When There Is Nothing Left But Love

It was quite far away, in a neighborhood near the north. Once I got off the car, I called Nora.

The phone rang for quite a while before she picked up. “Babe! Are you here?”

“I’m right downstairs.”

“Okay, give me a second.”

Five minutes later, I saw her limping down the stairs. She seemed rather unkempt in just her pyjamas with her hair simply tied in a messy bun.

She opened the door, and her face broke into a wide grin at the sight of the chrysanthemums in my hands. As she reached out to take them, she asked, “How did you know I liked chrysanthemums?”

What?

I had no idea. If it wasn’t for Armond, I wouldn’t even have thought of it.

At the sight of her happy smile, I couldn’t help but admit, “Armond asked me to buy them. I thought they would be a bit of a bad omen at first, but I saw these pretty pink ones at a flower shop on my way here and bought them.”

She chuckled. “I guess Mr. Murphy is still on his toes when it comes to this stuff. I only mentioned it once, and yet, he remembered. Looks like I might be likely to be marrying Mr. Bachelor in the future, huh?”

After that, she invited me in, and I followed her upstairs. Her house was incredibly messy, which left me a bit speechless. “Quick question – how do you live in a mess like this?”

She stuck the flowers into a random vase and gathered large bunches of messy clothes off the sofa and onto the bed. “I can’t sleep if it’s too tidy.”

was struck

was maybe eight hundred square feet with two

you living

nodded as she poured me a glass of water. “I used to live with another girl, but she moved in with her boyfriend. Now

scrutinized me with narrowed eyes. “Why don’t you move in

“But you need to keep the place much tidier. I might go insane

won’t be this messy all the time. I don’t feel like tidying things up when it’s just me here. After all, if everything’s too perfect, it

she wasn’t doing well financially. She had no reason to live

chuckled and said, “I need my freedom as an adult, okay? We all need a little

her logic at all. With a shrug, I asked, “How’s your injury?” I couldn’t help but look at her leg after noticing her

serious. I was wearing heels when I fought with Tessa, so I

moment she asked that, the doorbell rang,

can grab lunch together,” she

woman stood in the doorway. She seemed completely used to the state of the place and said, “Ms. Oberick, I’m here

woman to do what she had to do. “So,

of anything in particular, so I went with something random. “What

a bit. Luckily, she didn’t waste too much time, or

her place, so we found a restaurant that served fish and

nosing around the moment we sat down. “Babe, tell me everything about

nearly choked on my own spit and looked at her as I coughed. “We were just another arranged marriage. Mr. Bauman was the one behind our relationship, so

and looked as if she were actually thinking about it. “Are you two planning to go