Sheila sat in the chair, her hands gripping her apron tightly.
Shane inserted the memory card into the VR glasses and clicked on the first video directly.
The video showed a quiet street, the perspective slowly walking, with almost no one on the street.
Sheila's shoulders visibly relaxed a bit upon seeing the beginning of this video.
"Oh my god, am I walking outside?"
Karen also leaned over at this time. "What do you see?"
"I see trees, and street signs, and cars. This road looks so much like the one you take to school." Sheila exclaimed like a child.
Karen watched from the side for a long time but didn't know what Sheila was looking at in the video, so she could only perfunctorily say, "Yes, yes, yes, that's the road I walk every day."
Sheila said somewhat uncertainly, "Am I really not outside right now? Oh, god, Karen, your school gate looks pretty nice."
"Mmhmm~"
But as the video progressed, people began to appear in the lens, first one or two, then three or four, and later, more and more people.
Sheila's shoulders tensed up instantly. Her breathing quickened, her fingers gripped the edge of the table, and her voice trembled.
"Oh, oh, no, no, no, so many people, I... I feel a bit, I feel a bit..."
Seeing Sheila's reaction, Karen immediately became nervous. "Shane, take it off."
But Sheila gritted her teeth and said to Karen, "I want to hold on a bit longer."
Shane didn't take it off for her directly but comforted her: "No problem, as soon as you say stop, we'll stop. I'll take the glasses off for you immediately."
Two seconds later, the voices and figures in the video got closer and closer. Sheila suddenly raised her hand and took off the glasses. Her eyes were red, and she was breathing rapidly.
"No... can't do it, I can't stand it."
Karen walked over immediately and held Sheila's hand. "Mom, you are at home, you didn't go out, those are all fake."
Sheila nodded, trying hard to squeeze out a smile again. "I thought I really went out just now."
Shane took the glasses back and put them on the table.
"Aunt Sheila, you did very well just now. You were able to 'walk' out for tens of seconds, very good. In the future, you can watch for tens of seconds every day. If you feel you can't, take it off. If you feel OK, continue watching. Stop whenever you want."
Sheila looked at Shane. "Oh, thank you so much, honey, you are really thoughtful."
Karen also said from the side, "See, you didn't die, you are still alive, and you were pretty awesome just now."
Sheila looked at Karen happily. "Karen, were you praising me just now?"
"Yes, I hope one day you can truly walk out of the house."
Shane started to clean up the wrapping paper on the table. At this time, Karen reached out and grabbed Shane's wrist.
"Go, come upstairs with me."
Shane didn't resist, being pulled by Karen towards the stairs, only able to give Sheila an apologetic look.
Sheila just waved her hand. "Go, go, sweethearts. It's Thanksgiving, be thankful you are young, thankful you still like each other."
Shane couldn't reply because he was dragged up the stairs by Karen all the way.
Without too many words, after entering the bedroom, Shane hooked the door shut with his foot, followed by a passionate kiss.
...
Unknown how long passed, the two lay in bed together.
The whole bedroom was strewn with their clothes, and some originally neatly placed things were knocked over crookedly, telling the story of their multi-location battle just now.
Shane groped for his phone, checked the time, and then said to Karen: "It's getting late, I should get ready to go back. I have to set up the stall tomorrow."
As Shane spoke, he wanted to turn over and get out of bed to pick up his clothes, but Karen grabbed his wrist again.
"What's the rush? Is being with me not as important as work?"
She pulled Shane back gently, making him lie down again.
Then Karen turned over and sat on Shane. She began to slowly stroke Shane's body with her fingertips, stroking Shane's muscles, starting a 'pilgrimage.'
From Shane's chest that hadn't calmed down yet, to the tense abs below, to a red mark caused by her.
Karen's touch this time didn't seem like caressing, but more like confirmation.
She didn't look at Shane, but focused on watching her fingers glide across Shane's skin.
"Here, here, and here, your heart beats so fast, your muscles are so tense, all because of me. They only recognize my touch."
Shane felt a bit uneasy. He grabbed Karen's wandering hand directly.
"Hey, what's wrong? Did something happen recently?"
Shane tried to dilute this strange atmosphere with a joke.
"Or was my 'service' just now not up to par, leaving you with energy to think about this?"
Saying this, Shane wanted to turn over and press Karen under him for another round of confrontation.
But Karen just buried her head into his chest, then snuggled her whole body over.
Her voice was muffled and very low, "Actually, sometimes I think my luck is really good."
Shane asked following her words: "Because of what?"
"Because... because fortunately, you were the first one to appear in front of me."
Karen paused. "Otherwise, I think I would be like those classmates of mine, changing men faster than changing clothes, one after another."
"I think if I hadn't met you, then whoever showed kindness to me, I would give him some 'sweetness' to see who could fill my hole; if a better one appeared, I would throw the previous one away."
As she spoke, Karen raised her head, resting her chin on Shane's shoulder, her breath spraying by Shane's ear.
This posture was incredibly intimate, but her next words made Shane feel a slight chill.
"Fortunately, you appeared first. This is really good, saving me from making a mess of myself and then going to find trouble with whoever in the vast crowd. So, Shane..."
As Karen spoke, her hand began to slide down unconsciously, then grabbed something hard.
"You must always be this good to me. You must never lose me. Also, you can't be like this to others."
"Hey, hey, hey, relax, you wouldn't want to lose such a great thing. And saying this makes me look like an irresponsible person."
Shane tried to make the atmosphere a little lighter.
"I don't care. In the future, only I can possess everything of yours. If you dare to be this good to others, I'll bite it off."
Shane didn't know how to answer. He could only lower his head and kiss Karen's forehead hard:
"OK, I promise you."
...