Savannah remembered his symptoms before the wedding.
Intermittent headaches, forgetfulness...
Once, she had a fever when he came to Green Bay to apany her. He had poured water and prepared the pills for her, but soon he forgot what he had done and went to pour water again. She joked that he was too forgetful at that time. How could she know it was a symptom of that illness?
Savannah clenched her fist, and her nose suddenly stung.
"It starts with headaches, amnesia, and then, in the second phase, ites to unconsciousness, uncontroble emotions, and he might even hurt himself and others when it attacks. He knows what''s going on with him, and he knows that he may identally hurt you and Kaiden, and that''s why he called off the wedding." Jacob''s voice was quite low.
Savannah suddenly remembered that night six months ago, he didn''t forget to use the condom when they made love. He had always wanted her to have another child, and he had never used the condom. At that time, she thought he was just worried about her health because she had just had a miscarriage. But the fact was… he was afraid of having another child with the disease.
Jacob also seemed to know what she was thinking.
"After the urrence of the disease, he took Kaiden to get a physical examination. Don''t worry, Kaiden doesn''t have this disease gene. Dn''s also relieved to learn that."
Just then, the door was knocked and then pushed open, and Fiona walked in.
"Savannah, Mr. Sterling transferred me to the head office to be his secretary and disyed over-familiarity with me in front of you, only to make you hate him and leave him... I admit that he has always been my idol, and I''m happy to work with him. But I also know that he is unreachable for me, and I never had any unrealistic fantasy about him," Fiona said in low but earnest tones.
Savannah listened in silence, with her eyes toward the ground.
"We have nothing, except for the performance in front of you. He even seldom talked to me. He just took me as a tool to anger you, let you away from him. He hopes you can live a better life without him. He''s always paid attention to you, and he never forgot you. Remember when K&G''s design was stolen? It was Mr. Sterling who caught the theft and wrung the truth out of him. He asked the theft to go to your grandfather to surrender himself through both force and bribery. That was why you and K&G could save the day. A few days ago, you were taken away by Andrey from a business dinner, and Mr. Sterling went to the hotel in time to save you. He didn''t want you to know, so he just asked your assistant to inform Kevin to pick you up... Believe it or not, Savannah, Mr. Sterling''s always loved you... His affection for you has never changed." Fiona''s voice choked.
After a pause, she continued, "He was in manic depression after you met every time. He even nearly had a car ident once and didn''t notice the pain when he was injured... I didn''t know about his condition until three days ago. I was reporting work to him when he suddenly broke down and was sent to the hospital. Your wedding was a subconscious stimtion to him, so his illness was deteriorating these days very quickly. Today, he knew that it''s your wedding day. He locked himself in the ward from yesterday and hurt himself after the onset of psychosis this morning... He warned us not to tell you when he was awake, but I still cannot see you marry another man and misunderstand him without knowing anything..."
Savannah sat quite still, her heart beating violently.
He had been silently helping her behind her, and he never betrayed her.
Tears ran down her cheeks. She sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her hand, swallowing the tears and the sadness.
Tears were useless at present.
He didn''t like weak people.
"His disease is in the second stage now, isn''t it?" she asked, turning to Jacob.
"Yes," Jacob nodded.
"What will happen in the end?" She asked quietly.
"At the second stage, symptoms increase in frequency and severity and interfere with life. He began to be unable to control emotions, be manic, lose consciousness, and attack people during the urrence. He looks normal when he''s awake, but slowly, the waking hours will be less and less, until he''spletely in mental disorder..."
At that stage, he would be aplete lunatic, like his mother, who eventually fell downstairs in a fit of madness, or like his brother, who died in a car ident after a quarrel with his father.
Even if he was spared, he would have to spend his days grounded in a ward like Susan...
Savannah gasped at the thought.
Fiona also covered her mouth and sobbed.
"Is there really no way to cure it?" Savannah clenched her hands.
Jacob''s eyes clouded.
"The cause of his mental illness is gic in nature, and gic disease is a hard nut for the medical world to crack. Both pharmacological treatment and psychological intervention are remedies to this mental illness, but at present, we can only try to reduce the frequency and severity of attacks. I''ll just do my best. But there is no way to cure his disease up to now..."
Savannah almost copsed on the sofa.
Sheposed herself and looked at Jacob.
"Thank you for taking care of him, Jacob. You must have had a hard time." With that, she stood up and left the office.
In the hallway, Garwood, with despair overcloud his face, greeted her.
"Miss Schultz, old Mr. Sterling, is here."
Old Sterling could not be kept in the dark about his son''s illness.
Garwood had just called and told him everything.
Savannah looked up and saw old Sterling standing in front of her, apanied by Cooper. With red eyes, Savannah ran to him.
Old Sterling saw that Savannah was still wearing her wedding dress, knowing she came from her wedding. He took her hand, but tears choked his words.
Savannah and Cooper helped old Sterling to a bench and sat him down.
"I didn''t expect that Dn couldn''t avoid this disease after all." Old Sterling sobbed.
Cooper, standing beside his master, wanted tofort but didn''t know what to do.