Decades passed in a flash and the once lovely girl had traces of time on her face. He thought that the two of them would be together until the end of their lives, supporting each other.

But that day in South Park he met Mara, his first love. His heart, which had calmed down for a long time, was like a tranquil lake that was stirred up again. 

He thought he had hidden it well, but he was still discovered.

From Clara 's alienation during this period, he knew that he had been discovered.

He wondered if Clara was Mara's replacement. Her appearance just happened to fill the missing feelings after breaking up with Mara. 

But when she gradually became distant and behaved strangely, he realized that after years of companionship, he had long been unable to leave Clara. 

Some people lightly tease his calm heart, while some people were engraved in his bones and could ot be separated.

When he came to his senses, Clara had already returned to her room. Jackie knocked on the door gently as he called her, “Clara "

There was no response, so he had to go back to the living room. That night, Jackie sat on the sofa all night.

Only to wake up by a rapid knock on the door in the early morning, “Jack, Jack "

Mara sobbed and her wrinkled face looked inappropriately weird because of her coquettishness. 

The moment Jackie opened the gate and she threw herself into his arms. “Jack, why have you not answered my calls recently? I've been waiting for you to find me. You said you would take care of me.”

Clara stood at the door and watched all this coldly. Jackie awkwardly pushed Mara away from his arms and explained, “Mara, if you feel uncomfortable, you should call the child. It's not good to be alone.”

Mara looked surprised. She asked in sobs, “Jack, what did you say? You... don't want to care about me anymore.”

Mara glared at Clara with resentment and then cried pitifully, “Okay, I don't need you to care about me. Tracey does not care about me and you do not care about me either. Just let me die of illness.”

She ran away crying. Jackie wanted to chase her but he was in a dilemma because he had to consider the person in front of him.

“Clara, I'll be back soon. I'm really worried that something might happen to her.”

In the end he chased after him.

Tears fell without Clara noticing. The inner defense that she once thought was indestructible was actually fragile. 

‘Jackie, this is the last time I will cry for you,’ Clara muttered to herself.

The frequency of chest pain became more and more frequent. She knew it was a sign of an impending illness. 

Her breathing became difficult and heavy and the feeling of suffocation made her realize that she was dying.

After calming down, Clara made herself a hearty breakfast with lots of delicious food to share.

A sudden ringing of a bell broke the tranquility of the early morning.

“Hello, are you Ms. Gallegos? This is the local Red Cross. We have received your application for body donation on the official website. 

“Now we are informing you that you can bring the paper version of the materials in three days to go through the donation registration procedures and receive the donation certificate and donation card.”

“Okay, I will pick it up on time.”

“What are you going to get?”

Just as she was about to hang up the phone, Jackie's voice suddenly sounded behind her and Clara hung up the phone in a hurry.

“Nothing,” she said casually, not wanting to waste time talking to him.

Jackie felt uneasy for some reason.

The third day passed quickly and Jackie happened to be out, so Clara took the materials to the local Red Cross to go through the formalities.

When Clara came out, she saw Jackie accompanying Mara shopping. She was walking in front and he was following behind, looking very much in love.

Looking at them coldly, Clara no longer felt any waves in her heart.

It took another month to deal with these things and she had less and less time.

There was only one month left on the calendar and she did not have time to argue with them.

The three old ladies met up with old friends whom they had not seen for a long time. They were dressed fashionably and drove a car, taking a ride from the countryside to the bustling city, attracting the attention of passers-by.

"Look, a cool grandma! I want to be like her when I grow old."

"Coolness knows no age—long live happiness!"

While waiting at a red light, a young driver rolled down his window and asked, "Grandma, are you okay driving alone?"

She smiled and replied, "No problem, I've been driving for decades."

"Grandma’s pension must be pretty good, right?" 

"Enough to eat, drink and have fun."

A few old friends went on a road trip without telling their families and visited the primary school campus to reminisce about their childhood. The swings they swung on together were long gone. 

Happiness back then was simple and a popsicle could make them satisfied.

They went to the high school to see the place where they had struggled together, how they had worked silently for their dreams day and night and they still remembered the brightly lit study room and the sound of pens scratching across paper.

They experienced success and failure together, although time had passed, they would still think of it at a certain inadvertent moment.

Decades passed in a flash and everyone became old ladies.

They were so carefree on the road that the next day, the internet was flooded with searches about them. 

[Enviable old age life.]

[Happy life of old girlfriends.]

Clara never thought that she would be the object of everyone's pursuit on the Internet during her lifetime. She was so happy.

Clara accompanied them all the way. She did not tell them that she was going to die. The purpose of the old friends meeting was to have fun. 

Why bother discussing life and death? She would accompany them to this point in this life.

A few days later, when Clara returned home, Jackie was pacing anxiously in the living room. 

“Why did you come back just now? You are so willful at such an old age. It would be dangerous for you to drive out.”

Clara looked at him coldly as she answered, “There's nothing to worry about. I know what's going on.”

Time passed quickly and there were only a few days left before she fell ill. Clara sent messages to her son and daughter respectively in the evening, saying that she missed them. 

In fact, Clara just wanted to see them for the last time, as she was afraid that she would never see them again.

A few days later, the son and daughter returned home together.

Clara endured the discomfort and cooked a table full of their favorite meals.

Her son's mouth was full of oil as he ate and her daughter kept saying, "It's delicious, delicious,” and kept saying comforting words.

After dinner, the family sat in the living room, brewing tea around the stove and talking about their childhood. 

The occasional laughter coming from the living room made Clara feel as if the family was as happy as before.

Clara wore a pair of reading glasses and held a yellowed photo album in her hand, flipping through the pages one by one. 

From time to time, she tapped her daughter's nose with her hand, her eyes full of gentle smiles. “You were beautiful when you were a child. Every time I took you out, you would attract everyone to come to you.”

Her daughter smiled slightly, with two dimples on her cheeks. “It's all because of mom and dad's good genes,” she said.

Clara was amused and smiled, pointing to another photo and said, “Look at your brother, he has been very naughty since he was a child.”

The smile on her lips lingered for a long time. A breeze blew in and Clara looked into the distance, her eyes full of kindness.

At that time, her son and daughter were both in their 50s and had lost their immaturity and become more mature and steady. They all had their own families and careers. 

Holding their hands, Clara felt indescribably satisfied. No matter what, every little bit of the past was a happy experience when she recalled it.

But Jackie kept fiddling with his cell phone, frowning for a while and looking outside the door from time to time.

Clara pretended not to see it and did not bother to pay attention, but her daughter could not help it.

“Dad, is there something worrying you? Why are you so restless?”

“No, not at all.” But his gaze was always fixed on the outside of the door.

Another minute later, Jackie suddenly stood up and said, “I have to go out for a while. You two stay with your mother first.”

Her daughter's expression changed a little bit as she sneered, “Dad, today is Family Day. My brother and I rarely come back. Do you have to go out? What's the important matter?”

Jackie left without stopping, leaving behind a sentence, “You do not understand. I'll be back soon. It's very important. 

“You stay home and take good care of your mother. It happens that your mother has been talking about you two these days.”

Tears fulfilled her eyes, her daughter looked at Clara and hugged her tightly.

The son's expression froze as he asked, “How long has dad been in this condition?”

Clara didn’t know how to answer him. Perhaps after retirement, or even sooner. Or maybe, for the rest of her life, all she would have was a bowl of half-cooked rice.

Her daughter and son all spoke up for her, but Clara just chuckled and shook her head. In her heart, he was nothing at that time and it did not matter where he went.

Clara sat in the rocking chair and stroked her daughter's head lovingly. Like all mothers, she would worry about her child no matter how old she was, wondering whether she ate well, slept well and whether she had enough money to spend.

She also told her children some things, including donating her body. She took out a body donation card from the small package behind her and asked them to contact the Red Cross to transport her body when she died.

Her daughter kept wiping away tears as she said, “Mom, I want you to be my mom forever.”

Clara held her son's hand with one hand and her daughter's hand with the other as she answered, “I have always been your mother, you must remember that death is not the end, I am just going to another place.”

In the second half of the night, Clara's condition was not very good and she was often gasping for breath. The children wanted to take her to the hospital, but she disagreed. 

She knew that the result would be the same whether she went to the hospital or not and she still wanted to stay in the place where she had lived all her life.

The children were waiting by Clara's bed, but Jackie had not returned yet.

Lying on the bed, she could not help but glance out the door a few times. It was as quiet there as it was at night.

Her son and daughter looked at each other and then her son went out to make a phone call, but he got a busy tone several times, or the call was hung up as soon as it was connected.

He was so angry that he almost dropped the phone.

When entering the house, her son shook his head at her daughter imperceptibly, but Clara still caught it.

Clara closed her eyes forever.

Jackie finally came back in the morning, holding a bag of sandwiches in his hand. “Here, Aunt Mara made these specially for you. She knew you must not have had breakfast at this time.

“Where's your mother?”

Jackie did not notice his children's sad faces at all. He looked around and did not see Clara, which was a bit strange. She used to cook for the children even when she was not feeling well. 

“Isn't your mother in the kitchen?”

When his daughter raised her scarlet eyes, Jackie's heart trembled suddenly and a bad premonition came to his mind.

“What were you doing last night? I called you so many times, but you never answered! Now it is too late, mom has gone.”

Gone? His mind went blank, his eyes widened in confusion and he looked at his son in disbelief again.

“Yes, mom died of a heart attack last night."