Chapter 64

Melissa saved the phone number that Murphy had just given her on her mobile phone's contact list, labeling it as "Cleaner". As she looked at the three-character label, her lips curved up slightly in amusement. She put the phone into her bag and leisurely headed towards the children's play area. "Alvin, Alvina, are you tired?" Melissa shouted towards the play area. She saw Alvin engrossed in a shooting game, looking so cool in his small form. While Alvina was still swimming in the sea of colorful balls, sinking down with the wave of balls rolling over her, she seemed to be enjoying it with her eyes closed. "Not tired!" Alvin, while still busy shooting basketball, turned his head and said to his mother. "I've made fifteen baskets, mom, am I great?" Melissa gave a thumbs-up to Alvin "Hmm, Alvin is the best!" Upon hearing his mother's praises, Alvin felt more spirited in shooting. He propped up his small butt, straightened his arms over his head while holding the ball, targeted the basket, and heartily threw the ball forward. The basketball traced an arc in the air, hit the edge of the basket and hesitantly fell into it. "Yay! Mom, I made another one!" Alvin stretched out a hand and made a victory sign, he jumped joyfully and ran a lap around the small court. Melissa revealed a content smile. Sometimes she couldn't help wonder, is her children's father a sun-kissed handsome man who could play basketball? Does he like swimming and fitness? Is his skin wheat-colored from exposure to the sun? Whenever Melissa would get lost in such thoughts, a cruel voice would always remind her. The father of her children might just be a jerk who might have only agreed to Liam and Nancy's plans for the sake of money, and was involved in their conspiracy. But it has been six years since that night. The man's life or death, Melissa doesn't care to know now. She hopes that she won't see that man in this lifetime again; otherwise, he'd be added to her list of people to take revenge on, next in line after Liam and Nancy. "Thump!" A ball hit Melissa. She lifted her head and saw Alvina standing not far from her, carrying an armful of ocean balls. Melissa bent over to pick up the ball and tossed it back into the playing area; Alvina quickly dodged. She giggled and energetically threw all the balls in her arms toward the area where Melissa was standing. "Mommy, what were you thinking just now?" Alvina walked over to Melissa, raised her rosy little face, and looked innocently at her mother. She clenched her little fist, bringing it to her mouth and clearing her throat twice. "Mommy was thinking, how can my baby Alvina be this cute!” Melissa gently lowered her head, her hand caressing Alvina's cheek and ear, asking solicitously. "Alvina, did you break a sweat?” "No." Alvina shyly grinned, deliberately stepping back a bit. In fact, her clothes had already been soaked in sweat. But she wanted to play a bit longer, so she lied to her mother. However, Melissa had already seen through Alvina's cunning plan and asked "Alvina, how much longer are you planning to play?” Alvina held out a finger, looking at Melissa with eager eyes, "Then let's play for another hour." Melissa had guessed as much before she asked, she nodded and restated the agreement to Alvina. "Alright, let's agree to play for one more hour, after that, you and your brother need to go home." "Yes, mommy is the best." Alvina cheerfully exclaimed, diving into the ocean balls like a jubilant little dolphin, she picked up a handful of balls tossing them high in the air and murmuring, she’s showering the fairy dust about! Melissa looked at the time, estimating that the children would be done playing around four o'clock, which meant it would take nearly an hour to drive back home. Another hectic day passed, day in and day out. She did not know if the three months off she had agreed with Peter would be enough. Melissa looked for a relatively quiet place to sit, leaning against a barrier formed by foam blocks. Her mind gradually started to wander back to the conversation she had just had with Murphy. Within this story, there seemed to be a hidden chess piece, their former physics teacher from high school, Paul Reuben. Melissa decided to take some time to visit her former teachers at her old school and ask about the whereabouts of Mr Paul. She wondered if Amy had classes today. Melissa thought it would be better to first ask Amy about it. She sent a message to Amy, casually asking about her well-being today. So, she typed on the keyboard; Amy, you drank so much yesterday, do you have a headache? After a while, there came a brief "beep" from her phone. Melissa took a look at her phone "You won't believe what happened, I must have made a complete fool of myself last night." And then followed a string of emojis depicting faces wincing in embarrassment. "Pfft!" She couldn't help but let out a laugh. The refined image Amy had cultivated over the years was completely shattered last night. "Is now a good time to call you?" Melissa texted Amy again. This didn't seem like something that could be sorted with a few short messages; she felt that she had to comfort Amy properly. "Just a sec, I'll call you back shortly!" Amy texted back. Melissa laid her head on the pillow, quietly waiting. About ten minutes later, Amy called. "Amy, are you okay? I'm so sorry, it was my fault that you drank too much last night. Please, let me apologize in the cutest voice, will you forgive me?" Melissa said, using a cutesy voice to lighten the mood. "You've really done it this time, Melissa, you ruined my ladylike image," replied Amy in a voice that was half regret, half annoyed. She had been taking the call in the corridor of a training school, so she tried to keep her voice down and avoided having an outburst at her friend. "I'm sorry, okay? But I knew you were going to say that. Sure, you might seem like a gentle, winsome lady on the outside, but on the inside, you're quite a wild child." Melissa said, laughing. Ever since high school, Melissa had always thought that Amy had an exuberant side to her that she kept hidden due to her image. The image she maintained was that of the good girl that everyone saw her as. All in all, Amy was always a kind-hearted girl and Melissa's staunchest confidante. "Um...Melissa, did Peter say anything about my drunken state last night?" Asked Amy hesitantly over the phone. She was concerned about the impression she had left on Peter, thinking that she must have embarrassed herself majorly. "Don't worry about him. He won't overthink it." Melissa brushed it off casually, chuckling internally at how face-conscious Amy was. "Oh, that's good" Amy sighed with relief "Thanks for buying so much stuff for my house yesterday. How about I invite both of you over to my place in a few days? I could cook something for you." "Sure! I can ask Peter when he's free, and we could work out a time." Melissa responded without hesitation. She suddenly remembered something important she had wanted to ask Amy. "By the way, Amy, do you remember our high school physics teacher?"