Xia Yanxin, carrying her small handbag, returned to the familiar doorstep of her home. It was only a five-day trip, yet there was a sense of long separation.
It was already 2 a.m., and the light was still on in the small bedroom. Her mother's silhouette reflected on the glass window, still awake at this late hour, surely waiting for her return.
Xia Yanxin felt a sourness in her heart and, after a long while, raised her hand to knock on the door gently.
Rushed footsteps sounded, and the door quickly opened.
"Yanyan, you're finally back, thank goodness..."
Xia Shandi hugged her daughter tightly, clutching her as if afraid she would be lost again.
Xia Yanxin's eyes felt raw, the humiliations she had endured these past days weaving through her heart, filled with unspeakable grief and sorrow.
Only in her mother's embrace did she find a semblance of stability.
