Chapter 2

"Emma? Emma, are you alright?" From the bed beside me, Alissa's tearful voice called out, snapping me out of those icy memories.

I turned to look at her, lying there with tears streaming down her face, seemingly devastated.

In my last life, I was taken in by her act as a grieving mother who'd lost her only son. My endless sympathy made me determined to be the dutiful daughter-in-law Michael would have wanted.

But now, her act was so phony it made me want to gag.

"My poor son. How could you leave us like this? With us old folks and the young ones left behind, how are we supposed to survive?" she wailed.

Then, just like before, she grabbed my hand, her voice choked with sobs. "Emma, my dear girl, Michael's gone. You're still young. Don't let his memory tie you down. Listen to me, find a good guy, settle down again"

In my last life, when I heard that, I dropped to my knees by her bed and swore I'd never remarry, that I'd look after her for the rest of my days.

This time, I looked up, tears still on my face from the memories, but my eyes were calm. I asked softly, "Alissa, if I remarry, who's going to take care of you? Michael was your only son. Now he's gone, and if I leave too, you'll have nobody left"

Alissa's crying stopped dead, like she hadn't expected me to say that. She froze for a second, then wailed even harder, "My son's gone. What's the point of me living? I might as well just go with him!"

There it was, the exact same script as last time.

I sneered inwardly, but on the outside, I put on a troubled, thoughtful look. After a moment, as if I'd made a big decision, I said, "Alissa, don't say that. If you really think you can't live alone

"How about I send you to that nice nursing home out west? I heard they take good care of people there. At least you'd have someone looking after you, so I could finally remarry without any worries."

As soon as I finished, I saw her grief-stricken face freeze, and I caught the slight twitch at the corner of her eye.

It was the look of someone whose scheme had just been derailed, with a flicker of panic she was scrambling to hide.

Alissa definitely hadn't expected me to bring up the nursing home idea.

"A a nursing home?" she echoed, her voice cracking.

"I can't go there! That place I've heard it's awful" she stammered, trailing off.

She kept stumbling over her words, never really finishing her sentence. Her face practically screamed 'no,' showing just how much she didn't want to go.

If she was really so desperate to die, would she even care about ending up in a nursing home?