My father left on a business trip when I was 18 years old in the summer.
I lived on campus that year since I was a senior in high school. After losing fluid in the school infirmary due to gastroenteritis that day, I went home with a letter.
I found two pairs of shoes at the entrance as I entered the house: one pair of brown men's leather shoes that I had never seen before, and the other pair of shoes that my mother usually wears.
"Mom, I'm back.” I screamed at the door, thinking it was a visitor from home at the moment.
No one in the home, however, answered.
When I entered my parents' room, I found water and strange noises coming from the bathroom. In wonder, I knocked on the door. “Mom?”
My mother's voice came from the bathroom at this point, "Oh... baby, why are you back?"
"My sto
