Chapter 2

After drying my hair, I walked back out and saw Charlotte and Hugh on the living-room couch.

Charlotte was lying down, tearing open a bag of chips. Hugh was leaning in close, his mouth already open as he waited for her to feed him one.

There was not even a fist’s worth of space between them.

I stood there, my feet freezing cold.

When we were kids, her father, Mr. Henderson, would lock Charlotte in a dark room whenever she misbehaved. Mrs. Henderson was even stricter, never allowing her to make the slightest mistake.

That was why I had never held any of her ‘boundaries’ against her.

She saved my contact under my full name. She never posted me on social media. Whenever we ate together, she always sat across from me instead of beside me.

I accepted all of it, believing that restraint and distance were simply the way she showed her love.

That was until today, when everything finally spiraled out of control.

Hugh suddenly looked up.

“Ms. Henderson, the rain's stopped! We have work tomorrow. Why don't you drive me and Gideon home?”

Charlotte hummed in acknowledgment and picked up her car keys from the entryway.

I silently followed behind them.

Down in the parking garage, Charlotte walked to the passenger door and gestured for Hugh to get in. I quietly opened the back door.

I watched as Charlotte started driving without turning on the GPS, navigating the roads with effortless familiarity.

Something inside me slowly sank.

Back then, she could not even remember which building I lived in.

One time, she came to pick me up in the rain and drove around the block three times before she finally found my entrance.

“Ms. Henderson, do you remember that drummer at the concert? His facial expressions looked like those memes. I swear, I almost died laughing!”

“Yeah. I remember.”

“And the art exhibition! You know that story you told me about the ink bottle you broke when you were little? It took me three whole days to finally understand what you meant!”

“Well, you are a little slow.”

“Hey!”

The corners of Charlotte’s lips lifted. Her voice carried a relaxed warmth I had not heard from her in a very long time.

“But it’s kind of cute.”

I gave them no reaction.

About twenty minutes later, we arrived at Hugh’s apartment complex.

He hopped out of the car cheerfully. “Bye, Ms. Henderson! See you tomorrow!”

The car pulled away again, and the silence inside became almost suffocating.

She glanced at me through the rearview mirror, her voice indifferent.

“Don’t be stupid next time. If it rains, find somewhere to take shelter. It’s your body, so take better care of it.

“I’m busy. I don’t have time to keep looking after you.”

My voice was barely above a whisper.

“Charlotte, don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”

Her brows furrowed. “An explanation for what? I’ve already explained everything. He got soaked, and he lives far away.”

“But he was wearing pajamas.” I looked at her. “Why would you have clothes in your house that fit him?”

She impatiently tapped the steering wheel. “Gideon, you're just being too sensitive. He’s a young guy who just graduated. He’s simple and doesn’t have ulterior motives like that. You’re his team leader. Stop assuming the worst about everything.

“You were the one who said it back then. If we went public, people would gossip, so we had to keep our distance.”

I stared at the crown of her head.

“Right. So what about you and him? Why don’t you keep your distance from him?”

Charlotte fell silent for several seconds before her tone softened.

“Gideon, do you really have to do this? After all these years, I’m not going to just walk away from you. Stop being so suspicious all the time.”

The moment she finished speaking, her phone rang.

She answered it. A young man’s voice came from the other end. When she hung up, she suddenly slammed on the brakes and pulled over.

She grabbed her keys and held them out to me, her voice urgent.

“There was a power outage in Hugh’s building. He’s afraid of the dark. I need to go check on him. You should go home first.”

I lowered my eyes to her house keys.

I had asked her for them so many times before, but she would always have one excuse after another for refusing.

I never expected this would be how I finally got them.

“Charlotte, come back as soon as you’re done. I’ll be waiting for you at home. We need to talk.”

She did not answer. She made a U-turn and drove in the opposite direction.

The red taillights quickly disappeared into the rainy night.