My mom returned just in time for dinner—

"Alice, I'm sorry, something came up suddenly."

She looked particularly anxious and guilty, as if she had done something she was afraid of being discovered.

I forced a smile and told her it was okay.

"Can I be discharged in a week?"

"Yes..."

"After I go home, can you send Nancy away?"

I asked my mom.

She was taken aback and took a long time to respond. "Nancy has always been well-behaved; I can't…"

I see.

If she doesn’t leave, then I’m the one who will.

Once I made up my mind, Luke came to see me with flowers.

I thought he would be too ashamed to come.

After all, I was kidnapped because of him.

Years ago, he was injured and abducted. To save him, I offered to exchange hostages.

I handed myself over to the kidnappers…

Afterwards, the kidnappers, not receiving the ransom, turned on each other.

I was shuffled around and eventually sold directly to the mafia.

"Will your new girlfriend be upset if you come to see me?"

"Alice, you are my only one."

"Don’t say such things, it's disgusting!"

I almost felt nauseated.

At that moment, Nancy appeared.

She looked at Luke with tears streaming down her face. "So, you really see me as her replacement!"

After saying that, Nancy turned and ran.

Luke immediately panicked.

"Nancy—"

Hesitating, he glanced at me and ultimately chose to chase after Nancy.

...

A week later, I was allowed to discharge from the hospital.

Returning home, I intended to see my room, which I had not seen for years.

Just as I was about to open the bedroom door...

"Alice."

My mom tried to stop me, but it was too late.

I had already opened the door—

In that instant, my face froze.

While trapped by the mafia, I had often wondered what my mom was doing.

Did she miss me terribly?

Did she constantly touch the things I left behind?

Did she sit in my room and cry?

I didn’t want these things to happen—

But I also never imagined

that my mom would have torn my room apart.

Yes, torn apart.

I used to love my small, cozy bedroom.

Now, the room had been merged with the adjacent one, making it very large.

There were even model photos of Nancy on the walls...

I didn’t look closely at first, thinking they were of me.

She resembled me quite a bit, but her makeup was overdone.

What is she trying to do?

Ride on my fame?

Five years missing, and she still wants to bask in my spotlight?

"I’ll have Ida prepare another room for you,"

my mom said hesitantly from behind me. "I didn’t expect you to come back…"

"So you thought I was dead?"

"Why didn’t you believe I could return, when you didn’t even see my corpse?"

Of course, I didn’t believe she would wait for me forever.

But on a smaller scale, who doesn’t want to be remembered for a lifetime, rather than

being forgotten in just five short years, or worse...replaced entirely by someone else?