Elliot

Sixteen

The first thought that came to my mind was 'France is the most beautiful country in the world.' I never expected anything when I first arrived, but now I'm certain about this country.

There were greens everywhere. A wide range of plain greenfield along with the pleasing scenery of the world, the sunlight blazing all over it and it made it look like a bright painting. I never thought I'd ever see another part of the world's beauty.

"Does your grandma know that we're coming?"

Tobias grinned. "It's also a surprise."

Well, shit.

We got out of the car and Tobias ran immediately to the door. The house was a simple combination of white and brown. It looked very much elegant. Elegant, that's one word for it.

Tobias knocked twice, then the door opened and we were welcomed by an old woman who's much shorter than Tobias. "Bonjour, Mamé."

His grandmother had the happiest smile on her face while hugging her grandson politely. "Oh, mon petit garçon, tu m'as manqué. (Oh, my little boy, I've missed you.)"

"Tu m'as manqué aussi. (I missed you too.)" Tobias looked at me. He motioned for me to get close. "Mamé, tu te souviens du garçon dont je te parlais? (Grandma, do you remember the boy I was telling you about?)"

She looked at me. "You are Elliot?"

"Oui." I didn't fucking know why I answered in French. And then she had the same smile earlier and took me in her arms and did embrace me as well.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Elliot."

***

Her grandmother's name was Esmée and she was the mother of Tobias' father. I haven't met his father yet, but I can tell that they are very nice kind of people. Inside the house was much more calming than I expected. There were not much of furnitures located. It reminded me of Tobias' apartment.

We settled at the living room. "How are you liking it so far in France, Elliot?" Esmée said.

"I'm very much enjoying it. Tobias was our tour guide for the whole trip." I said.

"Oh, you have more company?"

"It's a group trip, Mamé." Tobias said. "But going here was a last minute plan. I wanted to surprise you... and Elliot."

"Well, I am indeed surprised." She had that graceful smile again. "Elliot, do you like to bake?"

Tobias and I shared a look. "Oh, he does bake." He was grinning.

"A fair amount of skills, I say."

"That would work." She led us to her kitchen and started preparing the ingredients. Just like I expected, we would bake croissants. She was all around doing a tutorial on how to make the perfect croissants while Tobias and I listened.

Tobias was smiling while listening and watching his grandmother. He loved her as much as she loved him. For a short while, I remembered my mother. She always liked my company even though I'm not very good at running errands in the kitchen. I found myself smiling too.

We continued on the process of making croissants, too busy to notice the time passing by. "Tobias, peux-tu aller à la ferme et vérifier les récoltes? (Tobias, can you go to the farm and check the crops?)" Esmée said.

"Sure, Mamé." Tobias said, then he ran outside.

"Do you live here alone, Esmée?"

"I do, yes. My son visits me every weekend. I've gotten quite used to be living alone ever since my husband died twenty years ago."

There was sadness in her voice. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Oh, it's fine. There is nothing we can do about it. Death has always been inevitable. It's a part of life. 'Grief is the price you pay for love,'" she said.

"It is," I said. "It definitely is."

"Have you lost someone from your life, Elliot?"

I was quiet. "My mother. She died when I was fourteen."

She placed a hand on my arm. "I'm sorry for your loss, Elliot. I'm sure your mother would be proud of how you are grown into a young man that is brilliant into the society."

"How do you know I'm brilliant?"

She smiled. And I learned that she almost had the same smile as Tobias'. "I just know, Elliot. I just know."

"I don't believe I'm a brilliant man. I'm still just a kid who's confused about life and his own world."

"Everyone is confused by their own worlds. You cannot figure that out eventually if you won't let yourself be free. The thing about life is that not all people have the same concept as one individual. It's up to us to discover those concepts and how creative we will be to expand them."

She patted my shoulder and held it firmly.

"Don't let yourself be imprisoned on one country, Elliot. Your world has a lot more to be discovered."

***

I've come to a thought that baking croissants is like a natural habit for Esmée, or Tobias, or maybe for all the French people. Her croissants has indeed much more flavor than the ones we've made on the club.

"Elliot and I have baked croissants for a project in our school club. It went well. I helped him in the process." Tobias said.

"Well your Tobias here was hell of a mentor, Esmée." I said.

"I guess it runs in the family."

We all laughed. The living room was cozy enough for us three to fit.

"I'm happy that you two are getting along well together. It's such a relief to see Tobias smiling again." Esmée said, and I looked at Tobias. I'd never get tired of seeing him smile. It was the most precious thing to witness.

Tobias placed a hand on my lap. "I won't be smiling this much if it weren't for this guy. I'm really glad I met him."

"Your grandson is also very incurably romantic."

"Oh, Tobias is indeed a sweet boy-ever since he was little." She had this laugh that spoke pure joy and reminisce. "He used to give me handcrafted gifts at any occasions. One time he gifted me a gorgeous miniature of our house, only to find out that he'd stayed up all night and hadn't done all of his homework just to finish the miniature."

"It was only one time, Mamé, and I ended up still passing the whole semester. And you loved the gift!"

"I did. I really did." If joy were a person, it was Tobias' grandmother.

All afternoon we talked and talked and talked about everything. We never noticed the time passing by. I guess that's how is it like when you are surrounded with people full of joy.

Joy, that's one word for it.

Esmée sipped on her tea. "I just have to ask this question," she said. "How did you two meet?"

Tobias and I shared a look. Then we smiled at each other. "We'll tell you." And then we did.