She Was Born Again, So She Stopped Begging For Their Love Chapter 09

She Was Born Again, So She Stopped Begging For Their Love Chapter 09

crave paid war lel-phone and sat on the conchin ber verdel spoklon plat cmyple throwindowy.

Declan winters wewe roll. The mis fell thh kayulshite, blanketing the whode umy

Sire suddenly remembered something. The day she died iri bei pati lyje wat also sheter Nevenkad Just like dilk.

She lay m ber hospital bed, watching the snow, thinking that if there was a next lifeyska smuld nëver be a daughter of the Bennett family again.

Godheard her. Gave her a second chance.

She didn’t waste it.

Over winter break, Grace didn’t go home. She went to her grandmother’s.

Grandma was even older now. Needed a cane to walk. Her hearing was bad. Grace had to lean close to her ear and shout.

But she was still in good spirits. When she saw Grace, she smiled like a child, held her hand tight, and said over and over, “My sweetie’s back, my sweetie’s back.”

Grace brought her many things. Thermal underwear. An electric-warmed blanket. A smart pill organizer. Her favorite pastries from the bakery.

She took each item out one by one, explaining how to use them. When Grandma couldn’t hear, she leaned in and shouted.

After she finished explaining, Grandma took her hand and said, “Sweetie, you’ve lost weight.”

Grace smiled. “No, I actually gained two pounds.”

Grandma didn’t believe her. She reached out and touched her face. Her cloudy old eyes suddenly filled with tears. “You’ve been having a hard time out there.”

Grace’s throat tightened. She squeezed her grandmother’s hand. “No, Grandma. I’m doing really well. I really am.”

She was doing well.

She had savings. Her own apartment. A job that supported her.

She diche’t have to how to anyone. Didn’t hassé to please anyone. Tidn’t have herety alone in figlalko pretend the next day that nothing happened

She was free

But sometimes she wondered if freedom was just another word for loneliness

She had no friends in Boston. No social life. No relationslups.

She was an island, floating in the vast ocean, watching the bright lights of others from afar, never

able to reach shore.

Michael had tried to get close to her many times.

He confessed in their sophomore year. Under the ginkgo tree outside the library. Autumn leaves on

the ground. Golden sunlight on his face. He had grown from a boy into a young man-taller,

broader shoulders. But when he smiled, those two small canine teeth were still there.

He said, “Grace, I’ve liked you since freshman year of high school.”

She looked into his eyes. They were clear. Full of hope, nervousness, youthful sincerity.

She almost said yes. Because she knew Michael was a good person. Someone worth trusting.

She had missed him in her past life. Now she had a chance.

But she didn’t.

“Mike,” she said, “do you really know me?”

He paused. “Of course I do- “|

“You don’t.” She cut him off. “You don’t know why I don’t go home for the holidays. You don’t know

why I never post family photos on social media. You don’t know why my eyes change when I hear

the word ‘mom.’ The Grace you like is a cool, independent girl who doesn’t care about anything. But

the real Grace is someone who was hurt so deeply by her own family that she’ll never trust anyone

again.”

She paused, her voice softening. “You deserve someone better. Someone whole. Someone who can

love you back. Not someone like me.”

Michael stood there. Ginkgo leaves fell on his shoulders. He didn’t move.

He looked at her for a long time. So long she thought he might give up.

Then he sand solvething; she wangjelzenarrabej fry the part of for lite-

“Grace, there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re just unite cairíní (banedker people, berbode you know how mnch it hurts to get lunt. I’m not afraid of you cautiomaness. J 130 PRATI

Her eyelashes fluttered.

She almost broke. Almost let her guard down. Almost threw herself into that waxuu, clean, youthful embrace and poured out two lifetimes of hurt and tears.

But she didn’t.

Because she knew herself too well.

She was someone who locked her heart in a safe and threw the key into the ocean.

No one could find that key. Not because they didn’t try hard enough. But because she didn’t want

anyone to.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Michael. She didn’t trust anyone.

Including herself.

So she said, “Don’t wait.”

Then she turned and walked away.

The ginkgo leaves were bright yellow that day. The sun was beautiful. But as Grace walked through the golden light, she felt her shadow seemed longer and darker than ever.

She heard footsteps behind her. But no one followed.

Senior year. Grace got a full scholarship to a top university abroad. She was going for her master degree.

All the paperwork was done. Her visa was approved. Her plane ticket was booked.

A month before she left, she went back to her hometown to visit her grandmother.

Grandma was in very poor health. Bedridden, Hardly able to speak.

When she saw Grace, a sudden light flickered in her cloudy eyes, she reached out a trembling hand

to touch Grace’s face.

‘sweetie,” zi audita’s Cojer seemed tai stiu fræin very fat assay: “pau re

äitin fát leangnyah

cần đep tonk hên hand, tears welling up “Ci asuduna, Umi puinge forstudy almenad. Pitcaine inanir sem sangl Js I finish

Grandma trodded. Then she said something that caught Grace off guard. “Sweetie, go fit your mother”

Grace froze

*Your mother… she really does miss you.” Grandma’s voice was barely a whisper, as if she’d used all ber strength. “She just doesn’t know how to say it. She’s as stubborn as you are!

Grace opened her mouth to say, “She doesn’t miss me. She never does.”

But the words died in her throat. Because in her grandmother’s eyes, she saw something she had never seen before. The tenderness of a mother for her daughter. An old woman’s longing for reconciliation.

Grandma wasn’t speaking for Linda. She was pleading for her own daughter.

No matter how Linda treated her, Linda was still her child. And she wanted her child to make peace with her grandchild.

Grace neither agreed nor refused.

She just held her grandmother’s hand and said softly, “Grandma, get better. I’ll be back.

Grandma smiled. Then she cried.

On the day Grace left, her grandmother stood at the door to see her off.

The old woman leaned on her cane in the winter wind, thin as a dried leaf that could blow away at any moment.

Grace walked a long way before she turned back. Her grandmother was still standing there.

She didn’t look back again, Afraid that if she did, she wouldn’t be able to leave.

Three months later, her grandmother passed away.

Linda called to tell her.

Grace answered the phone. She heard Linda’s voice, more tentative than she had ever heard it. Chapter

“Grace, your grandmother is gone.”

Grace stood on a street in a foreign country, holding her phone. The faces around her were unfamiliar. The language was strange.

She opened her mouth to speak, but something blocked her throat. No words came out.

She hung up. Crouched down on the sidewalk. Hugged her knees. Cried until her whole body shook.

That was the hardest she had cried since her rebirth.

Not because Linda finally called. Not because Richard finally sent a condolence text. Not because Chloe posted a long tribute to Grandma on Ins.

Because her grandmother was gone.