Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

Damien stepped out of the private room with Katherine following him behind. It was thirty minutes past one in the afternoon when their meeting ended and there was nothing else in Damien's schedule for the remainder of the day.

He looked at the time in his watch and spoke as they walked out of the restaurant, "We're dropping by Hillcrest Hospital."

"Is everything okay? Are you sick?" Katherine scanned Damien's face but did not see any symptoms.

He slowed down to match her pace and shook his head. "I'm fine. But you need to see Evans."

"Me?" She touched her forehead, confused why she needed to see a doctor — she didn't remember being sick. 

Damien chuckled when he saw her reaction, she can be too adorable sometimes. 

His laugh made her glare at him only to get annoyed at what she saw when she looked at his face. He looked cute when he laughed. Yes, she gets that already but did he have to shimmer too?

"Come on," he placed his hand on her back and led her to the passenger's seat of his car. Just as he closed the door and walked around to the driver's side, someone called him from the entrance of the restaurant.

"Damien!" Lexi tried to catch up to him but when Damien turned to look at her, his face was emotionless. He only glanced at her for a brief second before he got inside the car and sped away.

"Why do I have to see Dr. Evans now?" Katherine asked as soon as the car moved.

"You told me that you have been having nightmares lately. If it's happening that frequently, then you'd have to at least tell your doctor so he can help you."

"I don't know what to tell him. I have already forgotten most of it." Katherine looked down on her hands, feeling hesitant. She no longer remembered details about her terrifying dreams but she hated the feeling that it brought her. Especially during those nights when she was still sleeping in the storage room. She woke up alone and gasping, afraid to go back to sleep but would somehow fall back asleep anyway.

Last night, however, was even more terrifying. Though she could no longer remember all the images, she could still feel how painful it was. She flinched in her seat and hugged herself, not wanting to close her eyes in fear of seeing it again if she does.

"Are you okay?" His brows knitted and worry was evident on his face. "Do you want to go home instead?"

Home. A word that always felt strange for her. For five years, she lived in that apartment but she never really felt that it was a home. She didn't feel like she belonged anywhere. However, hearing it from Damien was different. She liked how it sounded. Somehow… it felt nice.

"Did it sound weird?" Damien thought that she must have felt awkward hearing him call it "home" when she did not respond to him and just stared at her hands. 

Katherine who was thinking otherwise, looked up at him with a questioning gaze. "Hmmm?"

"Sorry… I meant… Do you want to go back to my place?"

He saw her brows furrow upon hearing his words and he realized what he said made the situation more awkward. He sounded like a man trying to hook up in a bar and asking a girl he just met to go with him to his house. He was amused to see the look on her face.

Meanwhile, Katherine thought that Damien just turned from a cute shimmering prince to a horny predator looking for a one-night stand. 

And she was mortified that she didn't particularly hate his invitation. 

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Damien let out an annoyingly playful chuckle. "Whatever you're thinking, that's not what I meant."

"Yeah… sure." Katherine rolled her eyes, averted her gaze and looked out the window instead.

"What? You don't believe me?" He shrugged and focused back on the road. "But if you're thinking about that though, I don't mind actually."

Katherine remained quiet after hearing him tease. He's doing it again so she decided to ignore and did not even dare to look at him anymore. Because if she did, he would definitely see her blush.

…

Hillcrest Hospital

Inside Jeffrey Evan's office, Katherine and Damien sat on the sofa while Jeffery sat on the armchair. 

Before they started, Dr. Evans told Katherine that he was about to do an audio recording of their meeting and asked for her consent if she was fine with it. 

"Do you remember the first nightmare you had?" Jeffrey asked. His hand was ready to scribble notes on the clipboard.

Nodding, Katherine responded, "It was on the 2nd of May… last Wednesday."

"Can you tell me what you did the whole day? Be as detailed as possible." 

Damien's phone vibrated and he excused himself to take the call, leaving Katherine and Dr. Evans inside. 

Katherine recalled the entire day to Dr. Evans. Leaving the part where she had to sleep in the storage room as Damien asked her not to mention her sleeping arrangement to anyone. Other than that, she was thorough about her story but they did not talk about her dreams yet.

"I would like to ask you about your dreams. Is that okay with you?" he asked.

"Actually… I don't really know what to tell you. I don't remember much about them anymore." 

"It's okay. We don't have to talk about your dreams in detail for now. We'll take it slow." Jeffrey formed a gentle smile on his face making Katherine feel at ease. "But I just want to ask… These dreams that you had, have you dreamt about them before or have you experienced any of it in real life?"

Katherine was quick to shake her head. "No. It's the first time that I've had them. I also don't think I have experienced those. But… it felt so real. It felt like… it happened for real." 

"You think that your dreams–"

"Nightmares." She insisted and saw him nod.

"You think that these nightmares happened for real? Do you mean that you believed or it looked like it really happened?" Dr. Evans tried to be careful with his questions.

Katherine shook her head once again. "No… not 'think' but rather, I felt it. It felt very real. Like I felt the pain physically."

Jeffrey placed his pen down and stared at her as though he was studying her every reaction. He believed that there was something more to her nightmares and that it wasn't so simple. 

The door opened and in came Damien. Jeffrey got up from his seat and said, "That's all for now."

"Can you wait for me outside?" Damien told Katherine who quickly got up from the sofa and headed towards the door.

"I heard that Lexi's back," Jeffrey said as he leaned on his desk. Katherine's ears perked up when she heard that woman's name just before she closed the door. It seemed like everyone knows about her and Damien. 

"Have you seen her?"

"Bumped into her this morning." Damien stared at his friend and questioned, "You didn't give her my number, did you?"

Waving his hands in front of him, Jeffrey denied right away. "No, of course not. Unless you want me to– no, I wouldn't dare." He pursed his lips into a thin line when he saw Damien's stare became fierce.

"So? Did she tell you about her nightmares?"

Jeffrey shook his head. "No, I didn't force her. Like I said, we need to go about this carefully." He told Damien that Katherine feels her dreams were real. "If these dreams are actually memories, then there are two things that could happen if we find out about what her dreams are about. First will be the possibility of knowing what will trigger her and the other would be… that we would actually trigger her memories. And you already know what could happen if we do."

"Do you actually have a method on how we could do that?"

Jeffrey nodded.

"Have you tried it before?"

"Yes. However, results and situations vary from patient to patient. And based on her records, it will be a gamble if we do it." 

Damien was in a bind and Jeffrey could see his friend's concern, so he added, "I suggest that you keep an eye on her and make sure that her emotions are stable. Take her out on a date or whatever. You know… happy hormones." He winked.

Shaking his head, Damien walked out of his friend's office without saying anything. 

"What?! What did I say?" Jeffrey snickered as he watched his friend walk down the hallway with Katherine next to him.