23. Here We Go Again

23. Here We Go Again
"You took so long to pick up the phone." David spoke up as soon as the call connected. 

Only one second into the connection, David was already hounding her with nauseating-sounding remarks. Florence let out a long, harsh sigh. Every time she interacted with him, it felt like her energy was being sucked down a black hole. And of course it was exhausting.

"Where are you right now? I'm at your doorstep. Come out and meet me, I have something to talk to you about."

David made her head feel much more dizzy.

"Get out of there," Florence said it softly. She didn't have the energy to deal with David any further. She wanted to end this conversation.

"What? Wait... I won't stay long, I promise, I'm just—"

"That's not what I meant, I'm not at home right now." Florence gave a sober explanation. At the same time she saw Jess, who was staring at the car, probably confused and wondering why Florence took so long just to get her sushi. This felt excessive, she had even realized it.

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm outside. Never mind, I'm hanging up, I'm busy right now."

"Wait—"

"There's no time, just leave my house. You'll be wasting your time waiting for me because I have no intention of coming back anytime soon." Florence said with a quick intonation, especially now that she saw Jess standing up and already seemed to be walking.

Florence snatched the sushi box at high speed.

"Okay, but I'll be here later, this is important, when can we meet?" David was still asking, he didn't hang up like she asked.

Jess seemed to be getting closer. The phone was still in her ear. She quickly opened the door, then said, "Tonight you can come again," she said, followed by a cell phone that closed instantly and unilaterally, she didn't care about his reply. She assumed everything was fine, that he heard her every word. And that should be the case.

Right on time, Florence got out of the car just as Jess arrived. She smiled at her sister.

"Hey, everything okay?" Jess asked. That was her purpose for coming here, just as Florence had expected.

"What took me so long?" Florence grimaced. She neither covered nor denied.

"I was just wondering if there was a sudden problem."

"Ah, everything's okay. Look, I've brought sushi, come on." Florence walked first, followed by Jess who walked beside her.

"I thought there was something." Jess chuckled.

"Yeah, a little bit."

"About what?"

"I feel like I need to finalize my business with the client I was going to cancel our appointment with, so I just talked to him a little bit. Feels like a long time, doesn't it?" 

"Not really, so what about his response? Is he okay with that?" Jess asked. 

Lies were being woven again by Florence at this time. An act that was so small, but in the long run seemed so big because it was done too often.

"Well, I talked nicely so that he would understand, and yeah, he was okay with it, but now that it's settled, I've apologized to him."

"Thank goodness." Jess smiled. "I'm happy for you if you think it's for the best."

"Come on, let's not think about this any further. We'd better get some sushi, which oh God, must be getting cold by now."

Jess shook her head lightly, then said, "It doesn't matter, it's still edible. Come on, open the box."

The two of them sat back down under the tree and ate their sushi together. Florence didn't want to think about David, at least for a moment. She had to focus on what she was talking about with her sister. In fact, it would be fun.



A lie is still a lie, and even if it's kept as tightly as possible, it will eventually be exposed. That's what Florence was afraid of. And Jess would explode with great anger, it was definitely because her sister had lied, even though it wasn't about her, but it still felt like it.

Florence really felt guilty, but dwelling on this too much wasn't a good thing either. Night was now approaching, and before climbing into bed, Florence decided to take care of her skin first. She needed a light treatment as well as something relaxing to do that would make her feel more relaxed. In the end, she put on a face mask.

While waiting for the green tea mask on her face to dry so that she could rinse it off, Florence busied herself sweeping her room, then continued to pick up a black bag containing some of the trash from the past few days, then at the end she walked out of the house to put the plastic trash in front of her gate so that it could be picked up by the janitor who came by truck the next day.

Everything done, Florence smiles and intends to go back inside her house, but before that she is startled by the car spotlight shining on her face, making her vision dazzle. She was now transfixed, her eyes half-closed with her arms covering half of her face.

Who was the owner of that car? It was so reckless that Florence was suddenly upset. But luckily it didn't last long, because the second Florence was about to cuss, the light emanating from the car immediately went out, followed by the car's engine shutting down, then followed by someone getting out of there.

David. Florence should have expected this, but she didn't think anything of it. Her memory wandered back a few hours, to when she was about to have sushi with Jess, that's when she talked to him that he could come over tonight, over the phone to be precise. And now it was night, and he was here, right in front of her.

Florence should have known this would happen. She wasn't too surprised, but it still felt so sudden that she wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

David walked towards her. Their gazes met, and she felt like she couldn't escape. In a matter of seconds, they would be face to face.

That's when Florence felt the need to control herself. She was still standing with her body still and upright.

David was now standing right in front of her, exactly.

And here we go again....