Chapter 1

My son loves to threaten me by punishing himself.

It was scorching hot, over 100 degrees, and he deliberately smashed the AC unit. “Unless you immediately transfer fifty thousand dollars to my dad,” he snarled, “I’ll let myself overheat and die right here!”

I was just so tired of this familiar drama.

Quietly, I used that fifty thousand dollars to buy a small apartment, then moved to a cooler resort town overnight.

The temperature hit a new high today.

News reports said two hundred new cases of heatstroke had been reported, including two severe heatstroke cases.

I remembered my son, Liam, had complained the old AC wasn’t cooling well, so I immediately ordered a brand-new one for him.

Before he got back, I turned the AC on, setting it to a comfortable temperature.

For dinner, I made some refreshing, cool salads and cold noodles.

The food was on the table when he walked in.

“Mom, why is it so cool in here? Did you get a new AC?” he asked the moment he stepped inside.

I smiled. “Yep, it cost over five thousand dollars, but the weather’s so hot, I had to. You wouldn’t sleep well otherwise, and how would you study?”

His face inexplicably darkened. He slammed the book in his hand onto the floor.

He glared at me, his eyes cold. “Five thousand dollars for an AC, just like that?! How can you be so wasteful? No wonder Dad divorced you!”

My smile vanished.

“It’s so hot, I only replaced it for your good. How can you talk to your mom like that?”

“Besides, I’m spending my own money. What does that have to do with your dad?”

He rubbed the back of his head, annoyed.

He pointed out the window. “My dad’s out there delivering food in this scorching heat, and here you are, chilling in air conditioning. Don’t you feel ashamed?”

He started to get teary-eyed with anger. “It’s almost 100 degrees! After a hard day, he only has a fan in his cramped, rundown apartment in the city’s older district. How many times does he wake up in the middle of the night from the heat? He barely falls asleep before he has to get up before dawn to deliver food again! And what were you doing then? Sleeping soundly in your nice, cool room!”

He pointed a finger at my nose, spitting as he yelled, “Just for that, you don’t deserve this AC!”

With that, he angrily grabbed the fire extinguisher from the corner and rushed towards the standing AC unit, smashing it with all his might.

“My dad’s suffering, so I don’t deserve to be comfortable either! Unless you transfer fifty thousand dollars to him, I’m not using this AC!”

Under his relentless blows, the AC unit shattered.

He didn't stop there. He grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped the AC wires into pieces, completely destroying it.

I was too shocked to speak.

I thought about the past few days, how Liam had several times seemed on the verge of saying something to me, and how he’d been having inexplicable outbursts of temper. Suddenly, it all clicked.

He was blowing off steam for his dad.