Soon after the two returned to the villa, Uncle Jung, who drove Jennie to them, also returned. As soon as she entered the door, she hurried over to see Lisa, only to find that Lisa was sitting quietly in the dining room for dinner.
"Second Young Master, are you okay?" Uncle Jung asked worriedly.
"She's okay." Jennie nodded her head gently.
"How could it happen so suddenly?" After a sigh of relief, Uncle Jung asked. Before, Lisa had never had an issue before commuting to work or being in the car.
"I made an appointment with Lisa at six o'clock in the evening. she was stuck in a traffic jam, and she was anxious, so... it's all my fault." Jennie blamed herself.
"How can I blame you?" Uncle Jung didn't expect Lisa to suddenly get upset because she failed to return home on time, but this matter shouldn't be the Second Young Lady's fault, the fault is... Where is the fault?
Was the fault because Second Young Master was being too persistent, didn't know how to change, or cared too much about Lady Manoban final request? If you have to place blame, the only fault can only be because of Second Young Master's condition. Uncle Jung looked at Jennie, who blamed herself, and suddenly felt uncomfortably. Second Young Master and Second Young Master's wife were both young and good, they were the perfect couple. But how could Second Young Master...
"Fortunately, there's nothing wrong with Lisa, she was just anxious. Uncle Jung can you call dad and mom and let them know so they won't worry about it." Jennie asked Uncle Jung with a smile. She knew that Uncle Jung must have reported to others about Lisa's issue.
"Okay." When Uncle Jung made a phone call, the master and madam were already on their way back. After listening to Eldest Young Master for a while, they no longer heard anything else she said and immediately had intentions to return.
After Gong Yo and Go Eun returned home, Lisa had recovered as usual, with a calm mood and a rosy complexion. Their hearts relaxed and they comforted Jennie again. They weren't reproachful, but instead told her a few words. They reminded her that Lisa's autism causes her to be stubborn and inflexible. she strongly focuses on the time, so Jennie should try to not be specific on the time when she wants to meet with Lisa. Because in the event of an accident that makes it impossible to meet at the appointed time, Lisa will become irritable.
"Jennie, mom and dad say this to you to remind you in good faith, we aren't trying to say you were at fault. Lisa is just like this, so you must be shocked. It's not your fault. You must not take it to heart." Go Eun was worried that Jennie would think too much about it.
"I know. I haven't been with Lisa for long and didn't know many of her habits. It's good for you to mention it to me. I'll pay attention to it from now on." Jennie understood Go Eun's meaning in her heart. She didn't think much about it, but Lisa suffered today, so she couldn't help but blame herself.
"It's fine if you understand."
"Dad, Mom, I'll go upstairs to check on Lisa." Jennie was worried about Lisa and went back to the bedroom.
After Jennie left, Go Eun was still worried. She looked at her husband and anxiously said: "You say, does Jennie feel that Lisa is too troublesome?"
Gong Yo pondered for a moment and replied, "Jennie didn't say anything, so I can't make a wild guess."
"Aren't you worried? If Jennie feels that Lisa is troublesome and wants to leave..."
"We promised Jennie's parents, if Jennie wants to leave, we won't stop her." Gong Yo reminded Go Eun, although he didn't want Jennie to leave.
"I'm... afraid of Lisa's sorrow." If Jennie really wanted to leave, Go Eun wouldn't stop or stand in the way, but as long as she thought of Lisa, she couldn't bear it.
"Don't think about it, and..." Gong Yo said, "Let's talk as little as possible about Lisa and Jennie."
"You also think that I just reminded Jennie deliberately, do you think Jennie will think too much about it?" Go Eun was worried.
"No. I just think that when Jennie married into our family, our family care too much about Lisa. After a long time, there will be misunderstandings. I think it's also time for them to move out. This way, some misunderstandings can be avoided in advance." Gong Yo suggested.
"What if Lisa has another fit?" Go Eun was upset.
"Can you make Lisa calm down in the car with a phone call?" Gong Yo asked her wife.
No, Go Eun knew that all they could do before was prevent Lisa from harming herself until she calmed down.
When Jennie returned to the bedroom, Lisa was sitting at her desk writing something.
"Lisa, it's almost time to take a bath and rest." Lisa had just returned to her emotional baseline , and Jennie thought she should rest early.
After Lisa finished the last stroke, she left the desk obediently, took the pajamas Jennie handed her, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
When the sound of water came from the bathroom, Jennie walked to the desk with curiosity to see what Lisa was writing. It was a loose-leaf notebook. Lisa didn't close the notebook, so the notebook was spread out on the desk. On the white paper, Lisa wrote densely with beautiful handwriting: [ it was six o'clock, and I wanted to go home. ]
With this one glance, the tears that Jennie endured this entire time, instantly fell. Suddenly, she couldn't even contain herself and cried.
"I've washed." Jennie was stupefied for too long. She didn't know when Lisa had finished washing and had already stood beside Jennie.
"Okay, then I'll wash too." Jennie turned to leave but was suddenly pulled by Lisa.
"You're crying." Lisa frowned, and asked with some remorse, "Is it because I didn't come home on time today?"
"No." Jennie wiped and dried her tears as if she could cover up the fact that she had cried for a long time.
"Why are you crying then?" Lisa wondered.
"I really didn't cry."
"Crying." Lisa's tone was firm, her eyes were bright and had an expression that she clearly saw.
"..." At this time, Jennie eagerly wanted to be left alone for a while, to sort out the bad emotions in her heart, but Lisa couldn't understand that or understand her words, instead she was persistent and asked why she was crying. Jennie didn't know how to answer because there were too may emotions that piled within her together and she couldn't say why exactly she was crying. She just felt tired and sad.
"I don't want to say, okay?" Jennie's voice pleaded with a hint.
Lisa froze, struggling for a while, and suddenly leaned over and embraced Jennie. she gently coaxed in her ear: "Don't cry, hug."
"Huhuhhuu ..." Jennie's accumulated emotions burst from her heart. She wanted to sort it out by taking a bath but released it once Lisa coaxed her like a child, it was as if a floodgate has opened.
"I just want to cry. Why do you keep asking, keep asking?"
"Don't ask, don't ask." Lisa clumsily patted Jennie's back.
After this venting session, Jennie's mood was much better. After washing, she and Lisa laid in bed early. Before they went to sleep, Lisa looked at Jennie and had an expression as if she wanted to say something and couldn't sleep.
"What do you want to say?" Jennie was helpless.
"I want to say." Lisa immediately sat up from the quilt excitedly. "I won't ask you things that you don't want me to ask, so in the future, can you stop crying?"
"...No!" Jennie thought and wanted to cry again, "If I want to cry, I'll cry. Why can't I cry?"
"Then... then you can do whatever you like." Lisa lay back down innocently. Grandma is right, women's thoughts are really complicated.
The next morning.
At the breakfast table, Jennie's mental state was obviously not very good. The other members of the Manoban family saw her and knew what was going on. They didn't speak openly. For a while, the atmosphere at the table was somewhat depressing.
After breakfast, Jennie sent Lisa to the door. Today Jisoo was also going to the company, so Lisa took the car with Jisoo to directly go to the company without having to wait for a driver to pick him up.
"I will be back at six o'clock today." Before entering the car, Lisa assured Jennie again very seriously.
When Jennie heard this, the smile on her face froze. Again? Is it necessary to come back every day at that time in the future?
"I will arrange for the driver to bring Lisa back by six o'clock." Jisoo suddenly glanced at Jennie, who had frozen, and said that.
Jennie glanced at Jisoo, and understood the other party's meaning, smiled, and thanked her.
"...Let's leave." Jisoo didn't say anymore, opened the door to leave.
Jennie's expression was very familiar now. It can be said that every once in a while, her face and parents' face will look like that. That's the feeling of responsibility, pressure, fatigue and heartache. That's the feeling when you get when you really realize that it's not easy to take care of Lisa and, only those who really care about Lisa, would carry this expression. she hoped that Jennie could find a way to relieve that pressure and she also respected Jennie, who was having a hard time making peace with herself.
"Wait a moment." At this moment, Jennie suddenly called Jisoo.
Jisoo's motion of getting in the car was paused, and she looked over again.
"That, the driver who sent Lisa back yesterday, Sir Kang. It seems that he was accidentally hurt by Lisa yesterday because he wanted to stop her from hitting the door." Jennie found the injury on the driver's face, but she was only looking after Lisa at the time, so she didn't have time to ask.
"...I see." Jisoo paused for a moment, then nodded that she knows what to do. Yesterday, thanks to the driver's cleverness, he locked the car. If he didn't, Lisa might have run out of the car and the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Rosie drove to work in a spirited manner. Before the car entered the parking lot, she saw Jennie's Audi from afar. She wondered why Jennie arrived earlier than her this morning but found that Jennie was sitting dazed in the driver's seat and the car was still running.
What's this girl doing?
"What are you doing?" Rosie powered off her car and couldn't help but walk over to knock on the window.
"Rosie?" Jennie returned to her senses and looked back.
"Damn, a big pair of panda eyes. Are you indulging too much through the night or are you worried about our sales volume for our shoes the entire night?" Rosie couldn't help but joke.
"Because of Lisa." Jennie replied weakly.
"Because......" Rosie's face changed abruptly. Looking at Jennie's eyes, she suddenly saw a "yellow" light. "It's overindulgence ah. You finally became a genuine married woman..."
"Rosie, I'm going out, I have something to do and will be back in the afternoon." Jennie ignored Rosie, as if she suddenly made a decision. She reversed her car and left.
"..." Rosie, who was left behind and was bathed in a large amount of exhaust said, "What's the matter ah?"
After leaving the studio, Jennie went directly to Seoul University. She decided to talk to Professor Wang.
Since it was sudden, Jennie could only try her luck and go to Professor Wang's office. She was then told that Professor Wang had class in the morning, so she went to the large classroom where Professor Wang had the class and quietly listened in the large classroom. She didn't get up from her seat until all the students who went to the podium to ask Professor Wang some questions left. She left her seat and smiled at Professor Wang.
"Is something wrong with Lisa?" On the tree-lined avenue of Seoul University, the two were walking while talking about Lisa.
"Did you see?"
"Even if you don't see, if you consider the time, it was almost time for you to come back and see me?" Professor Wang said.
"What do you mean?" Jennie was puzzled.
"It's not easy to get along with people with autism. Although Lisa has adjusted very well, there are still many differences she has compared to ordinary people. Normal couples will have problems with each other over time, let alone you and Lisa." Professor Wang said, "You came later than I expected."
Jennie smiled bitterly.
"But you still came to me, I'm very happy." Facing Jennie's surprised eyes, Professor Wang smiled, "This proves that you don't intend to give up on Lisa. You came to me, you want Lisa to change for the better, right? "
"En." This is what Jennie thought.
"Let's go to my office for a cup of tea and see what I can do for you." Professor Wang smiled comfortably and led Jennie to his office.
In the office, Jennie told Professor Wang about the situation in detail of Lisa before and after her personal crisis. Professor Wang listened carefully before he said.
"Usually, people with autism have self-established trajectory and once its disrupted, or they think they fail their task, or they can't complete it in their time frame, it will be difficult for them to calm down in a short amount of time."
"I know that's why Lisa was upset yesterday." Jennie pointed out.
"No, you misunderstood what I meant." Professor Wang smiled. "Yesterday, Lisa didn't return home, but you calmed her down."
"Is there anything wrong with that?" Jennie asked.
"No, it's very good, very good." Professor Wang said it twice in a row, and his voice was a little excited, "I didn't know that versatility was a universal feature of autistic patients, but you let Lisa learn to adapt yesterday."
"Adapt?" Jennie froze.
"Yes." Professor Wang said, "We always think that autism is like a glass cover, which separates autistic patients from normal people, but once we break through this glass cover and they can communicate smoothly, there's not much difference between autistic patients and ordinary people. In theory, what normal people can do, they can do as well."
"The way you handled the situation was a very successful situation. When Lisa couldn't come home in time, you offered to take the initiative to find her, she understood and accepted, then she calmed down. Although, this is due to your good communication skills and Lisa's high acceptance of what you communicated. At that moment, you let Lisa realize that there was another possibility to solve her one issue. This is almost the same as common sense for ordinary people, and it's particularly difficult for autistic patients, especially those with emotional processing issues. If you can make Lisa realize this independently, she will slowly learn how to adapt."
"Self-awareness? How can I do that?" Jennie frowned.
"Don't worry. Don't be too stressed. Didn't I just say this requires good communication?" Professor Wang comforted with a smile, "So, you have done a good job now, as long as you stay with her like this, she will naturally develop it slowly. "
"I see. I will." Jennie promised.
"After talking about Lisa, let's talk about you." Professor Wang suddenly said.
"Me?" Jennie froze.
"Actually, family members of autistic people need psychological counseling more than autistic people in these situations." Professor Wang said in a meaningful way, "In fact, autistic people can live in their own world; they may not feel pressured. But the pressure is still with their family members. In a skilled home , more than half of the parents give up on rehabilitation treatment for their children every year. And occasionally, some parents leave their children with autism at the door of a skilled facility."
"I didn't want to give up." Jennie hurriedly explained.
"Don't get excited. I just want to tell you, if you feel tired, feel sad, even if you ever want to give up, that's normal. Don't be too harsh on yourself, don't give yourself too much pressure. When you want to talk, you can come to my place anytime." Professor Wang said.
Jennie understood the meaning behind Professor Wang's words. Professor Wang was afraid that she would be trapped in a huge circle that she can't give up on Lisa and was responsible for her. She was taken away by this kind of self-virtue and finally crushed by this kind of pressure. she could see that she wasn't in a good state of mind today and was counseling her in order to relieve that pressure.
However, where would she be kidnapped by virtue? She never even thought that she had any noble sentiment. If so, she would have accepted Lisa's proposal in her last life.
What she was doing now, was because she wanted to do it.
It has nothing to do with virtue or responsibility.
She had experienced a world without Lisa and doesn't yearn for it. In contrast, she cherishes the present more.
"Thank you, Professor Wang. I understand what you mean. I won't be trapped inside." Jennie replied.
Whether there was joy or sadness, it was the future where she was willing to transverse with Lisa. Her life was too short, how could she easily let go?
Author's Notes:
Little Theater:
When Lisa was kid, she wasn't good at communication and sometimes caused her grandma to cry.
Jennie saw Grandma Manoban crying one day and couldn't help running over with concern.
Jennie: Grandma, why are you crying?
Grandma Manoban: I'm okay, Grandma is just a little tired.
Jennie: Are you angry with Lisa Oppa?
Grandma Manoban: Yes, I'm so angry that I want to throw her out.
Jennie: Grandma, that won't work. My mother said that children can be taught when they're wrong, but they can't be thrown away.
Grandma Manoban: Your Lisa Oppa is too difficult to teach.
Jennie: Let me help you talk to her.
So Jennie ran to the study and talked to Lisa all afternoon. She didn't let her flip pages.
The teenage Lisa who was unable to read her book and who was scolded for an afternoon was rarely depressed.
And, Grandma Manoban was magically cured.