Late at night.
Paul returned to the empty house.
He turned on the lights.
The elders from the restaurant had cleaned up the house nicely.
The broken windows were all repaired.
There was a new set of bedding in the bedroom.
This old house wasn't big.
Two bedrooms and one living room.
Paul used to feel that this house was small.
But now, he felt that it had become incredibly empty.
Alison had hung a picture of Jesus on the wall at home before.
Paul took out his parents' photos from his backpack and replaced the portrait of Jesus.
"Dad, Mom, we're home," Paul said softly, standing in front of it.
Inside the empty house.
No response.
Paul stood there for a while.
Then he lowered his head and went back to his room.
The next day, he got up early, shouldered his backpack, and headed to school.
...
Mia took a few days off at home.
Byron stubbornly didn't want her to go to school.
In the end, Mia insisted so strongly that he reluctantly sent her to school.
Then he didn't go to work either.
He sat in the car and stayed outside the school all day until Mia finished school.
Evie couldn't help but tease.
"Is your husband suffering from separation anxiety?"
"It's fine. Mia thinks Byron is fragile now and treats him much better," Athena said with a smile.
"There's something I guess Byron won't tell you."
"Hmm?" Athena's smile faded, and she probably knew what Evie was going to say.
"Somebody bailed out Freya. Not a word leaked, and the outside world still doesn't know," Evie said. This was also what Aron told her.
As for how Aron knew, Evie had no idea.
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