She scanned me from head to toe. When her gaze fell on the canvas bag slung over my shoulder, she asked cautiously, “Have you… been doing well these past years?”
“It's pretty good.”
Kelly obviously did not believe me. "Get in the car. At least, let me give you a ride."
Behind us, the bus kept honking, but she didn't move.
With every eye on us, I had no choice but to get in.
"The Serenity Residential Area," I said casually.
Silence fell. Then, when she spoke, her voice was tense. “Why do you live in that kind of place? It's long been abandoned, not to mention you ....”
Although she didn’t finish the sentence, I knew exactly what she wanted to say.
That was the place where my mother died. It had been ten years since she refused to attend me and Kelly's wedding. Instead, she jumped from the rooftop of a ten-story building.
The backseat was spacious, but the heater was cranked too high. So, I rolled down the window slightly.
“You always start coughing when you catch a breeze,” she reminded me. “Close the window, I’ll just turn the temperature down if you feel hot."
I shook my head and smiled. “Not anymore. Do whatever you like.”
She said nothing anymore. Moments later, her phone rang.