His eyelids twitched as the middle-aged man struggled to remain calm, his uncertain gaze falling once more across Gao Ming's shoulder.
Indeed, his child had come home, bringing with him a woman fragmented in every sense of the term.
Confronted with an unexpected situation, the middle-aged man racked his brain, but couldn't remember his next line.
The sound of chopping emanated from the kitchen, Gao Ming's Mom urging them on, while the middle-aged man opened his mouth but eventually, all he could muster was, "Come in?"
Dressed in his school uniform, Gao Ming stood at the door. Hearing his father's familiar intonation, he felt momentarily dazed as if he had returned to that rainy night after a high school field trip, when he had walked through the front door, overwhelmed and frightened.
Grabbing the woman's wrist, Gao Ming entered the rental unit. Everything was just as he had left it – time seemed to have been paused.
