Bruce lay on the hospital bed. Harvey adjusted his upper body a bit and then poured him a glass of Water.
Bruce said with some distress, "She's moody and temperamental, truly like a cat. I can't figure her out. Now I'm only worried that her irritability will hurt others. After all, I have the best medical resources in all of Gotham, but others might not."
"You should be glad you didn't rupture a kidney. That dagger was very short, only leaving a shallow scratch on your internal organs; otherwise, you'd only have one kidney left now."
Harvey put down the kettle and said, "When I was in school, I also had a girl I liked. I was crazy about her. I pursued her passionately. One day, when we were on a date, she deliberately threw a bottle far away just to tease a cleaner."
"At that time, I thought, how could she do that? She was truly too mean, unworthy of my affection. But later, I realized it was my love for her that had sculpted her into a perfect person in my mind. In reality, she had always been ill-tempered, liked to mock others, and looked down on anyone in the service industry. She never changed herself, but I, due to intense love, had infinitely great expectations for her."
"When I broke up with her, she found it inexplicable. At that time, I didn't know that I really did look like a lunatic, first pursuing her madly regardless of everything, confessing my feelings, but then suddenly breaking up cleanly. This would be an insult in anyone's eyes, so she was very angry."
"Later, I thought about it, and it was normal."
Bruce felt a bit embarrassed to speak, but he still said, "That girl's problem is much more serious than your ex-girlfriend's, and she might physically harm others."
"The problem isn't there. The problem is, when you met her and fell in love with her, didn't you know about this flaw?"
Bruce thought, didn't he know? He knew it all too well; he even met her in the middle of her committing a crime as Batman.
He couldn't help but think absurdly, how could he fall in love with a criminal? And at her crime scene?
After Harvey left, Bruce fell asleep due to exhaustion.
In his dream, the brilliant lights of the jewelry store illuminated the string of pearls scattered on the ground. Suddenly, all the lights went out, as if everything returned to that dark alley, with only the pearl necklace shining with a faint glow.
Batman never liked any jewelry, especially disliking anything that sparkled, just like a true Batman.
But his mind was filled with the girl holding sparkling gems and showing a cunning smile.
In the haze, the luster of the pearls in his memory suddenly became less repulsive. And the end of the dream was still a group of shadowy Batmen streaking across the sky.
The next day, Schiller was quite surprised to see Bruce in the psychological counseling room. He looked Bruce up and down and said, "Your injury has healed? You can walk so quickly?"
"It still hurts a bit, but it's nothing serious. My internal organs weren't severely injured and are almost healed now."
Schiller said, "Well, it seems you won't waste a cup of my coffee." With that, he poured himself only a cup of hot coffee. Bruce was a bit speechless and said, "Could I have some Water?"
After they sat down, Bruce said, "Harvey doesn't know my true identity yet, and I think it's better not to tell him for now. But I'm very troubled now; that female thief who stabbed me appears in my dreams every day."
"I even feel some resistance to putting on the Batman suit now. Once I meet her, I don't even know what to say to her."
Schiller never dreamed that Batman's first psychological counseling issue, where he opened his heart, would be Bruce's teenage romantic troubles.
It is well known that in the comics, Batman and Catwoman are true love. The Authors used a lot of ink to describe their love story. Indeed, a dark knight with a sea of blood vengeance and a cunning yet beautiful criminal, even if the background of all this is the incredibly dark Gotham City, will still have a large number of readers buying into it.
Schiller said, "It looks like Harvey should have already advised you, but it doesn't seem to have helped?"
"What Harvey said makes sense. I already knew she was a thief before I fell for her. In fact, I met her precisely when she was stealing from a jewelry store. I don't know how I could fall in love with a criminal; it's too absurd..."
Schiller said, "What do you think led you to become Batman?"
Bruce pondered for a moment and said, "Many things."
"Then what do you think led her to become a thief?"
Bruce fell silent.
"So, you're sulking here without knowing anything about a woman's past and family."
"Are you sure you truly like him? Or are you just looking for a romantic one-night stand?"
"I haven't even slept with her yet," Bruce said.
"Should I applaud your innocence?" Schiller said, then his gaze fell on Bruce's waist, and he said, "You haven't even slept with her, and she already stabbed your kidney. I'm a little worried about your life safety now."
"Do you think I should talk to him?" Bruce said.
Schiller sighed and said, "You like the thief. Are you going to talk to her or to me? You like whoever you like, go and fall in love with them, understand?"
Schiller said somewhat helplessly, "Otherwise, what do you think dating is about? Two people running around the rooftops of Gotham for days, and they don't even know who each other's parents are. You don't sleep with her, you don't date her, and you know nothing. If I were her, I'd stab you too."
Bruce paused and said, "Okay, I'll go talk to her."
The next day, Batman caught Catwoman again at a certain exhibition hall. Although he didn't understand Catwoman's past and family, he was spot-on when it came to her habits.
Catwoman saw him, cursed under her breath, and immediately tried to escape.
But she didn't get away. Batman grabbed her cape again. Catwoman cursed, took a deep breath, turned around, and said, "Let me go! You freak! Don't make me use my knife!"
Batman said, "Let's talk."
"What do I have to talk about with you? Don't interfere with my business!"
Ten minutes later, the two arrived at the rooftop of the exhibition hall. Catwoman waved her hand helplessly and said, "Alright, alright, my little boy, what do you want to talk about? Lecture me? I can almost recite all your reason."
"No, I just want to hear your story," Batman said.
Catwoman was a bit surprised. She was silent for a moment, looked at the pointed ears on Batman's head, and said, "Given your taste in attire, alright."
"...I come from the slums in the East, you know, the biggest and most chaotic one. My mother was an alcoholic, and my father was a drug addict, but I was lucky enough not to get addicted. I grew up with a madam who was a retired acrobat. She taught me a lot of things. Of course, she also had a bad temper, and I got beaten a lot, but luckily I learned real skills."
"When she wanted to sell me to a stinky middle-aged man, I ran away. I was 12 that year."
"Later, there was a meddling orphanage that insisted I live there. I said, 'Okay, I'll go.' Later, someone there wanted to adopt me, but then I offended the administrator there. He wanted to abuse me, so I stole his diamond necklace and ran away again."
"I met a leader of thieves. We all called her Lucky Mama. She specialized in training little girls like us to steal things for her. I had practiced acrobatics, and my skills were good; I was her favorite child."
"But good times didn't last. The diamond necklace I had been hiding on me was discovered by her. You know, it was very valuable, enough for her to retire and quit. She wanted me to hand it over, but I didn't want to, so I ran away again."
"Later, I met a sister named Maggie. She was very good to me, but her boyfriend always beat her and even tried to kill her. When he was about to do it, I killed that man and was wanted. I didn't want to implicate my sister, so I've been drifting, but sometimes when I earned money, I would send it back."
"That's it, a very ordinary story, not very exciting. I guess it's not as exciting as your life experience, right? Great hero."
Batman seemed a bit silent. He said, "Not exciting enough? Is it not exciting enough?"
Catwoman shook her head and said, "Oh, I forgot, you're a young master who grew up in the rich district. People there probably go to school in an orderly fashion, right?"
"But it's not like that where we are. There aren't one or two students in a whole block. Actually, my mother loved me very much, but she was a bit controlled by alcohol. She spent much more time on cats than on me."
"My parents couldn't afford to send me to school, and my neighbors were all the same. It was already good if one parent was sober; at least we wouldn't starve to death. I even heard of cases where both parents were drunk, and the child climbed onto the stove and was burned to death."
"Of course, the growth experiences of people like us are all pretty similar. The lucky ones, like me, learn a trade. The best way out is to work for the gang. If you can become a casino dealer, that's a truly decent job. Maggie's boyfriend was a casino enforcer; he was very popular, and several hostesses there were always clinging to him."
"Actually, Lucky Mama was also good to me. Sometimes she would be like a real mother. Whenever I stole a lot of jewelry for her, she would praise me and even give me candy. Of course, she would beat or scold the children who couldn't steal things, but in my opinion, they were just young, and they'd be pretty good after a few years of practice."
Catwoman spoke intermittently in a light and lively tone, describing this life as quite interesting.
For example, when she practiced acrobatics, the first time she fell from the eaves and hit someone, the unlucky drunkard had just picked up a dozen U.S. dollars from someone else, which then fell into Catwoman's hands. She used the money to buy food for her mother's cat and even received a kiss from her mother.
Batman had been silent, listening quietly. Catwoman also stopped talking as she spoke. She looked at Batman and said, "Alright, alright, I know this story disappointed you. I don't have a rich and exciting college life, nor do I understand your career goals. We are completely from two different Worlds. You rich people probably aren't interested in this kind of slum life, right? After all, it sounds dirty and messy."
Batman said in a low voice, "No, this is the most exciting story I've ever heard."
Catwoman raised an eyebrow and said, "You're so sweet-tongued. You're making me a little embarrassed with your praise. Actually, I'm also very happy because not many people are willing to listen to me talk about these things. Maggie isn't very well and can't go out. When we chat, she prefers to hear stories about me moving through the rich district, and listen to me talk about the dresses and necklaces worn by those rich ladies."
Batman asked, "Do you like jewelry that much?"
"I knew you'd ask that question," Catwoman said, blinking.
"At first, it was just because these jewels could get me better treatment from Lucky Mama. I didn't want to be beaten."
"But later, when Lucky Mama asked me for that diamond necklace, I realized that what I actually liked was their inherent luster, not how much money they could sell for. The thought of Lucky Mama selling these treasures for money pained me greatly."
"That captivating luster, especially the light under illumination, is the most beautiful thing in this World! My lifelong dream is to have a huge castle filled with all these beautiful gems..." Catwoman's tone became lighter and lighter, as if joyful bubbles were about to pop.
Forty chapters! What a great achievement!
Also, the Author's chapters are 3k-4k, so the chapter count is relatively small. Others with the same word count are already at seventy or eighty chapters, but I feel that small chapters aren't satisfying to read, so I'll just keep updating this way. Although it's three updates, it's still ten thousand words a day, so won't you give some monthly tickets or rewards!
Also, the group has been created! Just click the one-click join group button at the bottom of the introduction!