The Third Year (3)
I’ve always meant to come out to Grandpa about my sexuality one day when the time is right. Except I’ve never been able to find the right time, and so up till now, I still haven’t told him.
At least before when I had synesthesia, I could get an inkling of what to expect rather than go in completely blind, but now that I’m a normal person, it’s all the more important to find the perfect timing.
Ideally, I envision myself waiting at least two more years, until I graduate and find a stable job.
But now that the moment has come knocking at the door, I don’t know what to do.
Does Grandpa know something, or does he not? Should I sit down and have a proper conversation with him about me and Yan Kongshan? He’s getting on in years, will the shock suddenly trigger some major illness in him?
I spend all night flipping back and forth in bed, mulling over these concerns in my head. I don’t fall asleep until 5 AM, head pounding incessantly and body overcome by fatigue. At noon, Yan Wanqiu wakes me up and I force myself out of bed.
“Enough sleeping, you said you’d bring me to the spinster house, you promised!”
I feel nauseous, sick to the stomach, and a bit like vomiting…
I walk around like a zombie, dragging my weighted-down body to go wash up.
After splashing cold water on my face, my mind feels a lot clearer and my headache isn’t too bad. When I reenter my bedroom, Yan Wanqiu is sitting on the bed reading one of my comics, legs swinging back and forth. I reach for the cellphone on my nightstand, stuffing it into my pocket, then snatch the book out of her hands.
“Didn’t you want to go to the spinster house?”
“Ah, right.” She hops onto the floor, her prosthetic leg making a clacking sound as it makes contact with the wooden floor. She charges off like a whirlwind, going out the same chaotic way she came in.
***
With the sun blazing overhead, Yan Wanqiu walks ahead of me carrying a red white polka dot parasol while I follow behind her, yawning consecutively. The little girl is donned in a white dress and white sandals, two braids bouncing in front of her. Like the poster child for summertime.
At times when people pass by us, their gazes travel down to her leg. It’s not just cats—people too are curious creatures, but she’s long gotten used to people’s stares and simply looks back at them openly.
After a 15-minute walk, we finally reach the spinster house.
In the last two years, Granny’s Maltese has gotten much older. His eyes are white with cataracts, his teeth are pretty much all gone, and he can no longer control his bowel movements and needs a diaper on at all times. Granny brings him everywhere, because she’s afraid he’ll “leave” at any moment.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
When we arrive, Granny is having tea in the garden. Pink-white roses bloom all over, with a vine crawling up the grey, red walls. The juxtaposition of the lively, vibrant living organism against the vintage architecture of the building creates such an esoteric scene. Not even the best artist in the world could replicate such a picture.
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“Rb, yea P’w j ilaaif tecugs.” Tjc Qjcdle obivr eq tfg qjgjrbi jcv atfc qibqr vbkc cfza ab Xgjccs, rajglcu ja atf atgff-alfg vfrrfga abkfg bc atf ajyif.
“Go ahead. I knew you guys were coming so I asked Ah Yu to prepare this, desserts are her specialty.” She grabs a napkin and picks up a mung bean cake, handing it to Yan Wanqiu. “She made a lot, be sure to take some home with you when you go back later. I can’t eat all this.”
Last year, Granny got a recommendation from a friend and decided to hire a housekeeper with horticulture skills to help out because she felt she was getting on in year and not as energetic as before. The housekeeper goes by “Ah Yu,” and is in her fifties. Having been an au pair previously, she taught herself English and knows how to bake bread and cook Western foods. She also drives; really, she’s capable of just about anything. Granny is very satisfied with her work and even once questioned why the universe hadn’t brought Ah Yu to her earlier, because her life quality has heightened so much.
“Why are there such dark circles under your eyes? Where did you go off to party last night?” Granny pours me a cup of black tea.
“I didn’t, I was just on my phone until really late so I didn’t get much sleep.” With a piece of dessert in my stomach and a cup of hot tea, I feel much more alive and collapse back against the chair, letting out a long sigh.
Besides the three of us, Granny’s black cat joins us at the table, taking over the fourth chair. An An lies at Granny’s feet, his soft, smooth white fur trailing down to the ground, making him resemble a mop.
Yan Wanqiu gets full after eating a few desserts and goes off to play with An An, forcing him to go look at the flowers with her.
“Be careful, don’t trip!” I call out.
“I know!” she replies without turning back, heading off with dog in hand.
And then there were two. Granny stares at Yan Wanqiu’s retreating back and comments, “The little girl’s quite cute, I wonder who the lucky boy is going to be in the future.”
I laugh. “I think it’s a little too early to think about that.”
How old is she now? There’s still at least a decade to go.
“And you? You’re not getting any younger, do you have a partner?” Granny asks with a chuckle.
Startled at suddenly being called out, I hurry and look elsewhere, staring fixedly at the tea and desserts on the table, unsure what to do. “I… It’s too early, I haven’t graduated yet, I don’t have a job… I don’t want to date yet.”
And my partner wouldn’t agree to it anyhow.
“I don’t mean to pressure you, you can do anything you want. As long as you’ve thought it through, then follow through with your decisions to the end. Whether you don’t want to get married, or don’t want kids… we only live once. There’s no reason to make yourself suffer in order to follow the status quo.”
I don’t know whether it’s because of Grandpa freaking me out last night, but I can’t help but think there are words behind her words… I look up at her. Her warm, gentle, loving gaze washes over me, and my palpitating heart calms down.
“Granny, when you said you were moving into the spinster house, how did your family react?”
“Of course they didn’t agree.” Granny takes a sip of her tea. Light, red varnish covers her nails, making her fingers look pale and elongated. “But what could I do? Even if I had to cut ties with them, I wasn’t going to marry.”
She smiles and puts her tea cup down. “At the time, only your grandfather was on my side.”
Granny’s family was naturally displeased with the fact that she’d decided to move into the spinster house at such a young age. A bunch of uncles and cousins wanted to band together and drag her out of there, but when Grandpa heard the news, he sneaked over to the spinster house to let her know, and he barricaded the uncles and cousins as they were on their way to help her stall for time so Granny had time to prepare backup.
As Granny tells me this story, her voice is calm and steady, but through her words, I can still sense the fear she must have felt back then.
“In that era, a healthy woman refusing to marry was a completely preposterous thing. Only your grandfather didn’t care and kept interacting with me as always, calling me “Elder Sister” as if nothing had changed. For that reason alone, even if I cut ties with the entire family, I would always take care of him, for eternity.” She continues, “You’re his grandson, the apple of his eye, so how can I not take care of you too? So don’t mind me being meddlesome if I sometimes talk too much.”
I would never, because she’s an elder and treats me and Grandpa so well. “I don’t. I’m happy you care about me, how could I be annoyed?”
“Flatterer.” She smiles.
***
At five, the sun starts falling over the western horizon, sending the whole garden into the shadows. Yan Wanqiu, tired from the day’s activities, sits on the grass petting An An and mumbling nonsensically to herself. Then, a car honks from outside the garden. I look over and see Yan Kongshan’s car.
“Qiuqiu, Ah Shan is here, let’s go!” I grab some desserts, wave goodbye to Granny, and head out hand-in-hand with Yan Wanqiu.
On the way home, a lot of thoughts run through my mind and I don’t say much. Yan Kongshan seems to notice, because when we arrive, he tells Yan Wanqiu to go inside first. Dessert box in hand, the girl looks first at me, then at Yan Kongshan, and nods in acknowledgement. She heads off, unlocking the front door and heading inside.
I stare at the door as it shuts, suddenly struck by a doubt. “Say, you think Qiuqiu also knows?”
“‘Also’?” Yan Kongshan asks, catching on immediately to what I’m referring to. “Are you talking about us? Who else do you think knows?”
“Grandpa, and Granny…” I tell him about last night and today, and then fret, “Are they hinting at me about something?”
I frown, this whole situation really bothering me. But Yan Kongshan starts laughing. His thumb carresses the skin beneath my eye and he says, “Your grandpa wants to see you walk down the aisle? So will you?”
There’s a callus on his thumb in the space where he grips his pen. Its coarseness makes my skin tickle and I tilt my head to the side, avoiding him.
“He didn’t say I was gonna walk down the aisle to you.”
He catches my chin and moves my face back. “If not me, then who?”
We’re surrounded by silence. Outside, there are no cars and no people. For this short moment, we’re allowed to be intimate without fearing that someone will see. I lean back so I’m right up against the car and clutch his hand between my palms, then kiss his fingertips softly.
“I’m not walking down the aisle for anyone. I want you to walk down for me, so you can be Mrs. Yu.”
His fingers twitch as if he wants to pull them back, but eventually he resists the urge. A moment later, he suggests hoarsely, “Don’t go home tonight, I’ll go talk to your grandpa.”
I freeze and look up at him.
His eyes resemble a pool of water warmed by the shining sun; cold and indifferent on the surface, yet in reality very warm and inviting. It emitted such comfort that you felt it in your bones. Except when staring into his eyes, there’s a tendency to sink into its depths and become one with him, never wanting to escape.
“I’m gonna tell him, Yu Mian has already proposed to me, he says he wants me to marry him. That means from now on, I’m a member of the Yu family and he has to take responsibility for me, so he isn’t allowed to marry anyone else.” Yan Kongshan’s mouth crooks upwards. “What do you think?”
My heart has melted into a puddle, what else can I think? Except…
“I think I should talk to Grandpa.” I press my lips together, my tone getting serious. “If you go, I’m afraid he might beat you up.”
Getting beat up, is, I think, a pretty light sentence for a man that suddenly goes to tell an elderly man that he’s going to marry his grandson. Grandpa has doted on my all these years; I’m sure if I go, there’s a lesser chance of someone getting beat up.
As I come to this decision, the anxiety within me dissipates in an instant. I land a swift kiss on the corner of Yan Kongshan’s mouth, then turn to leave.
And then my entire body freezes right where it is.
Grandpa has pushed his tea egg cart halfway in front of the yard entrance and is watching me and Yan Kongshan. It’s easy to surmise that he was on his way home when he passed the entrance and happened to catch the two of us front and centre.
“…..”
I mean, what a coincidence, right?
Great, now we’re both gonna get hit.
Thanks for your hard work!
😂 😂 😂 This chapter…
As if! hahahah yu mian, have more confidence in your grandpa! is he that kind of person?? hahahh
Thank you for the chapter 💗💗
Thank you for the extra!!💜💜💜
Lmao. Perfect timing!
Grandpa, Granny, and Qiuqiu will be happy for you two! It is ok to come out and admit your feelings for each other!
thanks for the chapter! <3
Hahaha why am I feeling sorry for grandpa
Thanks for the chapter ❤❤
All the eople you love MianMian will always be on your side!~ So no need to worry!
Thanks for the chapter<3
As if his grandpa would do smth like that. What use is granny’s story then for? xDD
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)
This whole chapter was so chaotic awww 💕😂
HAHAHA grandpa just had to see that XD
omggg XD, that ending
Ahhhhh…. How much did he hear?
Thank you for the chapter <3
OMG WHAT A CLIFFHANGER