Chapter 6 Selene and Childcare: It all started this morning when I woke up...

Since she woke up this morning, Selene had felt something was off. She felt like something was missing, but after a long pause, she couldn't remember what it was. Only an empty feeling in her heart made her uncomfortable.

She looked around the room and saw that it was decorated in her own style, so why did she still feel uncomfortable?

She saw a photo on the bedside table. In the photo, although she still looked exhausted, she had a gentle smile on her face when facing the camera, and she was holding an ice cream in her hand.

That's strange, so strange.

She wasn't particularly fond of taking photos, nor did she smile much. As far as I remember, this photo was taken before her divorce from her scumbag ex-husband, but what was the reason?

Her life before her divorce wasn't easy, so why is she smiling like that? And because of her cavities, she doesn't like ice cream, so why is she standing next to an ice cream truck in the photo?

Aside from those who have just bought ice cream, who else would take photos in front of an ice cream truck?

She knew her ex-husband gambled, drank, and was abusive, so why did she only divorce him recently? She didn't really love him. Her love completely faded the first time he laid a hand on her. She could have left; divorce was so easy.

Why did she silently endure it for more than a decade? Was there a reason she had to persist? Selene couldn't recall.

Unless there are children involved, and that scumbag continues to threaten her, or a divorce would result in the other party gaining custody of the children?

If she really had a child and got divorced, she really couldn't imagine how that child would be tortured to the point of wishing for death by that scumbag.

"Don't think about it anymore." A voice seemed to be gently guiding Selene's mind: "You're divorced now, aren't you? Don't overthink it. You don't have children; that was just your guess."

...Yes, it was all her speculation; she didn't have children. It's strange, how did she even start thinking about children in the first place? And she even logically assumed that if she had children, she would have to protect them even if she didn't divorce.

"That's good enough." The voice rang out again. "You now have a stable job with a decent salary, and your life will only get better and better. Alright, now you should go eat breakfast and get to work."

Right, she can't waste any more time; she has to go to work later.

Her movements were fluid and efficient; she quickly fried the eggs and bacon. As she sat down to eat breakfast, she wondered what had caused her to feel unwell recently.

Even though she's already divorced, why do she remember the past few days being even more difficult than when she was still married?

Something seemed wrong, but she couldn't recall anything, only vaguely remembering that she had lost something very important.

Thinking back to the past few days, it was as if her memories were shrouded in a layer of dust, and she suddenly felt inexplicably sad, a wave of grief she didn't know why washed over her.

Selene didn't realize she was already in tears until her tears fell onto her plate. She had no appetite anymore, so she cleaned up and went to work.

Selene's new job is as a supermarket cashier. Her colleagues are fairly friendly, but she occasionally gets distracted while working because of things that happened in the morning.

Although it was absurd, she was certain that her memories had been altered, and although some memories had been blurred, emotions do not lie; she must have a child.

She doesn't like ice cream, but her child might. She only smiles more when she's with people she's close to, not with polite, distant smiles towards others. It's as if a piece of her heart has been ripped out when she has a child but has forgotten about him.

She found no signs of anyone else living in the house, nor any belongings, but she remained convinced that she had once had a child.

She didn't know why her memory had to be erased of that child. She was in a daze at work today, and her boss noticed that something was wrong with her and let her go home early.

But she didn't want to go home; it wasn't home at all, just a temporary place to stay. She felt an indescribable emptiness, and walked aimlessly until she reached the West District, a place she rarely frequented. Her residence and workplace were in the North District.

She finally came to her senses and was about to leave when she passed a bookstore and was stopped by a strange man.

She doesn't know how, but in a daze, she agreed to the man's invitation. It wasn't until they found a corner restaurant and sat down that she realized what had happened.

For some reason, looking at the man named Jess in front of her, Selene couldn't bring herself to refuse, and she didn't feel any wariness at all.

"You don't look well." After the two finished ordering, Xingyun was the first to express her concern: "Is something bothering you?"

“…” Selene paused, not wanting to speak, but looking into the other person’s sincere eyes, she inexplicably blurted out: “I feel like I’ve lost my child.”

Xingyun raised an eyebrow. He hadn't given up space for the mother and son to catch up in their final moments because he was being soft-hearted. What was Ethan thinking? Had Selene not completely forgotten? She actually remembered she had a child. Let's hear what she has to say.

Starfall adopted a listening posture, which aroused Selene's urge to confide. She was in so much pain that she would not doubt that she would become depressed if she kept it in any longer.

So Starfall listened to Selene's suspicions that something was wrong as soon as she woke up.

She couldn't understand why she had maintained a terrible marriage for over ten years, enduring her ex-husband's domestic violence. She had just gotten divorced a few days ago, but she was in a daze. The emotions deep within her body surged up, making Selene convinced that she had a child, which was why she had endured it.

In response, Starfall only wanted to settle scores with Ethan. Why was his memory so vague if he couldn't fabricate it?

They could have discussed and planned the memory together. He's lived for countless years, and constructing a false yet real memory is a piece of cake for him.

Now Selene was no longer just doubting; she was now certain that she had lost a child. She almost cried as she spoke, and Starfall was certain she saw tears welling up in her eyes.

He couldn't just knock her unconscious and change her memory; he wasn't good at dealing with a suffering mother, and Selene happened to be Ethan's mother. He even wanted to talk to Selene about parenting.

Starfall tried to comfort Selene in a halting, stiff tone, but to no avail; Selene remained unmoved.

“Actually, I’ve been having some troubles lately too.” Starfall could only pull Selene out of her sadness by confiding her worries: “I’ve been having some conflicts with the child I’m raising lately, it seems like he’s going through puberty.”

Selene wiped away her tears and looked at him hesitantly. She hadn't expected Xingyun to look so young. Was his child about to enter puberty? He looked only in his twenties.

“He was really well-behaved at first. When I first raised him, he was very timid. Even if I asked him to do something he didn’t like, he wouldn’t dare to refuse, afraid of making me angry.” Xingyun recalled Ethan’s initial appearance with great nostalgia: “Now he’s become unlovable. He even suspects that I’m peeping at women taking a bath and argues with me. As I’ve raised him, his personality seems to have become a bit skewed, and he’s biased towards his birth mother.”

"Your child didn't live with you from the beginning, right?" Selene hesitated. "It's normal for a child to be scared in a new environment. As for peeping at women bathing?"

Starfall succinctly stated, "Because my identity is somewhat special, I might encounter this in case of an accident, but it generally won't happen." He was too lazy to observe the lives of each person in Starfall City; he didn't have any strange peeping fetish.

What Selene overheard: "She's of a high status; people might try to seduce her or even deliberately try to take advantage of her?" Was the "bathing" reference to the perfectly timed indiscretion she'd seen in movies?

Selene listened carefully to what Xingyun said about the child's current way of handling things and the contradictions for a long time: "It's probably because the child has become familiar with you. Don't most people only lose their temper with their family? As for the misunderstanding about peeping at his birth mother while she was taking a bath, you really need to talk to him about it. If you don't clear it up, the conflict between you will gradually grow."

Starfall thought Selene's words made a lot of sense. There was indeed a type of person who could be quite ruthless to outsiders but much worse to family, because they knew their family loved them and therefore acted with impunity. So, Ethan accepted him?

But his suspicions still made him uncomfortable.

“You just mentioned that you bought a lot of parenting books to study after raising that child. But no child grows exactly like the ones in the books, and sometimes plans need to be adjusted.” Selene’s dishes were all served, and she took a bite and found them not very tasty. “Teenagers really need to have a face-to-face talk with him. Maybe you can go back and express how upset you are after being misunderstood, and stop him from doing anything inappropriate. If he is stubborn, you can punish him appropriately, otherwise, his lack of legal awareness will be quite bad.”

Star, a hidden arrogance, would never take the initiative to express his feelings. Meteor felt that having a heart-to-heart talk was a bit difficult. Ethan's legal awareness should be okay, oh wait, shouldn't he improve the city's laws?

Go catch him for domestic violence when you have time; he doesn't like it.

Starfall and Selene chatted for a long time, from two or three in the afternoon until four or five. They talked until Selene unknowingly finished all the dishes she had ordered and then ordered new ones.

She didn't know how many cups of water she drank, and she felt thirsty many times, but Xingyun hadn't drunk a drop of water.

After talking to him, she felt she had no energy left to be sad. She was so tired that all she wanted to do was sleep. Xingyun's questions had almost drained her. Where did he get so many questions? He seemed to want to take ten steps at a time when faced with questions about children.

Xingyun paid the bill, and Selene didn't try to refuse. At first, they chatted about their troubles, but Xingyun talked to her for three hours about how to raise a child.

Does she seem like the kind of person who's good at raising children? She hasn't even remembered whether her child is a boy or a girl yet, Selene said in silence.

When they parted, they exchanged contact information and said they could talk again next time. As Selene left, she seemed to hear a very faint snap of her fingers, and then she could no longer remember anything about her lost child.

A note from the author:

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I'm still a bit confused by what I'm writing; they're practically grabbing the pen! It feels a bit off from what I envisioned, so I might revise it periodically. I'll mention the revisions in the title.

There was no romantic relationship between Xingyun and Selene; the city doesn't fall in love with people, it's just that old fathers and mothers talk about their children.

I dreamt last night that I had my first reader, but when I woke up I realized I still don't. [Pity]