A Change of Heart

As soon as Alice rushed to Thomas's house, she was relieved to see that he wasn't at home. Despite Mr. Duncan's snarky remarks, she still thought that she had to finish her work while avoiding him as much as possible. Although she knew that Mr. Duncan wouldn't appreciate her effort, she still had a job to do. As she endured the pain on her hand, Alice cleaned up the house again. Then, she started to cook. Aside from Thomas's favorite dishes, she also cooked some of her homemade dishes, such as pressure-fried butter salmon, peach and melon custard, as well as cooked saffron and shallot rice. These were her son's favorite dishes, and she would usually cook for him. Once she had finished cooking, she kept the dishes in thermal containers and covered them with a lid. After that, she prepared to leave. In fact, she had been waiting for Thomas the whole night, but he didn't come down to eat his dinner. Moreover, the food had been heated countless times and lost its flavors, so Alice decided