Lian didn't answer. He just buried his face in the curve of Maisie's shoulder, his arms slowly loosening.
Maisie could have pushed him off in a second now, but she didn't move an inch. She let him stay right there on top of her, warm and heavy.
Minutes passed in total silence, only the sound of waves and their breathing.
More than ten minutes later, the white car finally stopped shaking. After another quiet moment, the window rolled down again.
The woman poked her head out, fixed her hair in the rearview mirror and shared a sweet, lingering kiss with the man beside her. Then, almost casually, she glanced toward the palm trees where the two teenagers lay.
A faint, knowing smile curved her lips before she rolled the window up. The white car started and quietly drove away into the night.
"It's gone," Maisie whispered softly.
Only then did Lian roll off her and sit up, looking completely exhausted and drained.
Maisie sat up too. She stared at him with a complicated mix of pity and something gentler.
But the very next second, Lian opened his mouth and instantly reignited her murderous mood.
"Ow, ow, ow! You're poking me everywhere! Seriously, Maisie, you gotta eat more and put on some weight, okay? You're all sharp bones! Yeah, you've got muscle, but you train so much everything's super hard. Lying on you is like lying on a washboard, totally not comfy at all!" Lian complained loudly while stretching his back and rubbing his ribs dramatically.
Seeing Maisie silently reach for the wrench again, Lian quickly scooted several feet away like a scared little crab.
Maisie's voice was ice cold. "Your mom's got those huge, soft boobs, right? Bet that guy was having the time of his life. Why don't you go cuddle with her instead?"
"That's my mom! It's not that simple…" Lian gave an awkward chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "Plus, we've known each other forever. I'd feel super weird and embarrassed."
When he talked to other classmates, Lian was always careful, he thought about his image, about being a proper student, about people's feelings.
But with Maisie and with his aunt, he could say whatever popped into his head, no filter at all. He felt completely free around them.
Maisie blinked in total surprise. "Wait… so you actually want to sleep with your own mom?"
"Pretty much every guy has a little bit of an Oedipus complex," Lian shrugged, totally unashamed. "It's normal to have the thought. The only difference is whether you actually do it or not, and whether you're brave enough to try."
Maisie's eyes went comically wide. "So you ran all the way here tonight just to spy on your mom having car sex?!"
"Don't be crazy!" Lian laughed, waving his hands. "How could I possibly know in advance that my mom was meeting some random guy here tonight? She definitely wouldn't tell me! I just promised my girlfriend I'd keep doing my long-distance runs every night, but you've been blocking my usual route like a scary guard dog, so I decided to change it tonight. And then boom, we ended up here together."
He suddenly sat up straight, eyes super serious.
"Oh, right! I have something super important to tell you!"
"What is it?"
"Besides chasing me and trying to beat me up, do you do literally anything else at night? Don't you ever stay home and watch TV or scroll on your phone like a normal person?"
Maisie looked totally confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Lian plopped down on the sand, folded forward, and gave the most dramatic, respectful bow he could manage.
"Dear Grandma Maisie, may I officially call you Grandma from now on?"
"WHAT?!"
"Think about it! Every single morning when I go running, Grandma chases me and tries to murder me. On the way to school, Grandma hits me. In class, Grandma never stops attacking. After school, I have to hide from Grandma like a scared mouse. And now even my peaceful night runs aren't safe from Grandma! Grandma, these past few days the only place I've been safe is inside my own house! If it's just because I yelled at you once, you should have gotten all your anger out by now… I really, really can't take it anymore! Please have mercy on this poor grandson!"
Maisie's face turned bright red. After a long, long pause she finally stammered, "You… you never hit back even once?"
"Of course not!" Lian made the saddest puppy face. "If you were a boy, I would've fought back ages ago! But you're a girl… and I don't hit girls. Ever."
Maisie stared at his pitiful expression for a long time, then suddenly snapped, "But you're still sleeping with that woman right in front of my face…"
"I know, I know!" Lian interrupted quickly, waving his hands like a white flag. "Next time my girlfriend and I go on a date, we'll bring super-strong binoculars. The second we spot you from far away, we'll immediately change locations. We promise we'll never appear in front of Big Grandma Maisie again! Deal? Pretty please? Can we finally call it even now?"
He jumped up, thinking the nightmare was finally over.
But after exactly two steps, Maisie's soft voice floated from behind him.
"…Because I have nowhere to go tonight."
Lian spun around so fast he almost fell over. "What did you just say?!"
Maisie looked up. Her expression was fragile and strangely vulnerable.
"I said… I have nowhere to go tonight."