Harold and Jake had been waiting at the airport since they got the news.


    When they saw Joshua dene safely, they both breathed a sigh of relief.


    Normally, they weren''t worried about where Joshua went. But the situation was different now. He was in the middle of treatment and could lose control at any moment.


    The two walked up to Joshua. "Mr. Gardner, Dr. Chase is already waiting. Shall we head to your treatment now?"


    Joshua''s face was pale, and his brow was furrowed with exhaustion.


    From the moment he learned of Ste''s illness, he had immediately left for Solmaris. He had skipped his treatment and hadn''t gotten any proper rest. Now, he was rubbing his temples, clearly not in a good state.


    Harold and Jake exchanged a look, both seeing the same serious and grim concern in each other''s eyes. Aside from the time he was hypnotized, they had never seen Joshua in such a condition.


    Joshua raised a hand, as if about to say something.


    The next second, he copsed.


    Jake and Harold were horrified. "Mr. Gardner!"


    ***


    The door to the room opened, and Dr. Chase walked out, looking exhausted.


    Harold and Jake rushed forward. "Dr. Chase, how is Mr. Gardner?"


    Dr. Chase wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded with some relief.


    "He''s stable for now, which is good. However..."


    Seeing the unusual expression on Dr. Chase''s face, both Harold and Jake felt their hearts clench.


    "Dr. Chase, is there another problem?"


    "Mr. Gardner was very cooperative with the treatment this time," Dr. Chase said.


    Harold was confused. "Mr. Gardner cooperating... isn''t that a good thing?"


    Dr. Chase''s expression was strange. "Before this, Mr. Gardner was just... going along with it. He didn''t fight me, but he wasn''t really in it either. This time, he was very engaged which should be good for his condition. A little while ago, he even asked me for the specifié details of the treatment n..."


    Jake couldn''t help but interrupt. "Dr. Chase, please stop beating around the bush. Can you just tell us everything at once?"


    "Because we can''t use hypnosis, this treatment n will take much longer—at least a year," Dr. Chase exined.


    "Mr. Gardner isn''tpeting for the family head position this time," Harold said. "He can afford to wait a year."


    Dr. Chase sighed. "But your boss wants me to wrap it up in six months... But you can''t rush these


    things. It''s very difficult. already


    had to pull some strings with Ms. Quinn just to get this treatment n... Compressing the timeline any further is asking too much."


    Harold and Jake looked at each other.


    Joshua goes to Solmaris andes back eager to cooperate with treatment, even wanting to cut the time down to six months...


    Even if they''d been slow to catch on, they understood now.


    Though they didn''t know what had happened, it was clear Joshua wanted to go


    back to Ste. He didn''t want to give up.


    A rare smile appeared on Jake''s face.


    "In any case, the fact that Mr.


    Gardner is willing to ept


    treatment is a good thing. As for the timeline... his condition should be the priority. Let''s just start the treatment for now. If it prov


    effective, we might be able to speed things up a bit."


    Dr. Chase sighed. "For now, that''s all we can do."


    After Dr. Chase left, Jake and Harold started talking.


    "Do you think something happened to Mr. Gardner in Solmaris to provoke him?"


    Jake asked. "Why else would he suddenly change his mind?"