Her legs sticking out of the futon felt cold. She wriggled her legs to straighten out the futon and curled up. Just like that, she struggled with sleep for about ten minutes before waking up. It was not easy to leave the blanket in the middle of winter.

She picked up Woofie, who immediately came over, and put her in her arms. The weight and temperature of the dog were transmitted to her. She yawned as she walked out to the living room. The sunlight was dividing the living room in half. She sat at the edge of the sofa where the sunlight just hit. It was quite warm, to the point that she didn’t need to turn on the boiler. She sat there in a daze for quite a while before turning on the TV. Weekend entertainment programs were being aired again. She watched the TV without thinking for a while before the dark corner of the living room caught her eye. It wasn’t that dark because of the seeping light, but it strangely ticked her off. She pushed the curtain to the end. The yellow light spread out even further, but that place was still a gloomy gray. She had a strange impulse to place a...