Page 19 of Thanksgiving with the Alien

“What? I don’t understand. What did I do?”

I take a deep breath. How dare he pretend to have no clue about it? “You told her you’re going to visit again in the future.”

He spreads his arms to the side. “What else am I supposed to say? We have the break up scheduled and I’m never going to show up again? Is that going to be better?”

I clench a fist. I want to smack him, but I don’t even have a reason to. “I hate you.”

He folds his arms and sighs. “You’re the one who made the offer, and I more than fulfilled it.”

“I didn’t know they were going to like you that much.”

“I can’t help it. I didn’t know she was your grandma when I met her on the train. Even if I knew that, what else should I have done instead? Let her fall with the roasted bird?”

“A turkey, dammit!” That’s all I can muster when I know he is right, but I hate that.

He shrugs. “Don’t care. It’s a roasted bird.”

I stare at the ground. “You are such a party-pooper.”

“You are just looking for a reason to hate me, even though I’ve done what I agreed to.”

Maybe I am...

I shrug. “Let’s get going to the station. No reason to delay that, after all.”

“Sure, that’s the plan anyway. The end to our deal.” His tail isn’t standing as high now, and he’s frowning.

I want to reach for his hand. But no one from the family will see us, so there should be no reason for me to do that.

Soon... I won’t see him again.

Chapter 11

Yuhan

Thisishowthedeal was meant to be, but I’m not sure whether I’ll be happy about it.

I shiver in the train, even though I’m in my suit jacket and it isn’t that cold here.

Silvia sits by my side. It’s normal office hours, so not many are on the train. She’s quiet, as if loaded with thoughts. I stare at the row of empty seats across from me.

I silently sigh. If my meetings with the clients didn’t end late the other day, I would have avoided the rush hour. But it was still Thanksgiving for the humans, so there probably would still have been a lot of beings on the train.

But if I were even one train earlier or later, I wouldn’t have run into Silvia’s grandma. Would that have changed how the day ended?

If the family didn’t like me that much, it wouldn’t hurt as much.

More importantly, Silvia...

I glance at her, only to catch her peeking at me at the same time. What’s on her mind? Is she wondering the same thing?

A shadow gathers with a whooshing sound as the train enters the platform of another station. The sign above me flashes with the name of this station and a short introduction of landmarks around here. On the map under the running text, it shows the city with blinking dots, which indicate where we are.

Sometimes, staying on a train feels like I’m stuck in a metal tube. However, it isn’t that different from driving a spaceship.

There are beings waiting outside of the train, waiting to board. Silvia and I are sitting there, getting bored with the empty stares.

It won’t take long before we arrive at the terminal station, where I will board a space flight and head home. Then Silvia will go back to her place. We will both try to forget about everything.

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