Her hand that was wiping the elderly"s tears was paused, and started to tremble slightly. Shao Yan looked at the elderly silently. She began to stutter, "You*... could not possibly be.. Grandma Wu?"
Shao Yan felt turmoil in her heart. The grandmother that she had always known, was only from her mother"s side. But there was one picture that her mother showed her before.
Shao Yan began to recall her mother"s words, "Yan Yan, always remember, this is Grandma Wu. One day, when she finally forgives us, you have to call her loudly "Grandma Wu", alright?"
Every Chinese New Year or Reunion festival, or any other big holidays, Mother would never fail to call or send her greeting cards over. The calls were never received but the cards were never returned.
Mother would always send in family pictures along with the greeting cards, and Shao Yan a.s.sumed, the cards would be just lost on the way since there were no replies. After all, they were mailed from China to Taiwan.
As she got older, Shao Yan finally understood why Grandma Wu was so angry. The reason was really simple. Her mother told her once before that Grandpa Wu was someone who was really patriotic.
Because of the political tension and history between the two countries, he would never accept any bride from China. The bride had to be Taiwanese, born and raised in Taiwan.
Father and Mother had met when they were exchange students abroad, and they quickly fell in love. But when her father brought her mother back to meet the parents, Grandpa Wu rejected the marriage right away. Father then decided to leave the house and build a new family with mother.
All those time until she pa.s.sed away, Mother had always felt guilty towards the family. That was also the reason why mother had always made sure that Shao Yan would never forget the elders, and the elders to never forget them
Grandma Wu slowly nodded, and let go off Shao Yan"s hand. She reached out to a velvet box that had been sitting on the stone table. Grandma Wu opened it, and Shao Yan saw that inside of it were those letters, cards and pictures that Mother had mailed to them.
Eachletters and pictures had signs of being handled so many times. Shao Yan could see that the letters must have been read multiple times, and pictures must have been stared at many times as well.
ShaoYan could feel her tears start to fall as well. Her trembling fingers reached out for the box as she recognized her own mother"s handwriting.
"We are two stubborn oldies. Until he pa.s.sed away, your grandfather still refused to visit China," Grandma Wu softly sighed, "You have to forgive us, Yan Yan, we have wasted so much time being partial, we lost all the precious time we would have had with you."
Shao Yan was tearing up while s.h.i.+fting through the content inside the velvet box. Once she heard the guilt and sorrow from Grandma"s voice, Shao Yan quickly put the box on the table again and grabbed the elderly by her hands, "Grandma! Grandma, don"t say that!" And she quickly wrapped her hands around her frail body and hugged her.
"Grandma~" Shao Yan wailed, "Don"t leave me anymore, I- I…" Shao Yan tried to say more but she just kept sobbing and crying and could not form any words.
Allthis time, she thought she was alone with no family and no relatives anymore. After her father pa.s.sed away, Shao Yan felt really lonely and was ready to just be on her own.
But Qi Ling stayed with her. And then Li Xiqing came into her life. And now, her Grandmother showed up.
She finally had a family to call her own. She wasn"t the same young girl who"s naivety had caused her deception at the whims of the ones she thought cared for her.
Nolonger was she a dandelion to be swept away by the brisk winds of the world.
She was firmly rooted, a great oak standing tall in the face of the unending storm
Three women sat on wooden chairs by the stone tables. All three of them had all their make-up smudged; their eyes were swollen and their nose tips were red.
ShaoYan never let go off Grandmother"s hand. Both of them were looking at each other with warm eyes, and with longing comfort after finding each other"s lost soul.
After Shao Yan calmed down a bit, she finally said, "I am sorry, Grandma, I did not recognize you. Mother would have been so angry," her lips curved into a sad, disappointed smile, "Mother had always drilled into my mind to always remember you and Grandpa. But looked at what I"ve done." Shao Yan slowly let out a bitter smile and then she softly sighed.
Grandma Wu smiled so tenderly and patted the back of her hand, "Silly child, you have never seen us before, of course we will not blame you," she turned to look at Risa, "but your cousin may be angry at you because you forgot about her, even though you have met many years ago."
Shao Yan was surprised to hear that, she turned her head swiftly to Risa right away, "Cousin?"
Her eyebrows were scrunched and she was confused, "Wait, wh- you"re my cousin? But.. you"re j.a.panese! Grandpa would never.."
Risa chuckled at Shao Yan. She refilled their empty cups with more tea and also pa.s.sed a sweet almond cookie to Grandma Wu, "My Chinese name is Wu Shaoying."
And then Risa also pa.s.sed an almond cookie to Shao Yan, "after Grandpa pa.s.sed away, I met a fabulous guy and then got married to him shortly after. I have to thank you actually," Risa smiled bitterly, "after what happened to your family, Grandma was easier to talk to about multicultural marriage."
She turned and patted the elderly"s arm, "Right, Grandma?" And Risa slowly chuckled childishly at her.
"And you already know my English name is Marissa, so after I married Kei, my name became Risa Yamaguchi."