"He came over for dinner, Mom made a whole spread—bird's nest, shark fin—and he said we were wasteful."
"When you were on your period, pale from the pain, he drank all the tonic soup I'd made for you."
"Brooklyn, you deserve better."
My nose stung. "Why didn't you ever say any of this before?"
He shot me a look. "Back then, you only had eyes for him. If I said one bad word, you wouldn't talk to me for three days."
In my last life, I really was deaf and blind.
The car stopped smoothly outside our building. My brother ruffled my hair.
"Come home this weekend. Mom's making your favorite sweet-and-sour ribs—stay a couple days."
"I'll introduce you to some nice young men. Any of them would be better than Kevin Dickerson."
The next day at work, the head of security, Landon Finch, sidled over.
"Head Nurse Harding, there was a strange man at the nurses' station last night. Didn't leave until after midnight."
I feigned surprise. "Really? You should report that."
Finch left reluctantly and called the nursing department to investigate.
Charlotte looked aggrieved. "He was just a friend dropping off milk tea. He sat with me for a bit and left..."
The exact same excuse as my previous life.