When There Is Nothing Left But Love

“Do you want a Dad?” I asked her.

Surprisingly, Summer was more sensible than I expected. She shot back, “What about you?”

I smiled lightly. The darkness slowly descended over the city. On the way home, I gave her a bag of freshly baked chocolate buns.

The buns tasted delicious as we savored them, sitting on a stone bench in the yard.

Sometimes, I would dream of a young Macy running towards me with her arms full of mangoes.

We would slice the mangoes up and mix them with sugar. Our entire afternoon would be dedicated to doing only that.

I started sleeping better after Summer had gotten used to living in R Province. In fact, the sun was usually already high in the sky whenever I woke up.

There was a resort next to the R Province lake that was constructed about half a year ago. After finishing work at the restaurant, I headed over to the hotel to start my janitorial job.

The job was relatively easy. I only took up the job because it was near Summer’s school, so it was convenient for me to drop her off and pick her up.

It was late evening when I finished cleaning the hotel and changed into a set of new clothes, preparing to pick Summer up from school.

“Going to pick your daughter up?” Colin asked, leaning against a door frame.

I turned to look at him, nodding. “Do

chuckled and shook his head. “I

I first applied for a job here. Looking confused as he read over my resume, he had asked, “You graduated from a

is equal.” I shrugged. “Besides, the salary

positions in the hotel had trial periods and promotion periods, with everyone sharing the same low salary

position was different, and

have been fate that brought the two of us together. We eventually became

were times when he couldn’t pick his son up from school

hotel premises in his car. The

were also several senior

don’t you sit down over there for a bit?” Colin pointed to

minutes isn’t that long.” Perhaps it was the postpartum side effects, but my

further, glancing at his watch. “There’ll be an opening for a position with an attractive salary package. The only downside is that you will have to

Summer gets scared when she’s home alone.” I refused, shaking

you will receive two paychecks—another one as a receptionist. After all, R Province is a small city.

blinked owlishly. The offer did sound tempting. “How much is

a waste of your talents. Plus, living costs are going to increase as Summer grows up, and your current salary isn’t

of buying a house after

five years old, and most kids started developing hobbies and interests at her age. I was