CHAPTER 164: ICE CREAM SHOP

After leaving the school, Gray decided to take a small detour before heading back to the hospital.

He walked down the street where Lliy said the ice cream shop had been.

He remembered the name and every detail that Lily mentioned.

Howeer...

He slowed to a stop after walking round and round for a few minutes.

The space where the shop had been as Lily mentioned... was just a closed-off lot. It had a rusty gate with a chain around the handles. Faded posters peeling from the wall and dust-covered windows.

There was no ice cream shop.

There was not even a sign of it.

There was completely no trace of it as if the shop wasn’t there in the first place.

Gray stared at it for a moment. He was silent.

He looked to his left and right to see if he was just mistaken. But he was in the right place.

"...What the hell?" he muttered.

His eyes scanned the area again, trying to match what he remembered.

It wasn’t just different. It was completely wrong.

Across the street, he saw an old woman sitting near the corner on a low wooden crate. She was hunched over with a shawl around her shoulders as if she was just living in the area.

Gray crossed the road carefully and approached her.

"Excuse me, ma’am."

The woman looked up slowly. Her face was wrinkled but kind, though her eyes were sharp and aware.

"Hmm?"

"Do you live around here?"

"I’ve been around a while," she said with a short nod. "Why?"

"Have you seen any Ice cream shop around the area with a bunny mascot? It was just newly opened." The woman’s expression didn’t change. She just looked past him for a few seconds, then back at him.

"Ice cream shop?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah."

The woman tilted her head slightly. She frowned at that and gave him a confused look. "There hasn’t been any ice cream shop there. Not for years."

Gray’s brows pulled together. "Are you sure?"

"Son," the woman looked at him in disbelief, "I sit here almost every day. I watch kids run around, people come and go to school. If there was an ice cream shop, I’d have known. But there’s nothing there."

Gray’s chest tightened slightly.

"That’s... weird," he murmured.

Gray stared at the woman. His eyes blinked once, slow and uncertain, as if her words hadn’t quite sunk in yet.

"...That can’t be right," he said quietly.

The woman just looked at him.

Gray turned back toward the empty lot.

"But Lily said she went there," he muttered under his breath. His voice was low enough that only he could hear it. "She even told me about the flavors. About the bunny mascot. About... the lady who gave her free scoops."

The memories felt too vivid to be wrong. Lily had been so detailed. So sure about it.

He rubbed his brow and took a step back, glancing around again as if the shop might suddenly appear from another angle. But it didn’t. It was just an abandoned lot. Empty and silent.

"Maybe I just got the wrong place," he said aloud, though even he didn’t sound convinced.

The woman gave a small hum behind him. "Sometimes kids say strange things," she offered kindly. "Maybe she saw it in a dream."

Gray lowered his eyes. "Yeah... maybe," he murmured. "Sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble at all."

He nodded and turned away, walking back the way he came.

Each step felt slower than the last.

In his mind, he was puzzled and confused. He don’t know what to think about it.

Gray quickly went back to the hospital afterward. By the time Gray got back, it was already past noon.

When he arrived, Selina was already there.

Selina stood up from the corner where she’d been folding Lily’s blanket and gave a small wave as soon as he entered. "Hey," she said softly, "you’re back."

Gray gave a small nod and set his things down. His face was unreadable.

Selina tilted her head, noticing the shift in his mood.

"What happened?" she asked.

Gray took a second before answering. His gaze drifted toward the window, his jaw tightening slightly.

"There was no ice cream shop," he said.

Selina blinked. "What?"

"The one Lily talked about. With the bunny mascot," he said, turning to face her. "There’s nothing there. Just a closed lot. The place looked like it hadn’t been open in years."

Selina frowned, her lips parting slightly.

"Wait... are you serious?"

"Yeah. I even asked someone who’s been living there. She said there’s never been a shop like that." Gray exhaled slowly. "Not recently, at least."

Selina looked toward Lily’s bed instinctively. The girl was already resting after eating lunch.

Gray didn’t say anything more. He just sat down again beside Lily, one hand resting gently near her arm as if he was grounding himself. His thoughts were spinning quietly behind his eyes.

But he didn’t want to say it.

Not yet.

That he was starting to feel like maybe... something wasn’t adding up.

Gray stayed quiet for a while.

He just sat there beside Lily’s bed, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she slept. Her face looked calm. Peaceful. Like none of this had ever happened. Like she hadn’t been in pain. Like she hadn’t cried for hours the night before.

But Gray couldn’t relax.

His eyes flicked back toward the window.

There was no ice cream shop.

He had walked the whole block, checked every corner. It wasn’t just that the shop had moved or closed down recently. It had never been there. Not even once.

He felt a chill crawl down the back of his neck.

Who would do this?

The question came like a whisper in his mind, slow and heavy. His thoughts swirled.

Was this just some strange coincidence?

Gray’s fingers curled slightly where they rested. His eyes narrowed.

But that’s so stoopid.

That’s when he thought of a name.

"...Will," Gray said quietly under his breath.