At A Grocery Store

Walking through the frozen dessert aisle, Alexander Grayson was starting to get frustrated at the lack of mint chocolate chip (the best flavor) ice cream.

His mom had sent him out to get snacks. Her new girlfriend, Natalie, AND his twin sister, Mackenzie, were both on their period. And as the only man in the house (read: ****), it fell to him to fulfill their requests.

It was wild to Alex that his mom had started dating someone only 6 years older than him. She was 45 years old, dating someone 21 years younger than her.

At first, they were both a little put off by the staggering age gap. Of course, Natalie grew on both him and his sister, especially now that she had moved into their house.

Natalie's blonde hair and bright blue eyes were a big contrast to the brown hair and eyes Alex shared with his mom and sister.

Alex remained the tallest in his family (unsurprisingly) at 6'1", while his mom and Natalie were both 5'7", and his sister was a much shorter 5'4".

He kept up his search for mint chocolate chip ice cream, knowing that if he came back without it, he'd be in big trouble.

His attention deeply locked in on looking for ice cream, Alex accidentally walked into an old lady walking down the aisle. The thin wood cane she was using to walk slipped out of her hands as she fell backwards onto the ground.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you up."

Alex felt horrible for possibly injuring an innocent old lady due to poor spatial awareness, and so he immediately went to help pick her up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you. Are you okay? Anything hurting? Do I need to call an ambulance?"

"Ah, I'm fine, dear. It was just a little tumble, no need to get worked up over it."

He felt so relieved that he hadn't crippled the lady and let out a sigh of relief. She gave a small chuckle and rubbed Alex's arm with a warm smile. She reached into the purse hanging on her arm and pulled out a small box.

"Here, sweetie, take this. There aren't too many young men like you around, getting so worried over a grandma like me. They're all too focused on the Fortcraft and the TikTube nowadays!"

Alex was a little confused, but he wasn't one to deny a gift, especially from a sweet old lady.

"Uh... thank you, ma'am. That's very kind of you."

After Alex checked one more time that she didn't need any help, the old lady went on her way and disappeared around the corner of the aisle.

Despite really wanting to get the ice cream and leave so that he could make it home before he wasn't allowed back in, Alex decided to open the box and look at the lady's gift.

Inside the box was a strange-looking watch. There were no numbers, a bunch of random icons, and the letter 'N' on the top, bottom, left, and right. The hour hand was locked on where 9 should be, even though it was closer to 2, and the minute hand was spinning much faster than it should.

Did she just give him a broken watch?