Hearing Mary's curiosity, Sophia looked at the book cover, only to be confused by the words.
"What is this book?"
Sophia wondered as she couldn't understand a single word on it, making her even more curious.
"I told you. Come on, let us just open it——"
Before Mary could reach over, the bathroom door was opened, revealing Alex with a towel and a water basin full of water.
"What are you guys making all that noise for?" Alex curiously asked as he walked over to the bedside.
"Nothing!"
Sophia quickly moved the book behind her, with Mary standing on the side to help cover the item.
"Whatever... You guys can go back to your room if you really want. I can take care of mom myself."
The two gladly left the room, leaving the responsibility to Alex as he began wetting the towel.
Squeezing it dry, he moved the towel back to Katherine's face and began gently wiping her face.
The movement seemed to wake Katherine up as she opened her eyes again.
"Alex..."
"Hm?"
Katherine's voice made Alex stop just as he was about to finish wiping her forehead.
"I love you."
"I love you too, mom."
As Alex resumed back to wiping the rest of her face, Katherine kept moving her body left and right.
Still, he was patient and didn't try to stop it, letting her move as he remained focused on wiping all of the sweat and food scraps.
After cleaning her face fully, Alex threw the towel back into the wash basin before heading back to the bathroom.
"Alex, don't leave me..."
"I won't, Mom... I'm right here with you."
Alex put the wash basin back down and sat down next to the bedside, holding Katherine's hands firmly.
"Mom... Is there something in your mind making you unhappy again?" Alex whispered as he patiently waited for her to respond.
After a short moment, seeing Katherine wanting to get back up, Alex quickly helped her remain up against the bed frame.
"I... I still can't get over it."
Alex didn't say anything, choosing to listen to her silently as she leaned her head onto his shoulder.
"I-I'm a coward... All I ever do is run away from problems instead of facing them."
"You're the bravest person I know of."
The praise made Katherine smile for a second, but it quickly disappeared as a frown appeared.
"Alex, why do you think I'm brave?"
"Because of all the decisions and sacrifices you had taken to raise us... I don't think I can last a week as a mother."
Hearing the praise made her smile again, getting back up as she looked over to Alex's face.
Both Sophia and Mary were sitting on the bed, with their shoes somewhere far in the corner.
Right in the middle was the book that they had taken from the backpack, with the same mysterious letter on the cover.
"This is all your fault. You're the one who took the book out."
Sophia immediately pointed as she felt a little guilty taking it out of the room.
"Bullshit. You could have just put it back if you really wanted to. Don't try to shift the blame on me."
"How am I supposed to put it back when Alex was standing right there? I don't want to be caught with that."
As the situation falls into a standoff, they both know one of them has to put the book back before they get caught.
"You put it away. You're the one who took it out of the backpack."
"No, you put it away. You're the one who took it out of the room."
After a short silence, Sophia admits defeat as she takes the responsibility for putting it away.
"Fine, I'll put it back tomorrow morning."
Just as Sophia was about to put the book onto her desk, Mary suddenly stopped her.
"Wait, why don't we check what's inside? We might as well, right? Aren't you curious?"
Mary's tempting words swayed Sophia a little, but her rational mind was still the majority.
"That's none of our business——"
"Come on, when did you become so scared like Alex? I'm going to go tell Mom what the guardian really told us——"
"Fine, fine. I'll open it."
Sophia backed down again as she opened the book to the first page, only to instantly slam it shut.
Both of their faces were blushing red as they couldn't believe what they just saw inside.
"Was that Mom and Alex inside?" Mary nervously asked, unable to believe what they were doing inside the book.
"I-I think so... W-Why would mom have this inside her backpack?"
As an awkward silence appeared in the room, Mary suddenly flipped the book over again.
"Mary, what are you doing——"
"It's just a book. It's not like it's going to hurt us. Aren't you curious what's after the first page?"
Sophia tried to resist the urge, but this time, her curiosity had finally triumphed over her rationality.
"Fine, but we are going to put it back together."
As they both flipped to the next page, they were more shocked by the position of the two people in the picture.
"I-Is this sex?" Mary curiously asked as the picture showed Alex putting his thingy inside Katherine.
"I-I think so... Mom said a man's thingy goes inside the woman's thingy to have sex."
Flipping to the third page, they were shocked again as it was more pictures of Alex and Katherine having sex.
"I don't think we should be reading this," Mary suddenly suggested, as her mind suddenly started becoming rational out of nowhere.
"Now you're telling me that? It's too late now. We're going to read the whole thing."
Sophia rejected Mary's proposal as her curiosity had taken full control of her mind.