Chapter 4

After breakfast, I returned to my bedroom and closed the door, quietly watching my mom.

At ten years old, I understood life and death. But I wasn’t scared.

Mom had told me she traveled to this world at eighteen. In her original world, she lay in bed in a hospital, with tubes in her body. When she succeeded in her mission, the system gave her a choice: go back home or stay here. She wanted to go back to see her mom but couldn’t bear to leave Dad, and especially me, so she stayed.

I asked her, "Mom, can you stay with me forever?"

"Of course," she said.

I remembered those words for a long time. Now, I just gently touched her nose and whispered, "Mom, you liar."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I knew it wasn’t Dad; he hadn’t been home for a long time.

Nora’s voice called out from outside, "Candy, open the door for Auntie. Auntie will take you home. I’ll be your mom."

I shouted back, "Go away! You’re not my mom, you’re a homewrecker!"

After giving up on her law exam, Mom started focusing on taking care of Dad and me. We were happy. I thought we would always be happy.

But then, Nora appeared. She was Dad’s newly hired secretary, always clumsy. Dad complained about her more often. I wondered why, if he found her so annoying, he didn’t just fire her. But he started coming home later and sometimes not at all. Nora even appeared in Dad’s social media posts.

While shopping with Mom one day, we saw Dad with Nora. Mom dropped a vase she was holding.

Dad looked over, his face instantly panicking before he pulled Nora’s wrist to chase after Mom. But Mom picked me up and ran, covering her mouth.

That night, my parents fought. I hid behind the door, listening to Dad try to explain. He said he was only helping Nora because she was lonely and nothing was going on, treating her like a sister.

Mom wasn’t buying it and coldly warned him, "If you see her again, I will leave."

Dad got angry, "Where would you go? You have no family here."

He knew Mom was a mission player. She gave up the chance to go back home for him and couldn’t leave this world.

I remembered one time Dad made Mom mad, and she stormed out with her bag.

I was frantic, begging Dad to go after her. But Dad just sat with his legs crossed, reading the paper, saying, "Where can she go?"

That night, Mom came back with red eyes and bags of groceries.

"Rex, I bought food for you guys."

She opened the takeout boxes—it was my favorite crab meat dumplings and Dad’s favorite chive wontons.

I happily ate my dumplings while Mom quietly ate leftovers from last night. Suddenly, I lost my appetite.

I thought, if Mom had a family to go back to, she would take the longest train or flight to get there. But her family was in another world; she had nowhere else to go.

Dad banked on that to keep her in line.、