The Seventh Miserable Bride

Lily Adams got up angrily and ran into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Scott Jules let out a huge sigh. He walked forward and knocked on the bedroom door, "Lily, could you please open the door? You didn't finish hearing what I said at the restaurant, did you? If you open the door, I'll tell you everything about my conversation with Yasmine."

"I don't want to hear it! From today onwards, we will live in separate rooms! You'd better reflect on what you've done."

Bang! She opened the door briefly and tossed Scott's pillow out.

A week later, Yasmine Taylor received a phone call from Fynn Jaymond. She immediately answered the phone call with high expectations.

"Hello, Fynn, are there any updates?"

"Madam, according to my observation and findings this week, President Sebastian would schedule a counseling session at Sunshine Counseling Center every Saturday afternoon."

"A counseling center? What is he doing there?"

"I'm not sure about that. Perhaps President Sebastian's PTSD is reoccurring."

Yasmine pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you have the address of the counseling center?"

"Yes."

"Text me the address." "Okay."

After receiving Fynn's text message, she took a leave that afternoon and made her way to Sunshine Counseling Center.

She entered the premises and arrived at a decently large room. There was a bookshelf installed behind an office table, which contained every patient's medical records. A man in his fifties got up and asked, "Miss, may I help you?"

Yasmine took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "I would like to confirm if you have a patient, Sebastian Simons."

The middle-aged man was taken aback and asked in doubt, "Is there a reason you're asking about this?"

"Could you please just tell me? This is very important to me."

"Yes, there is such patient here."

"May I know what condition has he been diagnosed with?"

Yasmine asked in a hurry.

"I'm sorry, this is the patient's privacy. It's not our position to reveal it."

"Sir, I beg you to tell me. I'm his wife and I have to figure out what condition he's suffering from."

The man took another look at her and told her, "As far as I know, the patient is single. Miss, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Yasmine was incredibly anxious at this point, "How should I address you?" "Please call me Dr. Wadsworth."

"Dr. Wadsworth, I'm actually Sebastian's wife, but an incident that occurred two years ago had forced us both into an unfortunate separation. Now, please tell me, is my husband's PTSD relapsing?" "Miss, I'm really sorry. Without his consent, we're not allowed to reveal the patient's private records."

Yasmine's eyes started turning red as she said in a choked voice, "Is it not the aim of Sunshine Counseling Center to provide hope to your patients? I believe that as long your patient is cured, you would undoubtedly feel happy for him. So please tell me what my husband's condition is. I will do everything within my power to help him overcome this hurdle."

Dr. Wadsworth's mind wavered because of Yasmine's sincerity. He sighed and said, "I will bring this up to Mr. Simons, and if he agrees, I'll tell you everything."

"I wouldn't be here in the first place if he would agree to that. The entire reason I needed to come here alone was that he didn't want to share his sufferings with me. Dr. Wadsworth, for Sebastian's sake, I implore you to tell me. I truly want to help the person I love, even if our fate had ended, I still wish he could live a good life."

Yasmine's tears finally convinced Dr. Wadsworth. He nodded and said, "Alright then."

Dr. Wadsworth retrieved a medical record from the bookshelf behind him and passed it to Yasmine.

Sebastian's full name was written across the cover page. She opened the record nervously. When she saw Sebastian's condition in the document, Yasmine was shocked beyond words. Rape-induced Sexual Dysfunction...

Yasmine looked up blankly. She could feel her head slowly becoming dizzy and she asked nervously, "What does this mean?"

"The patient has had sexual intercourse with another person in an unconscious state. This posed as a traumatic experience to him and his sexual functions were since impeded." "When did he begin his counseling treatment? Is it effective so far?"

Yasmine cried once more. Her heart ached for Sebastian.

"About a year and a half ago. As of now, the treatments have not been too effective, because Sebastian's problem cannot be solved by medical prescriptions alone. His problem is more rooted in his mental state. He was faced with too many traumatic incidents during that period of time and it started from the non-consensual sexual intercourse with another person, resulting in that person being pregnant with his child. On top of that, his loved one had left him and his family was in turmoil. All these were too much for him to take in and they had put his entire mental state into jeopardy, resulting in his sexual dysfunction. "So you do know what happened between us."

Dr. Wadsworth nodded and said, "I am his psychiatrist. How would I not know? The reason I told you was that if you're able to contribute to his treatment, it would greatly accelerate the progress. His sexual dysfunction stems from the fact that he felt he'd betrayed you. If you could show that you didn't mind about his past at all and patiently guide him along the way, there's hope that he will be cured." Yasmine walked out of the counseling center in a daze. The sun outside was dazzling, and she was very sad. She went to the beach alone and sat there for the entire afternoon.

She finally found out why Sebastian had always tried to push her away. It was difficult for a proud man like him to reveal the dysfunctional side of him, what more to the person he loved most. It was a problem that had clearly affected his sense of dignity.

Yasmine pondered for the entire night and decided that she would save Sebastian. After all, she was responsible for his current situation. If she had not left him in the first place, he would not have blamed himself to such an extreme extent.

Dr. Wadsworth said that a man's self-esteem was more precious than his wealth. Hence, when approaching this issue, Yasmine could not be upfront about it. She needed to act as if she knew nothing and bait Sebastian into admitting his problems.

Yasmine had always thought that she had it worst. Now that she finally knew of the hidden truth, she realized that Sebastian's fate was nowhere better.

Sebastian was suffering from a humiliating condition. He could not bring himself to share this with anybody and could only keep his struggles to himself. At the same time, his beloved person had reappeared into his life along with another man by her side. As a result, Sebastian felt a sense of crushing defeat. He could no longer offer his loved woman what most people could and decided to run away from his problems. Sebastian had chosen to live a life of loneliness. To him, he preferred to live this way than to have his loved one stay by his side merely out of sympathy.

Yasmine now fully understood how Sebastian truly felt and started to hate herself. She blamed herself for not understanding Sebastian's struggles before chiding him for giving her the cold shoulder. In fact, she even accepted Gabriel's proposal as an act of vengeance. Yasmine could not comprehend just how horrible Sebastian must have felt then...

Although Sebastian still cared deeply for her on multiple occasions, she still lost her temper on him. She had accused Sebastian of making things complicated for her and even forced an ultimatum onto him. How hurtful it must have been for Sebastian to be forced to utter those hurtful words that drove her back to F City... How heartbroken he must have felt...

The next morning, when Yasmine went to work, she bumped into Sebastian in the elevator.

"Why were you on leave yesterday afternoon?"

Sebastian asked coldly.

"I felt a little unwell."

She answered with her eyes flickering.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Yasmine took a quick glance at Sebastian. Having endured Yasmine's reappearance into his life and the departure of his father, the emotional baggage that Sebastian carried was clearly written all over his face. Although Sebastian did not think anyone would notice, it was obvious to those who understood him.

Everyone worked overtime until nine o'clock that night, albeit shorter than the usual overtime duration. Yasmine could obviously walk back to her apartment, but she chose to stay back at the office on purpose. Sebastian came over and ask, "Are you not getting off work?"

"Yes, I'm just about to leave."

She slowly packed her things up and exited the room.

Yasmine walked out of the building but did not leave for her apartment. Instead, she stood near the entrance and waited for Sebastian to pass by. After waiting for about half an hour, Sebastian was seen exiting the elevator. As he walked past Yasmine, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why haven't you left yet?"

She pointed her finger to the sky and said, "Just appreciating the Moon."

"Heh," Sebastian sneered at her and immediately walked toward his car.

He had just gotten into the car when he sensed his right door was suddenly opened too. Yasmine had invited herself into the car.

"What are you doing?"

"Could you please drop me off at my apartment? Thanks."

"Why don't you just walk back since it's so near?"

"It's on your way anyway. Besides, I'm feeling a little unwell."

Sebastian started the engine and drove toward her apartment. A few minutes later, the car came to a halt as it reached Yasmine's residence. However, Yasmine remained seated in Sebastian's car and did not move a single inch. Sebastian reminded, "We're here."

Yasmine stared at him, opened the car door, and started making her way to her apartment. However, before she could even take her third step, Yasmine collapsed onto the floor. A panicked Sebastian immediately exited the car and dashed toward her. He lifted her and said, "Yasmine, Yasmine, are you alright?"

Pretending to be weak, Yasmine's tone was frail, "I feel dizzy, please carry me in..."

Sebastian carried her into the apartment and placed her onto her bed gently. He lowered his body and asked, "Are you alright? Do you want to go to the hospital?"

All of a sudden, Yasmine reached out, wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "Nothing's wrong, I just want you to stay."

Sebastian looked at her in shock. It took him a while to react and he attempted to fling Yasmine's hands away. Yasmine said, "Didn't you say before that you're not immune to a woman's invitation? I'm asking you to stay right now."

"Don't do this." He stood up straight stiffly and attempted to exit the room. However, Yasmine was a step faster and she closed the door before Sebastian could escape, "What's wrong? Am I not attractive at all you already? Are you that desperate to run away?"

"Yasmine, don't fool around anymore. I still have other matters to attend to, please get out of my way."

I wont.

Yasmine knew clearly what Sebastian was running from. She had shamelessly deceived Sebastian into this situation because she wanted to see for herself how bad Sebastian's problem was. "Are you going to let me pass or not?"