A few years later, A Luo celebrated her twentieth birthday.
The next day, over lunch, Malena brought up the same old subject of dating and marriage, just like most parents would. After all, A Luo was a girl on Whale Island who had never dated and showed no interest in marriage.
"I was your age once, too. I know you don't like hearing this sort of thing."
"But A Luo, I can't stay with you forever. Besides, you'll need to date and get married someday. I won't interfere with your choice of partner, but you can't just keep living alone like this, can you?"
"As it happens, the son of the seafood stall owner on our street has never dated anyone, either. Why don't you meet him and see how you get along?"
A Luo: "..."
She really hadn't expected that even crossing into another world wouldn't let her escape conversations about dating and marriage.
Honestly, after everything she had been through, she simply couldn't picture herself settling down with an ordinary person from Whale Island.
What if they argued one day, or he became abusive or cheated on her? She genuinely worried that she might slap him dead!
She thought life on Whale Island was pretty good right now. For the time being, she had no desire to go on the run again because she had gotten herself involved in a murder case.
But looking at the worry on Malena's face, A Luo really couldn't bear to disappoint her mother.
Over the years, she had done her utmost to avoid anything connected to those painful memories, so Malena wouldn't be reminded of them.
That included her Nen Ability.
A Luo had passed herself off as an entirely ordinary young girl, even hiding her Nen Ability from Malena and almost