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.”

struck speechless

was maybe eight hundred square feet with

you living alone?” I

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

narrowed eyes. “Why don’t you

course!” I said with a nod. “But you need to keep the place much tidier. I might go

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,

wasn’t as if she wasn’t doing well financially. She had no

need my freedom as an adult, okay? We all

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

I fought with Tessa, so I sprained my ankle.

she asked that, the doorbell rang, and she went to open

grab lunch together,” she pestered

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

gestured for the woman to do what she had to do.

with something random. “What about fish? I’ve

she didn’t waste too much time, or we would probably have left the house

mall near her place, so we found a restaurant that served fish and chips and ordered what we wanted

immediately started nosing around the moment we sat down.

as I coughed. “We were just another arranged marriage. Mr. Bauman was the one behind our relationship,

if she were actually thinking about it. “Are you two planning to go back