Before that, Alice had been in the habit of communicating with the actor every day, usually over the phone, to keep up with Natalia’s condition and changes. However, the actor had invariably indicated that “nothing was unusual”.
That explained a lot. There was so much to discover. Alice suddenly realized that Natalia might have many secrets that no one knew about.
The next day, as Alice had discovered through surveillance, it was still the other personality, Natalisa, who woke up, not Natalia.
As soon as she went downstairs, she skipped over to Hua Jin and asked with a smile, “Can I go play with Youyou today?”
“Youyou?” he asked, startled.
Now that Alice wasn’t around, he didn’t know how he should respond. There was no way he knew how to monitor Natalia. Usually, the phone that was connected to the surveillance camera was kept by Alice. Therefore, he had no way of observing which personality the girl standing before him was.
“Eh? Can’t I?” Natalia looked rather disappointed. “Can’t I go play with him? I’m bored being home alone.”
The actor grinned at her and offered, “I can play with you.”
“But … you’re no fun!” Natalia sat down at the dining table and put her head in her hands, crestfallen. She pouted. “Besides, I don’t feel comfortable with this aunty around.”
Hua Jin knew that Natalia was not close to Alice. It was not surprising that she did not like Alice. Hence he coaxed her, “I’ll take you to play with Big Brother Youyou tomorrow, okay?”
“No!” Natalia actually began to wheedle. “I just want to go today. Can’t we go today? Is he busy?”
“Well, it’s not that, really.” After deliberating for a long time, the actor finally nodded gently. “Alright then! I’ll take you there after breakfast.”
“Alright!” Natalia clapped her hands in delight, looking really happy.
“In this case you have to be good and finish your breakfast before I take you there.”
“Okay… alright.”
Just as Natalia was finishing breakfast, Alice came downstairs. For some reason, the girl’s smile faded when she saw the woman. Since she had also finished her breakfast, she immediately said to Hua Jin, “I’m full. I’m going upstairs to get change!”
With this, she started up the stairs.
Alice looked back at her and asked, a little strangely, “Change? Is she going somewhere?’
The actor replied, “She wants to go and play with Youyou.”
Alice’s expression darkened slightly at that. She hurried to his side and lowered her voice. “Did you… agree?”
“Uh huh.”
Sensing something wrong in her expression, the actor became nervous and asked, “What’s wrong? Shouldn’t I have?”
“Not that you can’t. It’s just that she’s unstable at the moment. I don’t want her coming into contact with the boy.”
“Why do you say that?” He found that odd. “I don’t see anything wrong with her, do you?”
“Just because you can’t tell doesn’t mean things are alright.” Alice gave him a reproachful look. “Are you going to take her there soon?”
Hua Jin nodded hesitantly. “Yes…”
Alice exhaled deeply and frowned. How could she trust Natalia to be alone with the boy? She was afraid something might go wrong.
Studying her face, he asked tentatively, “So, should I tell her otherwise?”
“Forget it!”
