Who had assigned me the mission of becoming someone important?

If I had simply taken a proven path like everyone else, by now I would have had a life.

Had my father been wrong?

Maybe I wasn’t as intelligent as I had thought.

I couldn’t bear to go home.

I felt like I would die of jealousy if I heard that woman’s laughter.

I went to the cemetery.

I sat in my car outside the cemetery, looking and thinking.

I did the math and realized that this business wasn’t working out the way I had imagined either.

I simply couldn’t understand why people walked past without buying anything.

Our prices were good. The décor was beautiful. The neighborhood where I had put the kiosk was fairly busy, which was exactly why the rent was so high.

So why weren’t people buying?

Maybe I needed to hold on a little longer and let the business establish itself gradually.

But I didn’t have enough strength left.

If I sold everything I had bought right now, including my car, and paid all of my parents’ remaining income to the bank over the next six months, I could clear my debts.

But that would be a complete failure.

A disaster.

It was exactly what Sina had predicted.

I didn’t want his prediction to come true, but I no longer had the strength to fight it.

Maybe it would be better to give up the house instead of selling the car, move somewhere smaller in a cheaper neighborhood, and start over.

But this place smelled like my parents.

I had been born here. I had grown up here, and…

I had been my parents’ only child, and I had always done whatever I wanted. Now I was trapped in a situation I had never imagined even in a nightmare.

I wished I could turn back time, undo so many things, or do some of the things I had failed to do.

Around midnight, I thought of Sina, and how much fun he must have been having with his friends that night.

Who was that woman?

Even if she had nothing to do with Sina, it wouldn’t have changed anything.

Sina no longer had anything to do with me.

I was lost in these thoughts when my phone rang.

Ever since the call informing me about my parents’ accident, every unexpected ring made my breath catch.

Then I would remember that there was no one left for me to lose. It was simply a conditioned response.

The number was Sina’s.

What could he possibly want from me at this hour?

What was I supposed to say?

He was probably still riding the high of his birthday celebration.

I had nothing to say to him.

I was angry with him.

I hated all that patience and logic of his.

I didn’t want him to see how helpless I was.

I didn’t answer.

The call ended.

A few minutes later, I received a text.

“Ms. Mahta, where are you? I don’t see your car. Is everything all right?”