The setting sun slanted from the street corner, bathing the entrance of the Raine Clinic in a warm, orange glow.
Ethan locked the door and took a deep breath—the air was fresh, subtly mixed with sea breeze and the scent of burning tobacco.
He frowned, "Hmm? Is that BIG Marijuana? As expected, free America."
He didn't work overtime today, but he still felt suffocated by something.
John Kramer's gloomy face still flickered in his mind.
"Get well soon, and don't come back," he mumbled, walking towards the street corner.
The city's twilight was too beautiful, making him almost forget the shadows of the day. He decided not to take a taxi and walked home.
Jazz music drifted from the roadside coffee shop, the wind rustled old posters, and streetlights lit up one by one.
Ethan bought a can of iced beer, took a sip, and the coolness flowed down his throat, suppressing his inner emotions.
"That's enough, Ethan," he told himself, "Tonight, I just want to be an ordinary person."
He quickened his pace, crossing the pedestrian walkway.
A few minutes later, the door to the four-story apartment opened, and Ethan walked in, finding Howard also in the apartment. Now, among the four guys from The Big Bang Theory, only Rajesh, the Indian guy, was nowhere to be found.
The room was bustling—Howard was squatting in front of the TV fiddling with a VCR, Sheldon was writing furiously on a blackboard, and Leonard was in the kitchen preparing popcorn and some snacks.
"Hi, Ethan, you're back!" Leonard greeted. "How was the clinic today?"
"Pretty good." Ethan took off his jacket and rubbed his shoulders. "Just met a... rather difficult old man."
He loosened his tie and sighed, the old man and the words "jigsaw" spinning in his head.
Without bothering about what the group of science guys were doing, Ethan headed straight for his bedroom.
He took off his clothes one by one, leaving only his shirt and underwear. He stretched, intending to take a shower and purify his mind, body, and soul.
Entering the bathroom, he found the shower curtain drawn and the sound of running water coming from inside.
It could only be Rajesh.
"Rajesh, why are you showering here at our place?"
Ethan pushed open the bathroom door and pulled back the shower curtain—then froze in place.
It wasn't Rajesh in the bathroom, but a blonde woman washing her hair.
The moment she looked up, water droplets slid down her neck—
"Ah—!!!"
"Ah?!"
"SORRY!" Ethan reacted extremely quickly, pulling the shower curtain shut and turning around. "I thought it was Rajesh!"
Footsteps from outside quickly approached. Leonard was the first to rush in, followed by Sheldon and Howard.
"What's going on?!"
"Who screamed?!"
The three came in to see Ethan standing at the door, wearing only a half-open shirt and underwear, his hair disheveled, while behind the shower curtain, a woman was desperately clutching a towel.
"I—I thought that was Rajesh!" Ethan stammered an explanation.
"Rajesh?" Leonard frowned. "He's not back yet."
"Then I certainly... misunderstood!"
"Misunderstood?" Howard muttered softly, "I wish I could misunderstand once."
Sheldon frowned, "I've always said that strange women shouldn't be allowed into the bathroom. This violates Article 12 of the apartment's cleanliness rules."
"I'm not a stranger!" Penny's voice came from behind the shower curtain. "I greeted you all this afternoon!"
"This is just a misunderstanding, everyone calm down." Leonard tried to smooth things over, while peeking through the shower curtain gap, "Penny's apartment bathroom isn't ready yet..."
"I'm already calm." Ethan spread his hands. "And I just got off work, so I was a bit distracted. I didn't see anything."
"Gentlemen, I'm still showering!" Penny poked her head out from the bathroom. "Please get out! All of you, get out!"
The four looked at each other, then scrambled out of the bathroom.
"And close that damn door!"
---
Fifteen minutes later, the apartment returned to normal.
The living room TV hummed to life.
"This is Stephen Hawking's 1974 lecture at MIT, before he became that 'robot voice,'" Howard mimicked a robotic tone, inserting the videotape.
Sheldon: "Quiet! We are about to witness the echo of a great mind."
Ethan sat helplessly on the sofa, watching them devoutly guard an old VCR. The shock from earlier was somewhat diluted by their scientific devotion.
Just then, the bathroom door opened.
Penny walked out, her hair half-wet, her cheeks flushed with warmth.
Leonard immediately stood up, as nervous as a high school student: "Hi, Penny! H-how do you like the bathroom?"
"It's good, except for four men suddenly barging in, that was a bit bad."
Ethan cleared his throat: "Penny, I sincerely apologize. I went straight to my room after coming back and didn't know it was you. And I didn't see anything."
"That's a shame, I'm quite happy with my figure." She raised an eyebrow and smiled.
Howard leaned closer: "Hi, Penny, I'm Howard Wolowitz, Applied Physics Department at Caltech. You might already be familiar with some of my research. It's currently orbiting Jupiter's largest moon and taking high-resolution digital photos."
Penny nodded vaguely: "I'm Penny, I work at The Cheesecake Factory."
The air solidified awkwardly for three seconds under Howard's attempt to flirt.
"I'm going to change." She decisively fled.
When Penny came out dressed, Rajesh had already arrived, huddled in a corner, holding a drink, his eyes darting between Penny and the carpet. He wanted to say hello but couldn't make a sound, only managing an awkward "social anxiety smile."
The apartment's atmosphere returned to its peculiar balance.
Hawking's voice on the TV was mechanical and solemn. Sheldon and Leonard sat upright, and Howard held the remote control.
Ethan leaned on the other end of the sofa, his posture relaxed, somewhat like a laborer collapsing on the sofa after a day of hard work, a beer can by his feet, his expression somewhere between tired and lost in thought.
He looked at Hawking's image on the screen, wondering, "What's so great about this?"
Penny walked over. Her hair was dry now, and she had changed into a loose T-shirt and jeans. Her casual and natural demeanor brightened the entire living room.
"Sorry," she said with a smile as she sat down, "I think I interrupted your science gathering."
"No problem," Leonard immediately responded, his voice eight octaves higher than before, "We were just getting to the exciting part!"
"The part about 'black holes not completely devouring information,'" Sheldon added.
Penny nodded thoughtfully, and said seriously, "Sounds... sexy."
Howard almost choked on his drink.
Ethan couldn't help but laugh, "This is the first time I've heard someone use that word to describe Hawking."