I stood there, rooted to the spot while watching them as my heart sank even deeper. I knew what would happen once they reached the second floor.
The thought of it and the pain that followed shattered the emotional barriers I had tried so hard to maintain. With a clenched fist, I mustered all my courage and pleaded desperately, "Auntie! Please, don't …."
She paused for a moment, her steps faltering. However, then, with the man’s support, she continued upstairs.
The man glanced back at me, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
It was like the damage had already been done. It was an irreversible reality.
That night I could not sleep and just sat in the living room while listening to the muffled, ambiguous sounds from the second floor. The lights in their room flickered on and off, each change like a stab to my chest.
I clenched my teeth to stifle the sobs threatening to escape, and in my head, I kept chanting, "Haven't you let go already? You know perfectly well this is not possible. Your feeling for Auntie is doomed not to happen."
Yet no matter what tears kept flooding.
It was not until I heard footsteps descending the stairs that I realized dawn had arrived. Hastily, I wiped my face, erasing the traces of my anguish.
It was Auntie who walked downstairs. Her freshly washed hair cascaded over her shoulders and she carried herself with an elegance that seemed to exude a newfound confidence. A woman who had just had her first taste of intimacy.
My chest tightened further.
She glanced at me briefly, her expression cold and distant, as if I were a stranger. She did not even utter a word to me.
Panic welled within me and I couldn’t stop myself from calling out loudly at her back, "Auntie!"
She knitted her brows with annoyance. "What is it?"
Her voice was unfamiliar, icy enough to freeze the air around her. For a moment, I was speechless.
Yet, it was precisely her detached demeanor that snapped me back to reason. Forcing a smile, I said, "Auntie, I just wanted to ask, what would you like to eat for your birthday tomorrow?"
Perhaps relieved that I wasn’t uttering forbidden words, her tone softened slightly, "Do whatever you want. I'm heading off to work now."
Then she left and the house went empty again.