Chapter 5

Killian rushes to his room and grabs the pink box. He stares at it with as much hate as anyone could feel for an object.

He grabs the items out and proceeds to recreate the moment that has ruined his life.

Thunder rumbles loudly, lightning illuminates the room for seconds. All he wants is his old life back. He is a man on a mission.

He pulls the objects from the box once more and repeats his steps from that unfortunate night. He is acting like a mad man, waving his hairdryer around. His last thought, this has to work. The bathtub is full, with one leg immersed in water he is holding the hair dryer dangerously close to the tub. His other leg is out of the tub and for a brief second he hesitates. Maybe this is not the best-laid plan, he thinks. But as he tries to pull the cord of the hair dryer from the electric socket, he loses his balance only for the hairdryer to fall into the tub. He knows this could end tragically and as he is scrambling to get out of the tub, he notices the sparks of electricity just before he is shocked and loses consciousness once more.

Killian wakes up hours later. Good, I'm not dead. Panting. Bloody hell, please, please tell me I got rid of it. His hair is disheveled and sticking out. He pauses for a second as he struggles to get up on his feet. He pats his body down to make sure everything is intact. He scans the room and remembers the previous night. He rushes out of the restroom and knocks on Annabeth's door. He puts his elven ear to the door hoping he can hear her, no, what he wants is not to be able to hear her thoughts, or any other women's thoughts. No answer. No noise. She probably left earlier in hopes of avoiding him. She succeeded, she is nowhere in sight.

His only hope is Granny but then he remembers she had taken a week off to go visit her granddaughter. He grabs his phone as he quickly starts getting dressed. He hits dial on a random female name on his phone. The call goes to voicemail. He tries a different number but ends in the same result. Maybe his doorwoman can help. Bloody hell, where's a woman when he needs one. And not for enjoyable activities. He rushes out of his place and once he reaches the lobby he scans it for the doorwoman. He comes face to face with the night doorman, Marco in her place. "Mr. Jones, how may I help you?" the kind older man asks.

"No, thank you." Killian smiles and he rushes out of the building. He rushes up the street, walking aimlessly trying to spot a woman to test if his near death electrocution was a success. No such luck.

The construction site a few blocks from his place is blocking most of the sidewalk so he crosses the street. Fate appears to be laughing at him. He spots a department store. There has to be at least one woman there. He rushes inside and is greeted with the answer to his prayers. Women are all around and talking to each other. So far he cannot confirm if his affliction is gone.

A conversation between two women catch his attention. They are talking about lipstick and that's when he notices they're not moving their lips instead they're using sign language. Bloody hell! He'd failed to rid himself of the curse. The disappointment is evident on his face. He is going to go crazy.

He rushes out of the store without a destination as he is flooded with the thoughts of all the women around him. He ends up outside of the psychologist his brother Liam forced him to see after the Milah debacle. His brother didn't approve of his sudden change in behavior. Well, he saw a lot more of the lovely Doctor than his brother would approve.

He knocks loudly on the wood door and presses the doorbell.

Dr. Faerie opens the door hesitantly.

Killian bypasses her and goes inside.

"Dr. Faerie, I don't know if you remember me, but I need your help. I think I'm going crazy. I was here years ago -" Killian runs his hands through his hair, "our sessions were cut short, Bleu. I need your help."

She stiffens, of course she remembers him. She always feared her career would end because of their inappropriate behavior.

He continues, "I apologize for my rudeness but I don't know who to turn to. I'm afraid to go to work, I'm afraid of my door woman-don't worry about your career ending, no one knows of our dalliance, and this is not about that. I can hear what women think, and it's driving me crazy."

"Mr. Jones, please calm down. Let me make sure I understand what you're saying."

Killian nods.

"You can hear what women think?"

He nods again.

"Mr. Jones, this kind of imaginary displacement scenario…"

"I'm not imagining anything. Test me if you don't believe me." Killian flops onto the couch.

Dr. Faerie sits behind her desk and hums, "Okay, let me think…" she glances to her computer, damn it, I wanted to win that lamp. She sighs.

"How much was it going for, the lamp on Ebay?" Killian asks as he raises his brow.

"How did you," the Doctor notices the reflection of her computer screen on the mirror behind her. "Oh, that was very clever."

"Fine, you don't believe me. Think of a number, any number."

"Any number? Between one and a million?"

"Yes, go crazy. Why the hell not?"

She looks at him, "Okay," her mind drifts between several numbers.

"Lass, how about making a decision here? It can't be that difficult."

Dr. Bleu Faerie gasps, oh dear.

"I would have chosen more colorful language, but you can say that again."

"I didn't say anything."

"I know but that doesn't mean I didn't hear it."

"Okay, let's say I do believe you. And you can hear what women think. Even if I'm a grown woman of...45. 39."

"My lips are sealed."

"Holy crap! Please, forgive me."

"That's all right."

"Dear, this is phenomenal. You can hear inside my head."

"Yes."

"Why would you want to rid yourself of such a brilliant gift?"

Killian's smile tightens. "For starters, almost every woman I know thinks I'm an arsehole."

"Mr. Jones, let's try to look at the good side of this. Shall we? Freud died at age 83 still asking one question, what do women want?"

He stares at her, obviously missing her point.

She takes a breath, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if you were the one man on Earth finally able to answer that question? Mr. Jones, something extraordinary happened to you, and I think it's miraculous. My advice is you must learn from this. There isn't a single woman alive that doesn't wish her man understood her better. If men are from Mars and women are from Venus and you understand Venusian, the world can be yours. I have no idea how this happened to you or why, but you may be the luckiest man on Earth. Just imagine the possibilities. If you know what women want, you can rule."