1943. Shanghai. A soldier of the Japanese Army happens by a club one night purely out of boredom. What he expects to find are uncouth drunks. He actually meets a beautiful African-American performer by the name of Beatrice. Throughout the next three...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
juunana
seventeen
Over the following one to two weeks that passed, her grandpa grew considerably weaker. He didn't have enough energy to go for walks and had to be permanently bed-bound. He could barely swallow anymore and because of it, had stopped eating. Watching him grow more and more feeble broke her heart in two. Some days, she'd stand outside of his room and sob, his own cries of pain too much to handle. Hospice nurses came every day, seeing to it that he was changed, bathed and his stump cared for. They worked tirelessly for 12 to 16-hour shifts at a time and she offered them to stay at the house should they be too tired to drive home. Some took the opportunity, others didn't.
"Sami," One such day, his weak whimpers were so bad she had to leave the room and she had come to stand in the hallway. Sobbing into the palms of her hands, she let the grief and anguish come out. Wiping her tears, she'd looked up to see Takeru. Wordlessly, she ran into his arms and began to weep. He lifted his arms to enclose her and he held her tight, sheltering her from everything and everyone.
"It's okay baby girl..." His voice was calm and steady and it was everything she needed as her heart smashed to pieces.
"Let's go outside. Hm?" Nodding against his chest, she let him take her by the hand and lead her to the patio.
Taking a trembling breath, she sniffed loudly as he handed her some tissues.
"I never thought it would hurt this bad..." She bawled, trying to catch her breath. He took her hand and gently caressed it, his expression that of deep sadness.
"I...I knew he was... gonna die... but... it... it hurts so much..." She released a watery sigh and withdrew her hand, lifting them to wipe away her tears.
"This must be... how he felt with Grandma..."
"Sami..."
"It's all he had left of her...he couldn't destroy it."
"Destroy what?" Lifting red watery eyes, she looked him in the eyes.
"The room." His office.
"He didn't want to forget how it happened. How... how they met." Swallowing thickly, he looked down at their conjoined fingers.
"Take..." Looking up, the expression on her face ruined him.
"Please take good care of it."
"What are you talking about?" But she couldn't answer because she'd gotten up and started to go back into the house. Take good care of what?
