After seeing Shalma Hughes walk inside, the security guards began to gossip. One of them said, "It looks like the rumors were true. What a shame! Such a beautiful woman, yet she still ended up being abandoned by that wealthy family."
The other replied, "No kidding. Even the most beautiful woman gets boring if you look at her every day. If something hadn't gone wrong, why would she suddenly come back here in the middle of the night? Who gives up living in a luxury mansion for no reason, right?"
The streetlights in the residential complex cast a dim, yellowish glow. Shalma Hughes walked to the building where she used to live, punched in the passcode, and headed upstairs. It wasn't until she stood before that familiar door that she realized everything seemed to have returned to square one. The experiences of the past year or so felt completely surreal. She fished her keys out of her purse, unlocked the door, and walked inside.
