When fate plays its hand

Suddenly, Nelly remembered something. She pulled out her phone and zoomed in on the photos she had taken earlier,

She mumbled, “The woman with Paul… Why does she look so much like the one who went shopping with Sam to pick out shoes at the mall earlier?”

Nelly shook her head and dismissed the thought as ridiculous. She knew her son well enough to know that he was always the one playing with women, never the other way around.

“No way. There’s just no way…” She convinced herself she must have been mistaken.

After picking up the car, Miranda and Paul went home. There were no designated parking spots in front of their apartment building, so they had to park in the lot across the street.

Since she had purchased a car and needed to park it regularly, he suggested she rent a garage parking space. By the time they found the property management office, negotiated the price, and signed the contract, one hour had passed.

Paul dropped Miranda off at her place before heading back to his own apartment. Just as he was about to boil some water, he heard someone pounding on his door.

He set the kettle down and went to answer it. When he saw his mother, Susan, he raised an eyebrow and asked, “Mom, what are you doing here?”

“Why? Can’t I visit you? Are you hiding someone here, or maybe keeping some secret you don’t want me to know about?” She brushed past him and walked straight inside his apartment.

She thought she would catch him red–handed, but after looking around, she realized her son was the only one there.

After noticing her reaction, Paul couldn’t pretend he didn’t understand what was happening. “Mom, what’s the real reason you’re here today?” His tone suddenly dropped, and it put an unexpected weight in the air.

Susan hesitated for a moment, then smiled awkwardly and cleared her throat. “Well, the temperature’s dropped again. I just wanted to make sure you’re taking care of yourself, so I thought I’d check in on you.”

As she spoke, she stepped into the living room and subtly scanned the place. The room was immaculate, with no signs of a woman ever having been there.

There was only one cup on the dining table, with no lipstick marks on the rim. Even the bathroom had just one towel hanging on the rack.

Susan frowned. Could Paul really be telling the truth? Was there nothing going on between him and Miranda? If he truly had a girlfriend, the house wouldn’t look so tidy.

He watched his mother dart around the apartment and checked every corner as if she were on a hunt rather than a visit. It didn’t feel like a visit–it felt more like she was on a mission to catch him in the act.

He couldn’t understand what was going through her mind, so he just let her keep at it. Eventually, He broke the silence. “Are you done?”

Susan turned and found Paul staring at her quietly as if waiting to see what she would do next. She laughed awkwardly. “It’s been so long since I’ve been here. I was just worried you weren’t taking care of yourself. But I guess I was just overthinking it.”

Paul smiled wryly. He had always been independent and had moved out on his own years ago. When he first left, Susan never seemed this concerned.

But now, after all these years of living on his own, she suddenly starts talking about being “worried“. It felt a little odd to him..

Still, he didn’t confront her about it. “Don’t worry, Mom. I can take care of myself.”

She hesitated before saying, “Alright. Then, I won’t stress about it.”

After a beat, she asked, “Are you hungry? I can cook something for you.”

Paul shook his head, “No thanks. I’ve got some things to take care of.”

He really did have some experimental data to review. Whatever his mother was up to, he didn’t feel like asking.

Susan smiled awkwardly. “You go ahead and keep busy. I’ll go home now.”

As she opened the door, the door next to hers swung open, and she nearly bumped into Miranda. Their eyes locked in that brief, unexpected moment.