before. Of course, there are some people who will not be able to come out after decades."

"—For example, Qi?"

"It's just one possibility." Katie finished with a sense of irony.

Family factors, social factors, it seems that no one in this world is more suitable to be a typical case than Bai Qi.Researchers should set up a sentinel across from his house and monitor the records for decades.

Xu Chenchuan was silent for a moment, and asked with difficulty: "If it is true, what will happen to him?"

"The human heart is too complicated, and no one can predict its changes. I can't guess Qi, but I think he knows it better than anyone else." Katie looked at him tenderly and sadly, "There is a ghost buried in Qi's heart." .Not a cherished legacy to be remembered with a smile, but an impenetrable barrier. It's holding him back from recovery, and it's holding him back from embracing a new life—to embracing you."

"……I?"

"Typical symptoms of PTSD, including feelings of alienation and emotional paralysis."

Seeing that Xu Chenchuan frowned when he heard the technical terms, Katie explained: "Let's put it this way, people always regard love as an inexhaustible and inexhaustible energy source, just like the sun and the sea, as long as they want to, they can Take it out of your heart. But for some people, their love is locked in a small box." Her fingertips stroked the mottled surface of the music box, "Weak, dumb, invisible light. If you can't find To the lock, even they themselves cannot hear its singing. They cannot show love, not because they don’t want to, but because they can’t.”

……

"He's not an ideal lover, is he?"