A Little Bit Of Joy | ✔

Chapter Eight : The Sister's Fierce Protection

"Here are your lilies, Uncle Desmond," I said with a small smile and Uncle Desmond smiled back at me warmly, his eyes crinkling.

"Thank you, JJ, and where is your grandpa? That old man has completed seventy-five years and is still working as a young fellow, he deserves a celebration," he said playfully as his eyes twinkled in mischief. "Tell him that his friend's missing him."

"Of course, I'll tell him that."

"Yes, yes . . . Oh, how I miss those old days where we would just go to the bar, discuss women and sports over a couple of beers. War changed us and then marriage . . . How we both became men from boys and used to talk about being a good father to our children and a good husband . . . " he started reminiscing and trailed off, when he knew that he was going the wrong way- the death of my grandma. His eyes were teary as he let out a light laugh and gathered the lilies in his arms. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, JJ. Give my wishes to your grandpa and take care of him, he gets lonely sometimes."

"Sure," I mused as I watched him exit and cheerfully wave at a group of kids in kindergarten walking on the opposite side. He made faces at the kids to make them giggle and then with the widest smile, continued to walk down the lane. Sometimes, I wondered that if my grandma hadn't died of cancer . . . If I hadn't repeated the same cycle and got diagnosed with cancer myself, maybe my grandpa would be just like Uncle Desmond.

Logan who was spraying water on the flowers looked up when I called him, "Logan?"

"What?" he snapped, his back straightening defensively in order to make him look tall, brooding and intimidating.

I sighed. He always went on the defensive mode ever since I noticed the cuts on his forearm hidden under his long sleeve. He was ashamed and wanted to avoid the questions that I was itching to ask so whenever I tried to talk to him gingerly, he flared up. I knew better to keep my mouth shut and not pester him unnecessarily because his facial expressions resembled of when strings were stretched out to its full length tightly, ready to come apart.

"Uh-nothing important," I said with a casual shrug. "Did you bring your lunch?"

"Yeah," he replied curtly, but he still seemed a little agitated, his sea-coloured eyes glassy like there was a storm in there waiting to be unleashed.

"Well, you won't need it today because you can come over at my place for lunch," I said blithely and he stared at me blankly. "We're throwing my grandpa a special birthday lunch, he doesn't know yet. My brother will bring him home from the flower market and we'll surprise him. My mum suggested inviting the workers at the shop, so yeah."

"Who'll look after the shop?" he asked and I tried to conceal my astonishment because he was actually considering the invitation. I thought he would rudely reject it, but guess I was wrong. I had noticed from the past days that he would always bring Macaroni and Cheese for lunch so maybe he got bored with that.

"Don't worry, there's no rush in the afternoon and I have asked one of our friends's in the yoghurt store next to us to look after in case any customer shows up," I elucidated and he nodded. "You'll come?"

"Yeah," he said quietly and I bit back my grin.

"Cool, let's " I was cut off when the bells violently chimed and in came Eliza, her cheeks flushed and breathless. "Oh hey, what's up?"

She held up her hand, indicating me to give her a few seconds to catch her breath and then she fixed her bubblegum pink coloured wig. "I need flowers."

"First you sit," I insisted while dragging a chair and she plopped down on it. "Relax, there's no hurry."

"Yeah, I'm feeling unbelievably weak. I always keep forgetting that I'm not as healthy as I used to be," she said sadly and her eyes darted between a baffled Logan and me