When he spoke, his eyes were downcast, lacking their usual firmness. Callie saw in him the same proud yet aggrieved child who once sat in the rain. But now, with his grandfather gone, there was no one left to take him home.
“It’s okay, I wasn’t expecting much anyway,” Callie said, placing the bowl on the table beside her.
He remained silent for a moment before asking in a muffled voice, “But you were expecting a little, weren’t you?”
Callie frowned, finding him unreasonable. “Mr. Oconnor, I was the one stood up. How do you expect me to answer that?”
“If you had seen me that day, what would you have said?” Nelson asked, looking up with dark eyes.
When two people are close enough, they develop a sort of telepathy. Callie looked at him for a while, thinking how unfair life was. His face could have easily made it in the entertainment industry.
“I would have asked if I was more important to you than Charlotte,” Callie said with a bitter smile.
Nelson knew she was joking and smiled faintly. Some things need to be said at the right time; if missed, they might never be said again. He had missed that moment. Callie thought. She no longer wanted to speak; it was pointless.
She glanced at the people behind the floor-to-ceiling window, who appeared calm but were all deep in thought.
“Will they affect you?”
“With Grandpa gone, nothing matters anymore,” Nelson said without looking back. He picked up her bowl of noodles and began eating heartily. “Whatever they want, if they can fight for it, let them have it.”
Callie wasn’t used to his defeatist attitude and finally understood what Jamir meant. The power dynamics in Ylosea would be reshuffled.
Nelson bent slightly, pausing his eating.
“Nelson.”
Callie hesitated and called again, “Nelson.”
Nelson looked up slightly, his eyes red-rimmed, and gave her a smile that evoked sympathy.
She hesitated for a moment before covering his eyes with her hand, trying to stop his tears from falling.
The next day, Grandpa’s funeral took place. The cemetery was behind the Oconnor family estate, where their ancestors were also buried.
Callie wore the bracelet Grandpa had given her, saying it was an Oconnor family heirloom for the eldest son’s wife. Regardless of her current status, she would always be his granddaughter-in-law in his heart.
The funeral was simple. Everyone held a bouquet of white chrysanthemums to place before the grave. Nelson stood by the tombstone, shaking hands with those who came.
Dressed in black, he stood tall and straight but exuded loneliness.
After everyone left, he stayed behind alone, arranging the flowers before the grave and then sitting beside the tombstone with his sleeves rolled up.
No one knew what Nelson was thinking. He simply sat in the sunlight, holding a twig and writing names on the ground before crossing them out and writing again.
In the afternoon, Bianca brought Callie over. She looked surprised.
After a moment, she walked up and squatted down helplessly to roll down his sleeves. “Grandpa would be unhappy seeing you so sloppy.”
“He can’t hit me even if he’s unhappy,” Nelson said indifferently, letting her fuss over him.
Callie paused and looked at him. “Wait till he visits you in your dreams.”
Nelson smiled faintly but said nothing.
It was Callie’s second visit to the Oconnor family old mansion. The first time was their first New Year’s Eve after marriage. She never thought that her next visit would be under such circumstances.
That night, Nelson developed a fever of 39. 6 degrees Celsius and tossed and turned restlessly.