Chapter 2

At 3 a.m., I was jolted awake by a notification from the group chat.

It was a voice call initiated by none other than Steven Johnson, Mrs. Johnson’s son.

When I didn’t answer, he started ranting in the group.

"Sarah, are you even human? My mom’s out of gas and asked you for a meal, and you couldn’t be bothered?"

"She’s an elderly woman! If she starves to death at home, can you live with that?"

What a lunatic.

How is it my responsibility if his mom eats or not?

"She’s your mom, not mine. Besides, I’m not a restaurant. If I make her something and she gets sick, I’m not taking the blame!"

"You’ve already made her food two or three times! You’re clearly trying to starve her to death on purpose!"

Steven was completely unreasonable, and I lost it.

"I sprained my ankle! I can barely make food for myself, let alone for your mom."

"If you care so much, why don’t you come over and cook for her yourself?"

I muted the group chat immediately.

This guy’s insane. Just because I didn’t cook for his mom, he comes ranting at me in the middle of the night?

I’m not Mrs. Johnson’s daughter or her caretaker. Why should I be responsible for her?

If I had known how this would play out, I would have refused her the first time she asked to mooch off my meals.

Out of pity, I gave her a little extra when I cooked. She was a lonely, frail old lady who couldn’t even get a hot meal.

I didn’t expect her to latch onto me like a leech.

But my kindness wasn’t met with gratitude from either her or her son. Instead, they took it for granted, assuming it was my duty to help.

The next morning, Mrs. Johnson started tagging me relentlessly in the Nextdoor Community Group again.

I had the group muted and didn’t even see the messages.

Besides, I’d already called the moving company and was ready to get out of there as soon as I sold my apartment.

It was the smell of smoke that woke me up later.

There was a crowd gathered at Mrs. Johnson’s door, and the firefighters looked annoyed.

"Ma’am, even if you’re living alone, you’ve got to keep an eye on the stove."

"If the property manager hadn’t noticed the smoke, this whole building could’ve gone up."

"Seriously! We just had these walls repainted, and now they’ll need to be redone because of this mess. What a waste of money!"

The property management staff complained.

Mrs. Johnson didn’t dare make a peep, standing by the door, all meek and quiet.

Michael had just come back from his night shift. After hearing what happened, he immediately spoke up for Mrs. Johnson.

"Come on, folks. It wasn’t intentional. She’s an old lady living by herself. A little mistake is understandable. The important thing is no one got hurt."

Mrs. Johnson instantly put on a tearful face.

"It’s okay, Michael. I don’t blame anyone. This is definitely my fault, but I swear I didn’t do it on purpose."

"I was starving all day yesterday and messaged Sarah this morning to help me make some porridge, but she didn’t respond. I was starting to worry something had happened to her. Now that I see her walking around, I feel so much better..."

Her passive-aggressive tone made my blood boil.

What annoyed me even more was that Michael, always the good guy, believed her without question and turned to scold me.

"Sarah, what’s wrong with you? Why didn’t you reply to Mrs. Johnson’s messages? You’re perfectly fine, and she nearly burned the building down because of you."

I watched them play off each other, smiling coldly on the inside.

But on the surface, I put on a guilty expression, ready to play along.

"I’m really sorry. My ankle’s been hurting so much, and some jerk was yelling at me last night. I barely slept until this morning."

"If it weren’t for the smoke, I’d probably still be passed out right now."

Michael, always eager for gossip, leaned in, curious.

"Who was yelling at you in the middle of the night? Is this person unhinged or something? Did you do something to set them off?"

"Ugh!" I sighed heavily. "It was Mrs. Johnson’s son."

"He started yelling at me around 3 a.m. because I didn’t cook for his mom. He tagged me in the group chat just to curse me out."

As I said this, I glanced around at the other neighbors who had gathered to watch the drama unfold. I raised my voice a little to make sure they could hear.

"Hey, neighbors, we’re all part of this community. Mrs. Johnson is an elderly woman living alone, so let’s help where we can."

"I’ve got a hurt ankle and can’t cook for her. Maybe someone else could make a meal and share it with Mrs. Johnson?"

As soon as I finished speaking, the place fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone had seen Steven’s outburst in the group chat the day before. Nobody wanted to deal with that kind of trouble.

After what seemed like an eternity, someone muttered under their breath.

"When my mom lived alone, she still cooked for herself. It’s not really fair to expect the neighbors to do it."

"Yeah, sure, elderly people need help sometimes, but she’s got a son. It’s not our job to take care of her."

With that, the crowd dispersed.

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