The CEO's Painted Skin

Three days later...

John went into the stores early, to gather all Catherine's belonging and brought them to the MysticBay Twin Tower. From now on, Catherine will stay there until she will give birth to their child. Although he wanted her to stay with him in the Jade Tower it will be a bad idea since she might keep seeing the swimming pool area and she will be constantly reminded of that painful night he cheated on her.

John appointed Emily as the new Officer In Charge of the stores and hired an additional crew.

From now on he will be in charge of Catherine's life. He will have her guarded around the clock 24/7 by Allan and George in the MysticBay Twin Tower. The doctor said that Catherine will be undergoing a difficult pregnancy if she won't cooperate when it comes to her overall wellness, so he was in the process of hiring two nurses to monitor her health and the baby's health round the clock. The chances of Catherine committing suicide again is very high, she isn't emotionally and physiologically stable as of this moment.

What he feared the most is that Catherine won't be able to forgive him and she would attempt to run away again, taking their unborn child away with her, he can't afford that to happen, even if he was at fault this time he will never let her go.

The damaged has already been done. The only thing he can do right now is to take everything under his control and manages the situation the best possible way for the safety of the woman he loves and of his child which she was carrying inside her womb.

He would follow the advice of the doctor not to show his face to Catherine for the next few days to avoid recalling back the painful memories in her mind. With a new environment and new people surrounding her, he was hoping that she will recover easily and hopefully everything will return to normal the way they were supposed to be.

She might not able to forgive him right away but as long his intention is pure she will eventually warm up to him and love him again. He will do everything that is needed so that he can regain her trust again. Since he was the one at fault this time, he's willing to suffer and take any punishment for his fault.

He will endure what Catherine will say and do to him if it's the only way to make amends to her. But he would never let her run away again especially that they now had a child. Hopefully, when their baby will finally arrived into this world, her hatred for him already gone so that they can finally get married and starts making a strong foundation for their happy family.

After getting everything planned in advanced in his mind, he finally found peace within himself. The last few days has been extremely stressful and torturous for his mind, after knowing of Catherine's suicide attempt and her pregnancy his mind was in a jungle of mixed emotions. He was making decisions after decisions and finally, he comes up with the best solution for everything.

For Catherine and their baby, he had already started forgiving himself, he can't stay forever drown by the sorrow and being eaten by guilt all day and all night long because of his unforgivable mistake. He had to be strong, for the sake of Catherine and their baby. Besides, he had businesses to run and managed daily, he needs to have a sound mind and sound spirit to handle everything, he cannot depend on somebody else to carry his heavy load, and he only had himself to depend on. So, he must be strong for everyone that depends on him.

>>

~St. Peter Hospital~

John was having a conversation with Dr. Cruz in her office at the hospital.

"John, there is something wrong with Catherine...," said the doctor a worried look appeared on her face.

"W-what is it, Doc? Is the b-baby okay?" asked John in panic.

"The baby is okay, however, Catherine is not mentally okay, that's it...," said the doctor.

John's brows furrowed. "W-what do you mean by that---Doc?"

The doctor sighed. "She's already been awake for the fast few days, however, she's not talking with the nurse. When the nurse asked her about her name, she answered that she doesn't know her name and who she is. That was the first and the last time she talked with anyone. Then she becomes silent and no longer talking with the nurse. I think she was suffering from Dissociative Amnesia," the doctor said.

John's heart starts beating fast. "W-what does Dissociative Amnesia means, Doc?" he asked.

"This type of amnesia is a disorder that involves the inability to recall important personal information caused by trauma or stress. She suffers memory loss of certain times, events, people and personal information. It's a sense of being detached from yourself and your emotions, more like a coping mechanism against trauma. When the patients disconnect from their surroundings they feel at peace with themselves. With Dissociative Amnesia, it is one way to cope with too much stress and painful events in someone's lives. The memories still exist but were deeply buried in the person's mind but cannot be recalled," explained the doctor.

John's heart sank heavily. So, Catherine was trying to forget everything that happened that night including him?

"W-what is the treatment, Doc?" he said eagerly.

"Treatment begins with creating a safe and supportive environment for the patients. Then she also needs Psychotherapy which is sometimes called 'talk therapy.' I will refer you to a licensed Psychotherapist. Then we also need to appoint her to an OB-Gyn to help and guide her pregnancy and make her healthy as possible including the baby," said Dr. Cruz.

"Thank you, Doc. How long the Dissociative Amnesia last, Doc?" asked John.

"It may last up to weeks, months or even years. It all depends on how she will react to the treatment and how supportive the people around her," explained the physician.

"Is there a possibility that Catherine won't remember me anymore or what happened on that night she caught me cheating on her?" John asked.

"Yes, there is a possibility, although it's a rare occurrence, we shall find out if she was indeed suffering from Dissociative Amnesia. I will let the two of you see each other tomorrow and let's observed how she will react to you when she will see your face again," said the doctor.

"Thank you, Doc," John said.

They discussed Catherine's condition for the next fifteen minutes, and then John exited the doctor's office and headed upstairs to the second floor to visit Catherine.

She was sleeping when he entered the room. He walked to the hospital bed and gazed at her sleeping form. He sighed deeply. Was it just yesterday that they were laughing in happiness visiting the Eco-park, baking cake and watching movies together in the mini-theater in his flat? He sighed, that was part of yesterday, now the future looks bleak between them.

Many things happened that changed everything. The only good thing that came out after all the troubles that happened in the last few days was her pregnancy.

He walked to her side on the bed and tears came out from his eyes.

"I love you so much, Cath!" he murmured softly into her sleeping form.