She parked her Saab Cabrio in its spot. Her boyfriend Charles had found this loyal beauty in Quebec, cleaned its leather seats meticulously, and polished its bodywork, imagining the joy on Selin’s face.
Selin opened the car door, placed both feet on the ground before stepping out of the low car, and felt a pain in her back as she rose. She wasn’t old yet; she’d be turning fifty-five next month. Still, she had recently been battling aches in her back, neck, and knees. The series of health issues she had faced in recent years had forced her to descend from the realm of gods to the mortal world. Although her genetic legacy had strained her internal organs, it had added to her outer beauty with age, transforming her from the shy and timid girl of her childhood into an elegant, sophisticated, and charming woman.
She pulled the driver’s seat forward and retrieved her green leather backpack and small handbag from the back seat, the backpack purchased last year in Venice. With Charles’s encouragement, she had started using a backpack in the past year to protect her back. Her bag only contained her laptop and a few essentials. Aside from a lipstick and a small perfume bottle, she didn’t carry makeup. In the past, she used to carry large handbags, and her body never ached. She wouldn’t even know what was inside those bags, and sometimes, items that even God couldn’t identify seemed to emerge. Her ex-husband Daniel used to laugh and call her bag a “Woopy bag” after a magician character from a childhood TV show who was famous for pulling all sorts of things from his bag.
They lived on the eighth floor. She didn’t even consider taking the stairs, though it would have been excellent exercise for her legs and heart. Since they had agreed they would only stay in Canada temporarily, they had rented a furnished residence. The lobby, swimming pool, gym, and sauna were luxuries they weren’t used to in Europe, but they enjoyed them.
Selin had always lived in her own home since beginning her career. In fact, she had accumulated substantial savings by buying and selling properties and enjoyed real estate enough to consider turning it into a business, though she had put it aside temporarily to prioritize Charles’s career and, as was trendy nowadays, “change her environment.”
For someone European like Selin, Canada felt excessively American. Even Quebecois French sounded like an American attempting to speak French. Normally, she disliked anything overly Americanized, but knowing their stay was temporary allowed her to feel at ease.
The elevator doors opened on the eighth floor. The neighbor’s door was open, and the entrance was crowded with suitcases and shopping bags. Selin had previously met the petite, white-haired woman in her mid-sixties who lived there, but this was the first time she saw her husband, who was stocky, disheveled-haired, and visibly less refined. Selin knew little about the occupants of the other four apartments on the floor.
The elderly couple introduced themselves, explaining they mostly stayed at their second home outside the city and only visited every two weeks for work. After Selin revealed she was Swiss, the man knocked on her door ten minutes later, delivering a German sentence he had learned. Despite their limited interaction, it was clear they were pleasant people.
Even though she felt safe in this apartment, Selin always locked the door. Although the building’s main entrance was permanently locked, delivery people often entered when residents buzzed them in, and there were many homeless people in the city who might seek warmth in the lobby during such moments. With her knack for conjuring endless catastrophic scenarios in her head, Selin convinced herself that locking the door was the most logical choice, especially after the neighbor knocked and startled her into a brief palpitation.
Charles usually arrived home an hour or two after Selin due to his work at a factory in Granby. During that time, Selin would tidy up the apartment or hit the gym. On this October evening, the heavy rain had darkened the sky considerably. The silver dome of the Bonsecours Market gleamed brightly under the final rays of the setting sun, which found a small opening in the clouds.
Selin had begun capturing this view on canvas as a keepsake to take back to Europe. The canvas sat half-finished on its easel, and for weeks, Selin had been unable to continue the painting. Usually, she preferred portrait work, avoiding overly detailed compositions like this, where she often got lost in the minutiae and struggled to progress.
The floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and bedroom, which framed the boundless view like a painting, were among the apartment’s many attractive features. As long as she didn’t undress near the windows with the lights on, no one could see inside. Selin didn’t mind walking around nude after a shower or while dressing; her slightly exhibitionist side enjoyed the freedom. Now, she changed from her work clothes into shorts, sat on her yoga mat, and gazed at the view. She picked up her dumbbells and, as if to convince herself she had worked out, halfheartedly lifted them a few times. Just then, she heard the lock turn, and Selin ran to the hallway to greet her boyfriend at the door.
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