The pot of sapling slipped through Logan's hands and crashed into tiny, million pieces, the mud scattering on the floor. Logan staggered back and I watched him, my eyes wide in alarm. He looked startled, fidgeting with whatever his fingers could hold on. His forehead creased as his eyes swept over the broken pieces and I rushed to his side.
"It's your first week here and you already created trouble! How even did you manage to do that?" I asked accusingly and he scratched his neck. "Wait . . . Did you see a worm in there?"
"No!" he replied so quickly, afraid of being caught and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "No . . . I-I mean that there was no stupid worm."
"You aren't a very good liar, boy," I stated and my lips stretched into a wily grin. "You need to get over your fear for something as tiny as worms, it's really silly. Besides, you work here and now you'll see them every day. You have to toughen up. Thank God my grandpa isn't here or you'll be fired right away."
He didn't say anything and instead, quietly took the broom and dustpan to clean the area. He crouched down and started sweeping. I gazed at the door in trepidation, afraid that my grandpa would burst in any second.
"Hurry up, will you? Grandpa will be here any second," I hissed and he quickly gathered the mud and dirt in the dustpan to dispose it off in the bin.
"Put it in this plastic bag and then throw or else he might see it."I could see him gritting his teeth and his dimples faintly appearing, obviously peeved at being ordered around by me. I suppressed my urge to giggle as he dumped the grungy plastic bag in the bin. We froze when the bell dinged softly, but instead of grandpa, an innocent customer entered to peruse through the flowers. I sighed and led him to choose a bouquet for his estranged wife.
Grandpa stormed through the door minutes later and observed Logan through narrowed eyes as if he could sense something was off. I quietly tied a big bow around the bouquet and helped the customer to write an apology letter. Logan pretended to help me by peeking over my shoulder and sporadically muttering a few words since there were no other customers to look after.
"Drag your scrawny ass up here son," grandpa barked and Logan obediently made his way towards him. "There's mud all over your sleeves, did you go around digging in pots?"
"No, sir," he replied as bravely as he could and I had to bite my tongue from intervening. "I was helping a customer carry the sapling and some mud must have spilled over me. It wouldn't happen again, sir."
"It better not," grandpa grumbled and went behind the counter to rummage through the supplies of fertilizers that were kept in the bottom drawer.
"That was a close call," I mumbled when Logan stood close to me. He frowned as if ordering me to shut the hell up before he would actually get caught.
It wasn't that the pot of sapling was expensive, but knowing my grandpa and the list of people he had fired so far, Logan would be sent packing to wherever he came from.
"What's the deal with you anyway?" I asked curiously, craning my neck at him. I noticed that grandpa had finally disappeared into the storage room, so it was safe to pry Logan for more information. "You didn't even show any résumé or give any information except for your address and phone number. So what's your deal? Like how old are you? Do you even go to school?"
"It's none of your business," he replied grimly and I could see how agitated he had become as his fingers twitched.
"No need to be so rude, I just wanted to know---"
"Stop," he cut me off coldly. "Stop pretending that you care. I don't care about you or your cancer story, so I expect you to return the favour."
"Well, I-I'm glad you don't care," I stammered, not knowing what else to say because nobody had bluntly ever said that they didn't care about me or my cancer story. Even when people were bored to know about how I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, my hospital trips and treatments, they cared or even pretended to listen politely. Nobody dared to be rude to a dying girl, afraid that somehow I would haunt them or ask God to punish them or simply they would die of guilt for not making my last days pleasant enough.
However, this awkward boy right here didn't care about the consequences and wasn't afraid to admit it boldly like he didn't fear death . . .
Or . . . he was just plain mean.
"JJ?" I heard grandpa's gruff voice as he emerged out of the storage room. I diverted my attention to him. "Everything alright dear?"
"Y-Yeah grandpa, all cool," I said reluctantly as his eyes swept over Logan like he was already suspecting something was wrong. Grandpa was extremely protective of me and couldn't see me getting hurt even though he would never admit that. "Mum needs me home so I got to go."
"Yeah, alright," he said and then turned to Logan. "You can take a lunch break kid."
Logan nodded as he grabbed his backpack and sauntered out of the shop to sit on the green bench right outside. I gathered my books which I had brought to read, gave a quick hug to my grandpa and exited the shop. Logan was hunched over his lunch box, stuffing Macaroni and Cheese in his mouth with a plastic fork. He had his earphones on as he ate and observed the cars passing by. He didn't seem to notice me standing right beside the bench so I tapped his shoulder and he looked up. I waved at him conveying a goodbye and he blinked as if I just woke him up from a deep sleep. Then, the realisation sank in him, he shook his head reproachfully and continued to dig the fork into his lunch box.
I laughed lightly and sat on my bicycle, not before strapping my books in the backseat. I was advised to limit the use of my bicycle because it would exhaust me, but my house was very close and I liked to feel the wind hitting my body. I started pedalling away slowly towards home when suddenly, I got a call. I stopped cycling and retrieved my phone from my jeans pocket. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion when I saw it was from grandpa.
"Yeah grandpa, what happened?" I asked when I picked up the call.
"Tomorrow you and that skinny kid need to come early JJ, we have a wedding to attend and send flowers for decorations. Do you remember, it's one of your friend from the support group? It's her sister's wedding?"
"Yeah, I do, I do," I said and paused. "How can I forget about the wedding? That girl has been blabbering about it since weeks."
"Alright, I see you tomorrow morning---"
"You're not coming home?" I interjected and I already knew his answer.
"Not today," he replied and quickly cut the call before I could protest. I knew where he would be going, to the abandoned lighthouse located at the protruding strip of the coast projected into the ocean. Nobody went there because the lower rooms were just rubbles and totally ruined, but nobody knew that the upper rooms were still intact. Nobody, except my grandfather and me.
I used to love listening to the stories about my grandparents ever since I was a kid and their love story was so ethereal. My grandpa was involved in the Vietnam war as a soldier and met my grandmother there, a shy Vietnamese villager from a middle-class family. There were many struggles and opposition they faced from her family and the army, but they made it work. She migrated into America as a war bride among other 8,040 Vietnamese war brides.
Most marriages had ended up in divorce, but fortunately, my grandparents' marriage was strong. At least, as long as my grandma lived. Grandpa was going to spend the night in the top room of the isolated lighthouse at the beach where the reminiscence of his love story played in his mind. The blissful days of his early marriage when they would be allowed to visit the lighthouse to look over the shore during sunset and sunrise because the lighthouse keeper was a close friend of my grandpa.
I sighed and furiously pedalled down the lane towards the coast, the salty wind tickling my bare neck as I hoped that someone would be there for my grandpa when my ashes would be a mere part of the vast ocean.
"What are you digging from the side of the couch? Did you drop rice there? I told you not to eat on the couch! Now go and sit at the dining table!" my mum yelled at my little sister who looked startled and then quietly did what she was asked to do."Maa, can I borrow one of your dresses? I have that wedding thing to attend tomorrow," I said as I picked up an apple from the fruit bowl and my mum peeked at me from above her magazine."Yeah, of course, dear," she replied with a smile, her entire demeanour changing. "We can even go shopping to buy some new clothes for you--- ""No, no. I told you before also, I'm not going to let you waste any money on me." I bit into the apple and leaned against the wall. She looked conflicted, but I gave her a reassuring smile. I didn't want her to buy clothes which would only last till I'm alive. My sister could be given those clothes, but there would be memories of me attached and it would be unfair to her. I didn't want my sister to be sad.Suddenly,
I stared at my reflection, not a pleasant sight, I knew. Granted I had blonde hair and blue eyes, supposedly striking features, but it was really not. Even when I didn't have cancer, I wasn't considered pretty, maybe average or little above average [depending on how I dressed] because my eyebrows were light, my forehead a little wide and the tip of my nose so sharp that it could be used as a weapon to stab people. Now add cancer to this entire mixture of absurd genes, didn't fit, right? Definitely not.I had no complaint about my eyes because they were fine, but over the years of battling cancer, my eyes definitely lost its sparkle. I had scanty eyelashes and a bit of hair on my head which barely reached to my neck [much better than when I was bald and roamed around with a queer wig on my head] and I had certainly gotten thin in all parts of my body, except my cheeks.My chubby cheeks made my face look rounder and my nose sharper than ever. I had become so pale with no presence of the
"I, Katherine Joseph, take you, Simon Pritchett, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part," Eliza's sister Katherine said fervently and tears sprang in my eyes.I would never get to fall in love or get to dress in white while my mum and sister helped me with my makeup. I would never get to hear, 'you're a beautiful bride,' from my brother or get to walk down the aisle with my dad. I would never get to commit to a man, share vows, carry his children, bicker over trivial issues, go on holiday trips and grow old with him. I would never get to truly, madly and deeply fall in love with someone.I silently blinked back my tears and took a glimpse of Eliza seated on the left side in the front row, her hands clutching her fancy gown tightly. Although she tried to remain stoic, I could see her lips quivering and hands trembling. She didn't have to wallow in misery, she had eig
"Here are your lilies, Uncle Desmond," I said with a small smile and Uncle Desmond smiled back at me warmly, his eyes crinkling."Thank you, JJ, and where is your grandpa? That old man has completed seventy-five years and is still working as a young fellow, he deserves a celebration," he said playfully as his eyes twinkled in mischief. "Tell him that his friend's missing him.""Of course, I'll tell him that.""Yes, yes . . . Oh, how I miss those old days where we would just go to the bar, discuss women and sports over a couple of beers. War changed us and then marriage . . . How we both became men from boys and used to talk about being a good father to our children and a good husband . . . " he started reminiscing and trailed off, when he knew that he was going the wrong way- the death of my grandma. His eyes were teary as he let out a light laugh and gathered the lilies in his arms. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, JJ. Give my wishes to your grandpa and take care of him, he gets lonel
My dad, mum, Shaun, Gemma, Logan and I were sitting at the dining table, saying our grace. We weren't particularly religious, but we always prayed during occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, thanksgiving etc. Grandpa and his cousins had gone out to party at a local restaurant where they usually hung out because they had their own fun to catch up on so this left us with only my family and Logan. I expected Logan to grumble about how he had to endure the pain of sitting through the unbearable silence which prevailed because of my mum's and my brother's recent argument. However, he seemed to enjoy the silence since he looked like his usual self, awkward, but a bit calmer.We started to dive in the food which comprised of Vietnamese cuisine which my mum had specially prepared for grandpa since he used to always love what my grandma used to cook for him. Usually, at our home, we didn't have Vietnamese food because my sister couldn't digest strong spices like ginger, garlic, shrimp past
"I need to fix them, Logan, I-I need to fix them all!" I felt myself slip into a state of hysteria because my body started trembling and I started laughing in pity. "It's all because of me, I have to-to fix them all! How can I die peacefully w-when my family's falling apart like that? How can I Logan?"Something snapped in me because I erupted into fresh tears and I couldn't help myself. I buried my face in between my knees and started weeping, my entire body shaking. I could taste the salty tears in my mouth as I tried to wipe them against the fabric of my yoga pants but to no avail. I couldn't stop my tears.I could feel Logan sitting stiffly beside me and I stammered, "I-I'm s-sorry for being s-so pathetic--- ""It's okay . . . Hush now," Logan hushed me and I could feel him rubbing my back, trying to soothe me. I didn't know he was capable of providing me with comfort since he was such a bum most of the time, but my body actually relaxed. I looked up from my knees and turned my ne
"Ah, put it in the box, quick!" I shrieked with laughter as Jamal threw the small crab in the box and Gemma hurriedly shut it. Jamal started breathing heavily while dramatically acting to wipe the imaginary sweat on his forehead. Gemma peered into the box, we had caught four small crabs and the thrill of catching them was still surging through our bodies.Logan was sprawled under a palm tree nearby, leaning against the trunk with his legs fully stretched out and arms casually spread on either side of his body. His eyes were closed peacefully and his head was tilted upwards. The rays of the sun fell over his face and the shadow of the leaves above made the light on his face appear in stripes, which made him look so aesthetically pleasing without even trying."Hey, Logan!" I called out and watched his eyes flutter open as he blinked rapidly at me like he had snapped out of a trance. He always did that. He then scrambled to sit erect and his hands dug in the sand in full alert. "You alri
Logan looked petrifying today with a repugnant odour surrounding him. His eyes were droopy and his clothes scruffy and unkempt. His hair was a tangled mess, the kind where you touch it and your finger would get stuck. There was a dark stubble on his jaw because he hadn't shaved in a while and it looked horrendous. He didn't look one bit good and I didn't blame him. It didn't take me a long while to figure out that he wasn't in his best mental health- depression was ugly.However, I was wondering what had suddenly happened to him today?"Hey, you alright?" I asked cautiously and he just shrugged as if he was physically present but mentally absent. "You can ask my grandpa for a day off if you're sick.""No," he cut me off dismissively because it seemed that he wanted to prove to me that he was fine."Okay, you don't have to come over to my place for lunch. I can tell mum.""No," he said forcefully and added with emphasis, "I'm alright."Those words felt like it held little to no meaning