The old woman suddenly looked up, still a little startled.
"...Xiao Xiao?"
She froze for a moment before slowly saying the young man's name.
"It's me."
Xiao Xiao smiled.
"Then..."
The old woman faltered.
Without thinking, she looked behind Xiao Xiao, searching for something.
But soon, a trace of disappointment appeared on her face.
There was nothing behind Xiao Xiao.
That meant...
Her heart tightened.
"Xiao Xiao, um... that child..."
The old woman changed how she referred to it. "The monster..."
"Child Ghost..."
She changed the name again, as if afraid Xiao Xiao wouldn't understand who she meant.
"It..."
"It won't appear here again."
Xiao Xiao finished her sentence.
The old woman froze.
Her voice trembled slightly. "I-is that so..."
"It..."
The old woman fell silent.
She didn't quite dare to keep asking.
Deep down, she already knew the answer.
From the moment she had chosen to leave, that child's fate had been sealed.
But...
"That child..."
The old woman spoke softly. "It kept me company for so many years."
"I lost my son, my daughter-in-law, and my grandson."
"My old man passed away, too."
"I was the only one left in the whole family."
"...The house was still the same."
"But everyone who had lived in it was gone."
"I was miserable."
"But after being miserable for so long... it was almost like I got used to it."
"It didn't hurt quite so much anymore."
"I would go for walks downstairs."
"I took to feeding the cats."
"Then that child came along..."
"That child wasn't very good-looking."
"At first, it startled me, too."
"For some reason, the child seemed happy when it saw how startled I was."
"I didn't know whose child it was."
"I'd never seen it around the complex before."
"Though I'm old, and my