𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑, j.mori

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄

—— CHAPTER THREE / another broken glass

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"PARK, YOUR PHONE'S RINGING."

"Huh? Uh, yeah. Toss it here."

The woman tossed her the phone which Aella caught with ease. She flipped it open to see the familiar caller ID on the small screen. Sighing, she tucked the dry cloth she was holding under her arm and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Good evening, Aella."

Aella picked up a glass, ready to place it in its rightful place. "Ah, Kala, how's my grandmama?"

"Uh, about her..." She heard her inhale sharply, "Your grandmother asked to be discharged—"

Kala heard a glass break from the other end. The Demon Empress from the bar kept her fist clenched, despite glass digging into her skin, shards of glass scattered on the floor of the bar. The other employees were freaked, but not surprised. This is the eleventh glass she's broken this week, thought Kim as he dragged a hand down his face. With a vein popping on her cheekbone, and her teeth clasped together in anger, she managed to say, "What?" The bar's workers could tell their young boss was trying hard to contain her anger, but was failing miserably.

The nurse, Kala, from the other end squeaked, she could hear the to-be bar owner's anger. "Yuh-your g-grandmother asked to be discharged, Ma'am." The nurse didn't know when she started to refer to Aella as "Ma'am." (It could be from fear of the girl half her age...). "You told me to call you when she said something like that, so I-I did."

It was only then Kala realized that Aella had already cut the call.

"That old hag..." she seethed, closing her eyes to not destroy anything in sight, a smirk of exasperation dancing on her lips and the vein on her cheekbone still visible.

Everybody was as still as any lifeless object, holding their breaths, dreading the next few seconds. Aella opened her eyes, a fierce fire in them, and slammed her flip phone on the bar's counter. With a smirk, she announced, "Kim's in charge!" And with that, the girl dashed out of the bar without bothering to change out of her work clothing. Running to the hospital didn't bother her (she was a goddess, after all). About fifteen minutes later, she screetched to a stop in front of the hospital, tugging on the bandages around her eye as she travelled in the elevator to the second floor. The familiar white walls ran down the floor, passing in a blur as she rushed to the doorstep of her grandmother's room.

On the plain white door, there was stuck a name plate, bearing the words,
'PARK CHOHEE' in bold letters. Aella didn't bother to knock, she just slammed open the door and then closed it.

Her grandmother, or rather adoptive grandmother's frail body sat on the bed, her head turned towards the window. The woman's hands rested in her lap, frail and decorated with wrinkles. "Heard you asked to be discharged," she said, striding further inside and sitting down on the stool, the pointless anger she felt earlier self-destruct. Her grandma turned her head to look at her granddaughter with a soft smile. "That," she said, taking her granddaughter's hand in her own shaky ones, "was a lie."

Aella wanted to scream, yell, thrash around. "How can you just joke around right now, Grandmama?" she interrogated, her voice small and strained; her throat ached. Grandmama rolled her eyes and looked away, as if asking Aella to get over the lecture. Aella moved to sit on the edge of her bed and gripped her hand a tad bit tighter, "You can't do that," she said, trying to get her grandmother to look at her, "you can't do that to me. You, Grandmama, are dying. Do you not understand the weight of the situation? Look, your need for getting better might—will outweight your need for entertainment."

"I'm dying, Aella. Let's face it. So," she smiled at the young girl, "I need to spend the last of my days filled with fun."

Aella pouted and got up from her place on the edge of the bed, the hinges of the bed creaking from the weight that was relieved. Grandmama didn't stop her, she just watched her go out the door and didn't flinch when she slammed it shut.

It had been almost three months since they had an actual conversation without Aella resulting in yelling and leaving in anger. Grandmama wanted her granddaughter to be happy before she departs and it clearly wasn't working. The frail woman glanced at the framed picture of her and Aella sitting on the bed post and she only looked up when the door opened, less violently this time. "Did you tell her?" asked Kala, rolling in the trolley with food for the older woman.

"I did not." replied Grandmama, sitting up straighter.

"You should tell her soon," suggested the nurse, worry and pity swirling in her green eyes. The older woman stayed silent, but that only lasted till an idea sparked in her mind. "Kala," she called.

"Yes?" The nurse stood in the doorway, stepping in, listening closely to the soft, weak words of the woman.

"Can you bring me two blank pages and a pen?"

◇

Aella walked slowly back to the bar to attend to business in a daze. Of course, she was aware of the traffic and other people, but avoiding being hit or bumped into was like a reflex for her. Her throat ached from swallowing too many lumps that had formed, the product of her trying to stop tears. It was like swallowing her pride, which I must say, was very big and that's saying something.

She pushed open the door, ready to open her mouth to bark more orders, "Alright, guys—"

"Hi, Aella!"

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