"That's not how the public sees it."
"Obviously. But you've undergone a traumatic experience recently, so there's a perfect excuse for your boss to show compassion for your situation."
"If you were a guy, that might be an acceptable excuse, but you're not! Please be more aware of that."
"Just shut it already. You've already peaked my interest with your story. The mysterious ghost girl rumored on the web who appeared about a year ago; who wouldn't want to see it with their own eyes?"
"You even had a dream where you saw a woman you'd never seen before who resembled your first ex, right?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Didn't you mention a grave in your first dream?"
"What about it?"
"What if it's the grave that belongs to that girl or something like that?"
"That definitely shouldn't be… possible?"
"What is it?"
Her question somehow struck a chord that resonated within my heart. Perhaps it was something I'd subconsciously thought of, but never wanted to connect the two things together in fear of what it meant.
"That grave… I'm fairly certain that it belongs to my first exes older sister."
"I've never seen her older sister before and to begin with, she also died before I met my first ex."
"Oh? And where exactly is this grave located then? Do you know?"
"I've seen it only once. It was the day I first discovered my ex was a psychopath that killed her own family and fed an unknown number of men who'd taken a fancy to her to her pet rats as food."
"Getting involved with you really is troublesome."
"Then why are you getting involved to begin with?"
"The thrill of danger and the unknown is what keeps us alive, is it not?"
"The nonbusiness version of you is practically the complete opposite of you when you're working."
"Is it wrong to keep the business me and casual me as two separate identities?"
"There isn't really. It's just that your personalities are at two opposite ends of the spectrum."
"By the way, was the big sister pretty?"
"What does that matter?"
"Well I'm just curious whether you've got the hots for the older sister as well as the younger one."
"I refrain from commenting."
"What a shocker, you've actually got the hots for a girl who's probably dead? Are you into necrophilia or something?"
"No! Absolutely not! She didn't look dead at all when I first saw her. I admit she was beautiful, maybe even more so than her sister, but that was just from behind. The face I saw was a far cry from it though; when she turned her head in my direction, what I saw was something straight out of a horror film."
"Hmmmmmm. I see, I see. I understand. In that case, I won't call you a closet necrophiliac for the time being until there is more evidence."
"Good. By the way, it's getting a bit late isn't it? It's already been over an hour since we got here. We should probably leave before the staff come over and kick us out."
"They would have the nerve to kick us out?"
"Yeah, if you stay too long without buying anything they will eventually ask you to leave."
"Then, how about giving me a ride to my place."
"Huh? Why don't I just drive you back to the office so you can drive home in your own car?"
"I took the bus today."
I was speechless.
"Why?"
"Last night I heard a noise, when I went out to check on it, I discovered that someone had slashed my car tire. Because I had a flat, I had to get it towed early in the morning and I took a bus to get to work on time. That was also one of the reasons why I was tired this morning and snuck into your car to take a short nap."
"Why didn't you just say that before?"
"You never asked why I was so sleepy, did you?"
"I had to ask for you to tell me that?"
"Of course. If you don't ask the right questions you'll naturally always be left in the dark."
I could only let out a drawn out sigh as I resignedly responded to her, "whatever, let's just go already. I'll drop you off at your place."
"Haha. What a gentleman."
I got up from my seat and she raised her left hand towards me with her palm faced towards the ground.
"What?"
"What do you mean what?"
"What's with your hand."
"You're supposed to help the lady up here. I'm so full I don't know if I can stand up by myself."
"Can you stop making shit up?"
"Then I guess we'll be forced to sit here until I find the strength to stand up."
"You got up perfectly fine before when you went to the bathroom after eating, what's stopping you from getting up now?"
"My legs are asleep after sitting for so long. Stop fussing and just give me a hand."
Begrudgingly, I extended my right hand, held onto hers and assisted her. She stood up from her seat without any sign of difficulty which proved she was full of it. I tried to pull my hand away once she stood up, but she didn't let go.
"Could you let go of my hand now?"
"Nope."
"What's your excuse this time?"
"Nothing much, I just wanted to hold your hand so you don't get spooked by a ghost on our way to the car or something."
"I'm not scared of ghosts, nor do I actually believe in them. Deep down I just thought the idea of ghosts was slightly interesting, that's all there was to it."
"Sure, whatever you say."
I didn't fight her about it since the car wasn't far anyways.
We left the McDonald's hand in hand which drew the eyes of a few people in the surroundings when we exited the establishment. Naturally their eyes were glued to the eye candy known as my boss. When outside, we made a beeline directly to my car. I opened the door for her and let her in first.
"Oh? You finally did something right."
"Haha. Right…"
I went over to the drivers side and got in. I started up the car and looked into the mirror ready to back up when-