They Left Me Twice, I Stopped Following Chapter 08

They Left Me Twice, I Stopped Following Chapter 08

Before the winter break, Mrs. Higgins called me out of the blue.

“Sienna, your grandma came back to town today.”

I held my pen, pausing.

“She sat in your empty room by herself for half a day.”

“She even asked me if you used to walk back alone all the time recently.”

I said nothing.

Mrs. Higgins sighed.

“So I told her how you walked to school in the pitch dark every day at five in the morning.”

“Couple times when it rained, I saw you come back at night with your face pale from the cold.”

“I asked if you’d eaten, and you still said you had.”

She paused briefly.

“Sienna, did you not eat at all back then??”

The pen tip bled a small black ink dot onto the paper.

I flipped the test paper over.

“I forgot.”

I hadn’t actually forgotten.

I was extremely hungry every single day back then.

It was just that after being hungry for so long, my stomach twisted so tightly that I simply got used to it.

The hardest part wasn’t having no food.

It was living in the same home where not a single person remembered that I needed dinner too.

I still remembered everything clearly.

The empty chicken broth bowl, the wild greens tossed in chicken waste, the cold leftover bread, and those shoes that let the freezing wind in.

I remembered it all.

I just didn’t feel like talking about it anymore.

That evening, Grandma called.

This time, it was completely quiet around her.

She didn’t speak for a long time.

Finally, she asked, “Sienna, are you coming back for winter break?”

I looked at the winter seminar notice on my desk.

“The school has an intensive academic camp.”

“What about Christmas?”

“The cafeteria stays open.”

A faint sniffle came through the speaker.

“Who doesn’t come home for the holidays?”

I didn’t take the bait.

Grandma spoke again:

“Grandma will bake sweet rolls for you.”

“You loved them most when you were little.”

I suddenly remembered the day of the convocation ceremony.

She had messaged me saying she would go home and bake bread for me that night.

I didn’t go back.

Later, nobody ever asked if that pot of bread had gone cold.

I said softly:

“Grandma, I don’t like sweet things anymore.”

The other side of the line went dead silent.

After a long time, she called my name softly.

“Sienna.”

“Yeah.”

“That day… Grandma promised to watch you get your award.”

My hand rested still on the test paper.

“I know.”

“Chloe kept crying.”

“She said it was her first day at the new school, and everyone else had their dad, mom, and grandma there.”

Grandma’s voice grew lower and lower.

“I just thought… you’ve been sensible since you were little.”

“You’d be fine on your own.”

I looked out the window.

Snowflakes were drifting down one by one.

“Yeah.”

“I’m fine on my own.”

Uncontrollable sobbing suddenly broke out on the other end of the line.

I held the phone, offering no words of comfort.

In the past, whenever Grandma cried, I would panic instantly.

I would ask her where it hurt.

I would run miles to buy her medicine.

Now I just sat there.

Waiting for her to slowly finish crying.

Finally, her voice rasped out: “Sienna… do you not want Grandma anymore?”

My throat tightened sharply.

I pressed my hand against the bridge of my nose.

It took a long time before I spoke.

“No.”

“Grandma.”

“I’m just not waiting anymore.”

No sound came from the other side.

Early the next morning, the dorm director called me downstairs.

Grandma had sent an insulated container via express courier.

Inside were freshly steamed sweet rolls.

A note was pressed on top:

[ Not sweet. ]

I broke one open.

It was still packed with sugar.

I took a bite and swallowed it slowly.

I didn’t throw them away.

Nor did I eat a second one.

I distributed the rest among my roommates.

They all said it was delicious.

I smiled and nodded.

“Yeah.”

“My grandma has always been a great cook.”

After saying that, my head suddenly dropped low.

The half sweet roll in my hand had already gone cold.

I thought to myself.

I still loved her.

I just wouldn’t stand in place waiting for her out of love ever again.