Chapter 4

"Excuse me! You actually came to the city by yourself?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"And what on earth are you wearing?! It’s hideous! Take it off and come home with me right now!"

Chloe rushed over, scanning me up and down, and screamed at me with pure disgust.

An older lady I was chatting with frowned deeply at Chloe's behavior.

"This is our choir's custom uniform. What are you talking about? Who even are you?"

I let out a cold laugh.

She still looked down on her country mother. She wouldn't even call me 'Mom' in front of others; she called me 'Excuse me' or 'Hey.'

"Yeah, young lady, where are your manners? Demanding someone strip in public?" another classmate chimed in.

"Move out of the way. Don't block the path for seniors. What if someone falls?"

With that,

I pushed past her and kept walking.

Panicking, Chloe grabbed my sleeve and yelled.

"Mom! You're a country redneck! What are you doing at a senior center? Aren't you embarrassed?!"

Hearing this, many of my classmates turned around in shock.

"What? Frances, didn't you say you didn't have any kids?"

Since I was a new student, my classmates knew a bit about my situation. They thought I was a lonely widow with no family, which made them very protective of me. They used to invite me to their homes for dinner.

I shook my head calmly.

"I don't have a child. This young lady must have mistaken me for someone else."

"That makes sense. What kind of child would scream at their own mother in public like this?"

The lady holding my arm muttered. She was the wife of the former City Commissioner. She had lived a wealthy, blessed life, and her children were incredibly respectful. She couldn't believe someone could be so savage and rude to their parent.

Hearing this, Chloe’s face flushed with embarrassment. She gave me a venomous glare and stomped away.

She probably found me because her company’s social media team had shared a YouTube video posted by our choir instructor.

Thank God I hadn't told her where my new condo was, or that leech would have tracked me down instantly.

After that, spending every day with these highly educated, elegant seniors elevated my own mindset and posture.

My friends joked with me.

"Frances, you have this natural, elegant grace. We're all jealous of you!"

"Honestly, if you started posting on TikTok, you’d probably become a famous senior influencer!"

My instructor also praised me, saying I carried both the resilience of the earth and the grace of an artist.

Remembering how massive the creator economy would become in a few years, the idea of doing social media took root in my mind.

In my past life, up until my death, I was still using Chloe’s old cracked phone. If I had told her about this dream back then, she would have laughed in my face.

But now, there was nothing holding me back. I was free to do whatever I wanted.

So, I asked my instructor to teach me how to edit videos. I began documenting my classes and daily life, posting them on TikTok and YouTube.

To my surprise, the videos blew up.

Thousands of people commented on how beautiful and full of life I was. Many young users even commented, "Can you be my mom?" or "You're my dream mother."

It made me blush.

But because I forgot to turn off my location settings on one of my posts, Chloe managed to find my apartment.

When I got home from class that day, I found her sitting on my sofa, looking extremely bitter.