This afternoon, Alexander left the hospital and, on his way back to the villa, unexpectedly took a detour.
The road he chose happened to pass by Phoebe's school.
His car stopped outside the campus gates, parked in a discreet spot where he could clearly see the coming and going crowd.
Alexander's gaze was fixed outside the window, waiting in silence.
He sat there for four or five hours, from afternoon until evening, as the streetlights illuminated the surroundings. He hadn't seen the person he was hoping to catch a glimpse of, and he didn't quite know why he'd come here in the first place.
He didn't want to confront the reason, nor the answer. After smoking a cigarette and scanning the crowd one last time, he finally stepped on the gas and left.
"Phoebe, what are you looking at?"
