One Night Surprise

Chapter 279 You Let Them Get Away With It

A bright light greeted Courtney’s escape and before she could react, she heard someone yell, “Surprise!”

It was followed by a loud burst of colorful confetti. Her breath hitched when she saw the elevator lobby was filled with people wearing odd masks and costumes. Among them were two small figures dressed up like jack-o’-lanterns as their heads bobbed under the weight of the pumpkin prop.

Courtney let out a scream at the sight of the motley crew before her, but she slightly calmed down as she figured out why the voices sounded familiar. She hesitantly called out, “Jordan? Tina?”

The smaller of the two jack-o’-lantern figures lifted the pumpkin costume to reveal a mischievous grin.

“Mommy, it’s me!” Tina announced happily.

“What are you…” Courtney trailed off as her eyes widened with bewilderment.

Happy Halloween, Miss Hunter!”

Someone cried from among the crowd as everyone began to remove their masks and headpieces to reveal their identities—they were all residents within the building.

Halloween? Courtney buried her head in her hands. “For goodness’s sake, all of you…”

Lisa, the woman who stayed at the apartment across the hall from theirs, was dressed as the Corpse Bride. She picked up a fraction of her dress while she sauntered to where Courtney stood, laughing as she said, “Did we scare you? The whole building is celebrating Halloween. You aren’t the first one to be frightened by the rest of us—those who came home after dark pretty much ended up with the same treatment too.”

Upon hearing that, Courtney froze and it took a while before she regained composure. “I thought the serial killer infiltrated my home! You guys scared the living daylights out of me!”

As she surveyed the somewhat familiar faces who grinned at her in the elevator lobby, she could feel a surge of warmth spread through her. The apartment building was always lively with community events, but due to her busy work schedule, she was often far too busy to participate. Nevertheless, the residents made sure she received the goody bags from all the events she missed out on.

that Courtney thought about it,

“By the

Courtney blinked. “My husband?”

pressing on. “Did you not see him? He was supposed to

Courtney regained her composure, she gaped at Lisa and gestured toward the front door of her apartment. “You

to open the door under the curious gaze of the crowd. She felt around in the dark and found

unidentified red liquid on the floor. There was a quail egg-sized bump on his

silence was broken when someone sputtered behind her and soon, everyone burst into laughter as they

willing to bet that it was his most embarrassing moment in his thirty something years

of dressing up for Halloween, but instead, he ended up

hardboiled egg against the bump on his head. “Sorry, but you looked so ridiculous back there

want to snap at her while Courtney was being gentle with him,

was almost scared to death! Just be thankful that I was

godforsaken chainsaw, he grew grim and glowered. “That was ketchup on the chainsaw and don’t ask me how I got into this

forces as they went around to scare other unsuspecting occupants of the building. The kids would not be returning home soon. However, judging from the way she sneakily took the ketchup-stained chainsaw

make one of their own instead. In an attempt to give the prop a test run, they had somehow convinced Alexander to retrieve the chainsaw for them around the same time that Courtney came home from work. Tina could not have thought of such an elaborate scheme, so

disbelief at the audacity of those children. “You allowed them to get away with it,” she pointed out accusingly, rolling her

was about to retort, but when he saw the mock exasperation on her face, he slightly drew back and stared.

ambience at his own home. He remembered how good it felt to be

his reverie. How did I not realize that the warmth I had been pining for all these years is right next to me? The occasional humorous banter that kept me on my toes, the way I allowed Courtney to blame me for the small, insignificant things that I would have otherwise mercilessly refuted—these are the little changes that are leading me toward a life

told him when he was a child—the world was a wonderful place, but he just needed to find someone who could illustrate all the

time the kids returned home with a triumphant haul of sweets, having gone on

then watched as they fell asleep before they could even get past the beginning of the bedtime