Mom sat comfortably on the sofa. “It feels so good here. This is my real home.”
Grandma gently picked up a blanket and placed it over Mom’s legs.
"Every time you don’t want to see her, you say Kevin is on a business trip and stayed here. You’re still the same after all these years, such a child.”
Grandma’s words were gentle, but they hit me hard.
Ever since I was little, Dad has often gone on business trips. Whenever he was away, Grandpa and Grandma took Mom back to the countryside.
They didn’t come home until Dad’s trip was over, sometimes two weeks, sometimes a month, or even longer.
Those business trips were really just excuses for all of them to stay away from me.
Dad sat silently, staring at his phone.
On the screen was our chat.
[Hazel, Mom and Dad can’t come home tonight. Remember to lock the door.]
[Hazel, are you asleep?]
I didn’t reply. That had never happened before.
Any message from Dad, no matter what it was, no matter what I was doing, I always replied immediately.
Maybe Dad didn’t even realize it, but his hand was shaking as he held the phone. He stood up, walked to the balcony and called his secretary.
“Go to my house right now and check.”
“Is my daughter at home?”