Painting Paper Hearts | ✔

Chapter 23- For The Sake of Peace and Forgiveness

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"Is she settled down now?"

Nana's voice slightly surprised me as I shut the door behind me. The anxiety in her face was long gone, replaced by a livelier demeanor. After our emotional talk, I felt like a totally different person. The fog that blurred my sight from seeing my mother's true colours became crystal clear.

It was, truth be told, a beautiful sight.

I loved her more, and I was more proud of her for raising me as a strong, independent woman. Despite the hardships that she had gone through, she remained strong. It must've been hard for her yet she showed no sign of exhaustion from raising me all on her own.

"I want to give her space to think about meeting with her family. I've never seen mom put down her defenses like this; I've never seen her cry this much before,"

"You're right. She's been a little too restless lately. I'm glad all of that stress are wearing off," her relieved tone matched her expression so well. Now that I thought about it, Nana had probably seen what happened in the past. She'd seen worse compared to what I have heard and seen from mom.

"Come, come. Lunch ain't going to make itself," she proceeded towards the small kitchen and I tailed behind her. A coffee maker was brewing on the countertop. The toaster then made a bell-like sound, signaling that the bread was toasty and ready.

Carefully, I picked up two hot bread off of the toaster then put it on top of my plate. After garnishing my bread with mayo, leaf lettuce, and a homemade Dijon mustard, I topped it off with turkey meat and sat beside Nana.

"Nana," I started and it caught her attention. "Do you hate my... I mean, mom's dad?" It felt wrong to call this mysterious man my grandpa for one, I never even met him. Based from mom's description and relationship with him, he came off as a difficult and strict man. We wouldn't get along too much, I supposed.

"Why do you ask, dear?" she retorted in a soft tone.

I shrugged. "Mom told me a bit about her family... and their ugly tricks,"

The older woman stared into an empty space, thinking deeply on how to answer me. "I'd be a liar if I told you that I didn't loathe that man for ruining their relationship—after all, he did everything in his power to ruin my son. He sabotaged my son's future, threatened us and threw every obstacle possible to split my son and your mom, but a small part of me is glad that Freddy lived and fought,"

My brows furrowed. "What do you mean, Nana?"

Nana sucked in her breath as she trailed down the memory lane. "Before your grandpa passed away, he was a very happy boy." Nana was referring to her husband. I only had seen him in black and white picture, wearing his military suit. He fought during the second war.

"He had a lot friends, he played with them, went out with them, go fishing. But all of that changed when your grandpa passed away. Freddy was so attached to his father that when your grandpa died, it was like half of him died as well. I thought moving would be best for us so we moved here. But that only made his situation worse.

He stopped going out altogether and he didn't make a lot of friends so he eventually hated going to school. But there is one thing that he did not stop doing—painting. He'd be up until late night drawing, sketching, ripping paper and throwing them here and there," this time, a small smile started to curve on the corner of her mouth and the sight of it made me cheer up too.