Laura looked at the confidential notice in her hand. It was about a national radioactive materials team experiment in an uninhabited zone, a secret project that would require six years of research.
Today, Laura had intended to share this news with him. Perhaps leaving would ultimately be the best outcome for both of them.
Silently, Laura began packing her things. By evening, she made her way to the living room.
"Miss Marsh, didn’t Mr. Bill come back with you? Do you still want me to keep the hangover soup warm for tonight?"
Brenda came out from the kitchen and, noticing Laura's red, swollen eyes, felt a pang of sympathy.
"Miss Marsh, those eyes of yours are meant for scientific research. It won’t be good if you cry them out."
Laura responded with a bright smile, thinking of how in the past, Darren would often be out for social events.
She would always ask the small kitchen to prepare some nourishing porridge and hangover soup for him in the evening.
Thinking about today... she wondered if Darren would return. After all, he was like an uncle to her, the one who had raised her for so many years.
After a moment of contemplation, she nodded.
"Keep it warm. If he comes back, he can have it. If not, just throw it away."
Laura stood beneath a large photograph in the living room, a photo taken when she was eighteen, where she had insisted on having a picture taken with Darren.
At the time, she had her own motives. She thought the large photo displayed in the living room looked like a wedding picture, so her one and only moment of stubbornness and insistence was to have this oversized photo taken.
Back then, Darren had simply smiled, assuming she felt insecure since she had just arrived and wanted to establish that he was the one in charge.
Laura gently stroked the photo, reminiscing about the past. A faint smile unconsciously appeared at the corners of her lips.
"Brenda, help me take this photo down."
Since Melanie had returned, there was no need for her to keep these things around and embarrass herself.
From now on, the owners of this place would be Darren and Melanie. And to him, she was nothing more than a scheming woman trying to seduce men.
"Miss Marsh, this isn’t..." Brenda looked at her in confusion.
Laura only smiled, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "As the saying goes, out with the old, in with the new."