Ever since the internship started, Evelyn always felt like there weren't enough hours in the day.
She used to be busy with school, but at least she could find time to go home or hang out with friends.
Now, it was either studying or working overtime.
There was barely any time left for herself.
A month had flown by in the blink of an eye.
During that entire month, she had only managed to visit her mother's house twice.
This weekend, she finally made time to go back.
The moment her mother saw her, she said, "Why are you so skinny?"
"Mom, I'm skinny?" Evelyn grabbed her mother's arm and protested.
"Skinny? Your face looks fuller to me!" Amelia laughed.
"Really? Really?" Evelyn touched her own cheeks and asked.
"Being a little chubby suits you. You look lucky now!"
Evelyn was speechless.
She was only twenty-one years old.
It would be at least ten or twenty years before she needed to look "lucky"!
"I knew you were coming back this afternoon, so I made you some soup." Amelia said as she walked toward the kitchen.
"Thanks, Mom!" Evelyn replied with a smile. "I've been craving it!"
Her mother made the best soup, but she rarely got to drink it anymore.
"All you know how to do is eat!" Amelia glanced at her, but her eyes were full of affection.
"Mom, where's Victoria?" Evelyn asked after sticking out her tongue.
"She went out this morning. I don't even know if she's coming back for dinner!"
"I'll call her later and tell her I'm home." Evelyn said.
Amelia handed Evelyn a bowl of chicken soup.
Evelyn hesitated as she looked at it.
"It looks really oily!" she said.
"What do you mean oily? The essence of the whole chicken is in this bowl of soup. Drink it while it's hot!" Amelia stared at her.
"Okay!" Evelyn answered and drank it while it was still hot.
It was good.
It had that familiar taste.
"Mom, this is better than regular chicken soup!"
"Of course it is. You always get the best!"
The whole chicken had been put into the pot and stewed without adding any water.
The chicken's essence had seeped out naturally.
In the end, only this small bowl of soup remained.
No wonder her mother said the essence of the whole chicken was in this half bowl of soup.
After Evelyn finished the soup, Amelia made a huge amount of food for her.
"Mom, do you think I'm a bottomless pit?" Evelyn muttered, unable to eat another bite.
"You are a bottomless pit!" Amelia replied without mercy.
Evelyn laughed.
This was her real mother!
"How's the internship going?" Amelia asked again.
"Busy, so busy! See, I don't even have time to come home." Evelyn wrapped her arms around her mother's neck.
"It's good for young people to work hard. No matter how busy you are, you can't be busier than Alexander!" Amelia said.
"He does big things, I do small things. But there are more small things than big things!" Evelyn said with a smile.
"As long as you're learning something, it'll be good for you to help Alexander in the future!" Amelia replied emotionally.
"Alexander said that if I keep improving like this, I could become president one day!" Evelyn said with a smile.
"Come on, if you can become a manager in the company, I'll be thrilled! You, the president! You'd be a bottomless pit as president!" Amelia said, laughing and crying at the same time.
"Mom, you should encourage me more, not hit me like this!" Evelyn said angrily.
"Okay, okay, I'll encourage you. Just don't hold Alexander back!" Amelia nodded.
Evelyn was speechless again.
Was this encouragement?
Even though her mother always teased her, Evelyn was still very happy to be home.
The truth was, her mother and sister showed their love by giving her a hard time.
After she was full, she went to rest in her bedroom on the second floor.
Evelyn called her sister Victoria.
"Oh, what wind blew you here? My little sister actually has time to call me!" Victoria's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Haha, northwest southeast wind, that's a hurricane! We don't have hurricanes here! Sister, I'm home! When are you coming back?" Evelyn said with a laugh.
"I'll be late. When are you going back?"
"I don't know. I'll wait for Alexander to pick me up."
"You, I don't know what to say. It's harder to get you to learn to drive than to force you to jump off a building. If you could drive, you could go wherever you want! And you wouldn't have to bother other people!"
There it was.
Her sister always hit her where it hurt.
"I'll sign up next month!"
"I heard that eight hundred years ago!"
"It hasn't been eight hundred years. At most three years. I could only sign up for driving lessons after I turned eighteen!" Evelyn said with a smile.
"I'm too lazy to argue with you. You can go back later. I'll try to come back earlier."
"Okay, sister, I'll wait for you!" Evelyn said.
After hanging up, Evelyn lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, smiling like a fool.
She imagined herself driving.
If she could really drive, she would have a car at home.
Then she could drive herself everywhere without needing anyone to pick her up.
She could drive to her mother's house.
She could drive wherever she wanted.
That feeling would be amazing.
So she decided to sign up next month.
Evelyn lay on the bed, thinking about the beautiful future she would have once she could drive.
She fell asleep without realizing it.
A loud bang woke her up suddenly.
She turned her head and saw her sister Victoria come in.
"Sorry, I was a bit too rough!" Victoria replied awkwardly.
"I thought the enemy had invaded the village!" Evelyn said with a laugh as she sat up.
"Nonsense! How can you just eat and sleep all day long?" Victoria went to a chair and sat down, resting her chin on the back of the chair, looking at Evelyn.
"No, I just fell asleep for a bit." Evelyn murmured.
"Are you sure? It's almost seven o'clock!" Victoria said after looking at her watch.
"Seven o'clock!" Evelyn's eyes widened in shock.
When she had come upstairs, it couldn't have been past four o'clock.
"So you said you doubted that I had just fallen asleep!"
"Haha, I only slept for a little while. Sister, didn't you say you were coming back later?" Evelyn asked, holding a pillow and looking at her sister.
"There was a traffic jam in the evening. You didn't urge me to come back, did you?"
"I didn't urge you. I just asked when you were coming back!" Evelyn replied with a smile.
"Your eyes are smaller, your face is rounder. Evelyn, what do you eat when you're married and taking care of the family? Feed? Why are you so fat?" Victoria looked at Evelyn in surprise.
"No, I lost a pound when I weighed myself a few days ago."
"The scale must be broken!" Victoria shook her head and replied.
"How can that be? Why do you say I'm fat, just like Mom?" Evelyn asked.
"If Mom says the same thing, you must be fat!"
"No, I'm obviously thin!"
"Whatever makes you happy!" Victoria answered.
Evelyn immediately laughed, touched her face, and said, "Where am I fat? I'm still very thin!"
"Whatever makes you happy!" Victoria said the same thing.
It was okay to be happy.
It was okay to deceive yourself.
As long as you were happy.