Dear Nathaniel Raymond,
It's me, Anneliese, the daughter you abandoned to build your new, happy family. Care to explain your sudden disappearance for the last sixteen years?
Your ex-daughter,
Anneliese Mormont
...
Half the day had gone already, and Anneliese still hadn't received a letter from her father. Could he really be avoiding her? 'He should be back from his family vacation already. Right?' she thought as she knocked her pen against the table she sat at in the library. 'Or did the landlady mean two whole days as in he'll return tomorrow?'
Someone stood beside her while she was deep in her thoughts and grabbed her pen. The suddenness startled her, and she looked up. "That's very disturbing to the other people in this library, Ms. Mormont," the librarian stated with narrowed eyes.
"Oh! I apologize, sir," Anneliese said and put her pen down. The librarian nodded and left. 'I should finish studying. I don't want to fail my Literature test,' thought Anneliese. About two hours of memorizing her study material later, she went home.
Her mother was watering plants in the garden when she reached. "Welcome home, Anneliese!" Her mother smiled.
"Hi, mother. The roses are looking beautiful as always," Anneliese stated.
"Yes, they bloom well around this time of year." Her mother remarked as she caressed the petals of the pink roses gently.
"Mother," she called out.
"Yes?" Her mother looked at her.
"Why do you grow pink roses and not red?" she asked.
"Do you know the meaning behind pink roses, Anneliese?" Anneliese shook her head.
"What do they mean, mother?" she asked.
"They mean elegance, refinement, joy, and happiness while red roses mean love." Her mother smiled at her.
"That didn't answer my question..." Anneliese remarked.
"Oh, my dear Anneliese. You just haven't figured it out yet," her mother said and stood beside her with one hand on her shoulder. "I fill the garden with pink roses to signify that our family is a joyous one, and with a happy family comes love. That is why we don't need red roses to signify our love," she explained and tapped Anneliese's nose with her finger.
"Um, alright. Whatever makes you happy, mother." Anneliese chuckled. "I'm going to go to my room. Call me if you need anything." Her mother nodded. Anneliese went to her room and set her bag down. 'Why do I feel like mother has another reason for why she doesn't grow red roses?' she thought. She sat in her room for a while before deciding to write another letter to her father. She opened her study table drawer and pulled out a blank piece of paper.
As she was halfway into the letter, her mother knocked on her door. "Anneliese, may I come in?" her mother asked. Anneliese quickly put away the letter in her drawer.
"Yes, come in!" she replied.
"I bought some cake from the bakery that opened nearby. Do you want to try some? It's a strawberry mousse cake!" her mother exclaimed.
"Would I?! I'll be down in a bit," she said.
"Okay, but hurry up, or I'll eat all of it." Anneliese gasped, and her mother laughed heartily. Her mother left, and Anneliese quickly finished writing the letter.
Dear Mr. Raymond,
I'm convincing myself that you're still on vacation and not ignoring me since you still haven't replied to any of my letters. Today, I asked mother why she grows pink roses instead of red ones. She replied saying that pink roses signify the joy in our family, and where there's joy, there's love, so we don't need red roses to signify it. However, I think there's another reason behind it. I remember her saying she loved red roses, and you would get her a bouquet of ninety-nine of them on your anniversary even though we grew them. When you left us, she spent some time cutting all the red roses in our garden gloomily. Do you feel regret hearing this? Probably not since you have a new family already. You should know what I'm going to say next by now, but I hope you reply soon. Still expecting an explanation.
Sincerely, Anneliese Mormont
"I don't think I can give this to the landlady today. I might have to do that tomorrow." Anneliese folded the letter and placed it in her drawer. "Time to eat some cake!" she exclaimed and skipped downstairs happily.
"I thought you'd never come down. I was really going to eat your portion too," her mother stated, and Anneliese pouted.
"You wouldn't do that," Anneliese remarked.
"You never know when it comes to food, especially when it's cake," her mother said.
"What are we having for dinner tonight?" she asked.
"Your father is bringing home Chinese takeout tonight," her mother replied. "Oh, yeah. Your father will be going on a business trip tomorrow, and he probably won't be back until Friday, so I'll be working at the company in his stead. I'll leave in the afternoon and be back by evening these few days. You can take care of yourself and the moving Wednesday, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, don't worry about me and do what you need to do," Anneliese answered.
"Okay. Quickly finish your cake before the whipped cream melts," her mother said, and Anneliese noticed the whipped cream liquifying from the heat. She quickly ate it up with delight.
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