The Day I Kissed An Older Man

"He's a waste of oxygen. From the looks of it, he's probably done it countless times," Rita said. She had already grabbed a brick just in case the homeless man had not come to her aid. If he had not struck the drunkard on the back, it might have been his head that was in jeopardy.

When they relocated to another spot, Rita finally remarked, "Ah, so you can speak. I thought you'd keep quiet forever."

The man did not respond to Rita's jibe. He draped a thin blanket over himself and wrapped a torn cotton jacket around his neck.

"You haven't been through what I have," the man muttered.

knew what he meant by that. He was implying that she had not gone through what he had and was thus unable to understand the reasoning for his choices. However, she did

than just remaining homeless on that soon-to-be-repurposed land. Rita frowned and wondered why he refused to speak to reporters, but she received a decidedly unfriendly glare from

reporters are all the same. A year ago, I lost my home. Then, after I spoke to reporters, I lost my family too. Now let me ask you: if you were in my position, would you

sank. She had long noticed his aversion to reporters, but she did not expect that the

still like to extend my sincerest apologies to you on behalf of the other reporters. Even though I'm still a newbie who has a lot to learn, I genuinely want to help you in overcoming your current situation. I also want to understand what transpired on this land, such as why the developers appear to be at no fault whatsoever. Some even hail them as the kind of benevolent and rare developers. Why would such a

"Me and my family, you say? I don't have a family now..t don't even know why still have this grudge when others have moved on. Perhaps I should've just left like everyone else. Then I won't have to face everything that happened after that. I was naive, and I thought that collective resistance would prevail. In the end,

to leave?" Rita's heart raced as she sensed she was approaching