REMEMBER ME?

Raphael and I went to their province on a Valentine’s Day to have a short vacation. He wanted to introduce me to his grandparents, who raised him and sent him to school until he graduated high school. Being a woman, it was very important to me. He wouldn’t let me meet them if he was not serious about me.

Just when the tricycle stopped, his grandmother warmly met us with a smile. She was at the front yard, sweeping the leaves. There were many trees in their front yard, where a lot of dried leaves that scattered on the ground.

She wore an old floral blouse paired with a pair of plain black square cotton pants. Her hair was in a tight bun, which showed the gray hair.

Raphael kissed his grandmother’s hand before he kissed her forehead and embraced her tightly. My heart was overwhelmed with gladness when I saw how he respected his beloved grandparents.

“This is my girlfriend,” he introduced me to his grandmother, who was a bit slim and shorter than my average height.

I kissed her hand, to show her my respect. She smelled like the sun and baby powder.

“How are you?” I asked respectfully and smiled. “I am Annie.”

“I’m doing well.” She fondly caressed my hands that she held with her wrinkled ones. “I thought you were going to arrive later. As it is, I haven’t cooked yet. Just call me Lola Remy,” she said before turning to Raphael.

“You have a very beautiful girlfriend, my grandson. Are you sure you did not threat her or anything?” she muttered in a serious tone; her dark eyes peered into his. But we knew she was just jesting, so Raphael and I laughed.

His grandmother invited us in to the house. We saw his grandfather who just got out of the room. He was surprised to see us in the living room. We then both kissed his hand. He wore a pair of blue slippers, blue-and-black shorts and a white T-shirt. He was quite handsome at his age, with serious black eyes. Like his wife, he had salt-and-pepper hair.

A little bit later, Raphael’s grandmother excused herself to get some refreshments in the kitchen, so it was the three of us that were left chatting in the living room.

It was obvious that his grandparents were already old but they still looked healthy and well, which awed me.
I noticed they had a simple house. It looked like most ancestral houses made of wood. It had four rooms, with a cozy living room and a kitchen. I learned that they had an outhouse, where the toilet was.

When night came, I chose to sleep in the second room next to Raphael’s old bedroom—before the empty room at the end of the hall. I did not want his grandparents to have any ideas since Raphael and I were not married yet. Besides, I was not that kind of girl who would sleep next to my boyfriend.

I was supposed to sleep in the room at the end of the hall but Lola Remy stopped me and locked it. She said it was not cleaned up yet.

I looked around the room she let me used. It was quite tidy. A queen size bed was pushed against the wall with white sheet and checkered blanket. There was a black coffee table next to it, which was made of plastic.

“Are you really fine here? Don’t you want us to sleep together?” Raphael asked as he gave me a pillow in white pillowcase. It was neither hard nor soft. Just the way I liked my pillow.

His eyes roved from my straight shoulder-length hair, angelic face and cherry red lips. I remembered he told me before that he loved my not-so-white soft skin that he loved to run his fingers on, which made me blush then.

“Shut up,” I told him with a laugh. “Aren’t you going to sleep now?” I asked instead since he sat down on the bed, lay down heavily and fingered his short black hair.