[Comprehensive British and American] Safe Neighborhood

Sally was depressed for a while after having that dream.

At home, in order not to affect Lucas, she tried her best to pretend that she was happy and had nothing to do, but once she was in a place without Lucas, she would always be in a daze.

She was thinking about that dream.

...that dream, said to be a nightmare, is not entirely true.

...She just dreamed that like the original Ashley, her body gradually became transparent and disappeared into this world.

Originally, she didn't want to care so much, but as long as she thinks that Ashley can disappear out of thin air, then she is also very likely...

...Thinking that one day she would suddenly disappear, not knowing where she was going or why, she felt surrounded by an inexplicable sense of panic.

In this chaotic panic, there is also a trace of reluctance.

...Why don't you give up?

Is it because she has fallen in love with Lucas thoroughly, and it is as hard to let go of him as a relative?

...During the seven years since she came to this world, she got along with different people, and she found that they are not just people in movies, they are not paper people, but they have their own thoughts and personalities just like her people.

... Lucas.

...Before she fell in love with him, she never felt this kind of fear of parting.

The scar on her hand gradually healed with the passing of days. After the scar formed, Sally stopped wrapping gauze. Seeing that the wound formed a hard scar, in the end, even the scar was gone. Shed off, revealing new, pink skin.

After that scar was completely healed...Sally struggled for a long time, and finally made a decision.

...she's going to say yes to Lucas' proposal.

What she can't predict will happen in the future, but the only thing she can do now is to cherish the present, cherish every day with the person she loves... and follow her heart and do what she wants things to do.

After thinking through these things, her heart suddenly became clear, and the haze in her heart was swept away.

In the hospital, there was a smell of disinfectant that made people feel cool. Patients and nurses were coming and going in the corridor. After just finishing an operation, Lucas temporarily went to the lounge after finishing the follow-up work.

He took off the mask on his face, and sat on a brown leather swivel chair in a white medical coat. He relaxed his body and leaned his head on the back chair, with a look of fatigue revealed between his stretched brows.

"..."

The clock hanging on the wall was ticking, and the footsteps outside the corridor sounded far away, and he felt a moment of peace amidst the restlessness.

As soon as I closed my eyes, the memory of that midnight when she squatted on the ground as if she had lost her soul, the dazzling bright red in her palm, and the words she said flashed through her mind.

...he almost forgot.

She is not "Ashley".

At first it was a sense of fresh curiosity, then he couldn't help getting closer... But now, he actually felt scared.

...He hates this feeling, this feeling of powerlessness that seems to be in the palm of his hand but can't be grasped.

Will she disappear?Like she popped up that night.

Exhaling lightly, he slowly opened his eyes, his blue-green pupils staring at the ceiling, and for a moment, a terrifying thought flashed through his mind.

At night, after a storm on the bed, the two were entangled closely, feeling the heat from each other, Sally put her arms around Lucas' neck, panting heavily with her mouth slightly open.

"...Let's get married, Lucas," Sally said.

Lucas' body paused for a moment, then raised his head, looking at her with a somewhat disbelieving expression.

Immediately afterwards, Sally welcomed his passionate kiss.

Feeling the beating heart in his body through the skin, at that moment, she felt so satisfied and at ease.

A few days later, Lucas asked the hospital for a few days off, and Sally also asked for leave from the company. The two simply took some luggage and boarded the plane.

When Lucas had told Diandra on the phone a few days earlier that he and Sally had decided to get engaged, Diandra had asked them to come back at the end of the month.

Since she came to this world and moved to Pittsburgh, she hadn't seen Lucas' parents. The last time she remembered seeing her was when she was lying on a hospital bed and couldn't move. Lucas's parents and Lucas S came to visit himself.

After being together with Lucas, she never thought about getting married, but now that she thought of his parents, she suddenly felt flustered and worried.

Thinking of Diandra's sharp eyes and innate femininity in her mind, Sally felt sad.

Seeing the blond girl looking worried and frowning, Lucas asked, "...what's wrong?"

Glancing at the people beside her, Sally said a little dejectedly, "...I don't know if your mother agrees."

Seeing her worried expression, Lucas smiled, "It doesn't matter whether you agree or not, my decision will not change... Now that I'm talking, why do you think she will disagree?"

"Why else?...We are so many years apart."

In fact, Sally has been thinking about it from Diandra's point of view for a few days. Her son suddenly grew up with Babysitter, who is five years apart from him, and they are going to get married. She will feel strange and object. .

Sally's memories go back to the earliest. On the night of Christmas, she dreamed that she was about to return to her small rental house, but she was pulled back by Diandra's cry. After that, she stayed in this world...

And Diandra woke her up forcefully, just to tell her that she shouldn't sleep in the same bed with Lucas...

Isn't this telling her in disguise that she doesn't allow Lucas to have something happen to her?

...although Lucas was only 13 at the time, she was obviously unlikely to be with Lucas.

Sally sighed, seeing the blond girl's frowning, Lucas took her hand and smiled.

"Don't worry, they knew it when we first got together." Lucas said, "And my mother likes you very much, don't worry about it."

After getting off the plane, Sally and Lucas met Robert who came to pick him up outside the airport.

He was wearing a gray suit, and he looked much older. Sally could even see a few white hairs in his well-groomed hair. The white and white tie didn't match his overall formal attire at all, and his age made him look wrinkled and vicissitudes, but the playfulness was still the Robert whom Sally knew in the movie.

"Hey, son, long time no see." Mr. Robert smiled, showing a whole row of teeth, and then walked towards Sally and Lucas with open arms.

Lucas hugged his father with a calm expression.

"Mr. Robert, hello." After the father and son embraced, Sally greeted Robert.

"Ashley!" Robert's eyes lit up when he saw Sally, and he said in a tone full of surprise, "...Let me think, since your family moved to Pittsburgh, how long have we not seen each other? "

"...about seven years?" Sally replied with a smile.

"Seven years!" Robert said with an exaggerated expression, "During these seven years, I have never met anyone who can appreciate my taste in dressing!"

Saying that, he pointed to his bright green tie with his finger, and asked with some anticipation, "...What do you think of the tie I wore today?"

Sally thought for two seconds, and said sincerely, "You look young, and you look very energetic."

After hearing her praise, Robert's face showed complacency, and he deliberately winked his eyes at Sally, jokingly said, "Of course, I chose this specially to meet you, I'm glad you like it .”

Even though she is already middle-aged, she still retains a bit of childish innocence. Sally was amused, and her nervous mood relaxed.

Seeing the two talking and laughing, Lucas sized Robert up and frowned slightly, "...This tie is so ugly, my mother definitely disagrees, you took it out and put it on secretly, right? "

"How do you know?" Robert asked in surprise, and then muttered in dissatisfaction, "Your mother insisted that I choose this one, and said that I should be more serious on today's occasion, oh God, I really don't Understand what is the relationship between wearing a tie and being upright?"

As soon as Diandra was mentioned, Robert would go on and on, basically complaining about his wife along the way.

Lucas looked familiar with this, and basically didn't take it seriously.

It seems that there is still no change in the relationship between Diandra and Mr. Robert, but even though their personalities are exactly the same and they often quarrel together, they have not divorced and separated. Does that mean that there is love between them? Woolen cloth?

thought Sally.

Just after watching that movie, she felt that Diandra and Robert, who were supporting roles, were a complete family marriage, and there seemed to be no affection between them, but now, she suddenly didn't think so.

After arriving at Lucas' house, Sally meets Diandra, whom she hasn't seen for a long time.

Compared with Robert, Diandra doesn't seem to have changed much, and the years have hardly left any marks on her face. She is painted with delicate makeup, wearing a red dress with a tight waist, golden curly hair, painted with flames With red lips, the body is bumpy and plump.

Although there are a few crow's feet in the corners of her eyes, it makes her look more charming.

When she saw Lucas and Sally, she smiled, probably because that face was too strong, Sally didn't feel a lot of intimacy, but more of a kind of respect from the bottom of her heart .

"Mrs. Diandra, hello, long time no see." Sally greeted her proactively.

"It's been a long time," Diandra said, looking at Sally with blue-green pupils that looked exactly like Lucas's, and then said slowly, "Ashley, you've become more beautiful."

"Thank you," Sally replied sincerely, "You too."

After unpacking, they shared lunch at the table, not as casually as Berkeley and Holmes had a barbecue at home, but at Diandra's they enjoyed steak and wine and didn't talk much at the table .

This method is very suitable for Diandra, because Diandra has been such a strong woman who pursues a high-quality life ritual from the beginning.

After lunch, they talked about getting married.

Originally, Sally thought that Diandra would object, but she didn't expect that she seemed to agree.

She even mentioned that she would take Sally to try on a wedding dress at a bridal shop that she had already made an appointment with, which made Sally a little flattered.

In the bridal shop, Sally tried on the wedding dress that Diandra personally selected for her. Standing in front of the mirror, she saw the girl in front of her wearing a white wedding dress as if she had entered the wedding hall. Sally felt like a dream.

Coming out of the bridal shop, Sally expressed her gratitude to Diandra.

"Thank you for bringing me here and choosing my wedding dress yourself," Sally said. "Thank you very much."

"Ashley, you don't have to be so polite." Diandra said with a smile, "I'm just doing what I should do."

After a pause, she said again, "...Lucas, I will leave it to you from now on."

"I hope you will be happy."

Seeing the warmth in her eyes, Sally couldn't help being moved.

After returning from the bridal shop, Sally saw that Lucas seemed to be tidying up his room.

Looking around, Sally recalled many things that happened in this room.

Seeing Sally's pensive look, Lucas asked proactively, "...what did you and my mother go out for?"

Sally, whose thoughts were interrupted, subconsciously wanted to answer, but remembered that the wedding dress fitting was a surprise and planned to keep Lucas a secret first, so she closed her mouth for a second, and then replied, "...I won't tell you for now."

"..."

Looking at her mysterious and airtight appearance, Lucas didn't say that he had already guessed that the two of them should go to the bridal shop according to Diandra's personality.

In the evening, Sally saw Lucas squatting in front of the bushes at the backyard gate, not knowing what he was doing, so she walked over and asked curiously, "...what are you doing?"

She poked her head up and saw a black spider as thick as two fingers in the glass jar in Lucas's hand, with some faint patterns on its body, she couldn't help asking, "...is this Black Widow? Poisonous?"

Lucas shook his head and stared at the spider, "It's a white-fronted spider, non-venomous."

After speaking, he looked up at Sally, and said with a smile, "...I put it away, but it came back again. In a sense, it is my pet."

...Sally thought about it carefully, and it seemed that Lucas did have a hobby of raising spiders in the movie.

In fact, Sally is not very afraid of spiders. She liked spiders very much when she was a child. She preys on those annoying mosquitoes and flying insects.

Sally observed the spider in Lucas's hand, it just stayed in the jar so quietly, not moving at all.

"What does it eat?"

"Insects eat everything." Lucas replied, staring at Sally for a while, he said slowly.

"...Originally, I wanted to make it a specimen, but now that I think about it, it really is the best alive."

"Isn't that nonsense? Of course it is."

Sally replied.

After discussing the spider with Lucas, Sally saw that Lucas put the spider back into the bushes. After working all day, Sally was also very tired, so she went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After taking a shower, the two lay on the bed.

Being hugged by Lucas, Sally suddenly remembered how she put Lucas to sleep seven years ago.

"You were so naive back then! You even asked me to tell you stories about Spider-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Sally couldn't help but joked, as if she had completely forgotten the stalk of her amnesia.

Lucas also responded, "I forgot if you didn't tell me, I heard the story of the worst Spider-Man in the world that day..."

"How dare I say it, I've never watched a Spider-Man movie." Sally complained, "...you are the only ones who are interested in the old-fashioned hero-saving plot of a man and a woman. It's a man."

Compared with many comics or movies that serve men, Sally prefers the One Female N Male series.

The two joked and squabbled for a while, and finally, under the attack of sleepiness, Sally fell asleep.

Just when she was completely in a dream, Lucas's originally closed eyes slowly opened.

He looked at the sleeping face of the blonde girl for a while, and the Chinese girl in the group photo she showed him gradually appeared in his mind.

He reached out and gently stroked her cheek, trying to call out that name for the first time.

"Sally..."

Sally, who originally thought that the days ahead would only be with Lucas and cherish each other, and was ready to step into the wedding hall, opened her eyes the next day and saw a small rental house that was both familiar and unfamiliar. Behind the ceiling, she realized that God had played another huge joke on her.