3. Chapter 3
LUNA
Sunday is here again.
One of my favourite days of the week, not only because it was the one day a week my whole family got together, but also because it included one of my favourite things, and that was cooking dinner with my Gran in the late afternoon whilst we listened to the classics on Magic radio.
I was luckier than others as I didn’t have to worry about paying rent since I started living with Gran again after my grandad, Ji-ji, passed last year.
Then Gran fell and broke her hip. I, out of her two grandchildren, wasn’t married with a baby on the way, so of course I stepped up to take care of her, support her through the surgery and get her back on her feet.
And how could I not?
After my brother and I lost our parents in a car crash when we were young, our grandparents were the ones who took us in and worked their asses off to raise us. Now taking care of Gran was practically nothing compared to everything she and Ji-ji, my grandad, did for us.
That’s not say Gran wasn’t her own version of a handful, with her raunchy outbursts and stubborn personality, but her heart was full of love, and she didn’t hesitate when I asked her to move back in because I’d lost yet another job plus, she needed someone to help nurse her back to health, not matter how hard it was for her to admit it.
She wasn’t that hard to navigate around as long as you knew what battles you could and couldn’t win. Moving back into my childhood home felt like I never left…apart from the fact that there was no Ji-ji.
He and I were far closer than I was with Gran and given that he was the one at home with me and Louie, who we just refer to as LJ, most of our childhood was built around the fact I’d only been a baby when my parents passed, so I don’t remember them but nearly every memory I have growing up were all filled of Gran you never knew until she finally said it.
Thankfully, ‘Granny Mags,’ as Macy calls her, was never one to beat around the bush.
She made sure to look me right in the eye; the mere effort it took to return her gaze made me panic slightly.
My heart rate spiked, and I could feel myself starting to sweat, praying it wasn’t more bad news because three job rejections and not hearing anything from the other four was daunting enough; I didn’t want to deal with more stress.
But then again, I thought about it, and if it was really bad news, then she would have waited for LJ and Macy to arrive before breaking the ice, so I offered her a smile and tried to have a positive mindset.
“You need to move out.” Gran declares, then turns to make a start on the rice, acting as if she didn’t just drop a bombshell on me.
“…what?” I whisper; it was all I could manage as my brain was still in disbelief.
“I said, you need to move out.” She said in the same tone while she measured out the rice and started to wash it.
I had gone through it in my head, and I couldn’t think of anything I’d done that pissed her off or that would have made her so angry that she no longer wanted me around, especially with Ji-ji gone. I was under the impression she loved having me here, and yet.
“Wha-but why? Don’t you like having me around?” I ask, hoping I didn’t sound as sad as I felt. Gran then abandoned her station at the sink and turned off the tap to face me.
“Don’t be a ridiculous sweetie; I love having you here! Do you know how many people I know who don’t have a grandchild or have someone to take care of them in their time of need?” she explains, sincerely with a grateful smile.
“Then, why are you kicking me out?” I ask in a small tone, as I’ll never be one of those people who dare raise their voice at their grandparents.
I’d been through it during my teenage phase, and unless I wanted to relieve the pain of being conked on the head with her wedding ring, I wouldn’t dare do it again.
She paused for a few seconds, then took my hands in hers.
“I love you and deeply appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Lulu. I really do, but…” she pauses, causing that increase in my heart rate to occur again.
“Granny’s gotta get her some!” she reveals, beaming at me with a grin I couldn’t quite read. At first, I think it’s a joke, but the fact that her smile doesn’t falter causes me to scrunch my nose in disapproval.
“Grandma!” I yell slightly, addressing her with the full name, something I only do to show when she’s being too much and right now, she is.
“What?” she shrugs innocently, as if she had said nothing wrong. “You asked, so I answered,” she responds, raising her eyebrows without an ounce of shame towards the statement she just made.
“Ca-should you even be thinking about that stuff, with your hip being what it is?” I mumble, still wiggling my nose, pulling my hands free from her and returning to my job prepping the pot to add the ingredients to. I needed to keep moving if I was going to get through this conversation.
“Oh, for god’s sake!” she scoffs, rolling her eyes. “I’ll have you know eighty-four is the new sixty!” she points out, hitching her hands on her hips.
“Sure it is, Gran.” I laugh, watching her shake her head, returning to her place at the sink.
“You and your brother worry too much! The doctor says I’m fine, and I’m back at my weekly Zumba sessions, so I will be just fine without you here.” She adds, glancing at me over her shoulder.
Everything she said was true. She was almost back to her version of normal, but she also claimed to be the same way after Ji-ji passed, refusing to let us comfort her, and then she ended up with a new hip.
So no one could blame us for being worried.
“Besides, I can’t bring my boyfriends here with my granddaughter sleeping in the next room,” she frowned, causing me to choke on my own breath. I swear, I almost toppled over, which earned no response from her apart from her watching me choke till I was back to normal.
“I-I’m sorry? Did you say boyfriends? As in plural?!” I ask in disbelief. She glares towards me with one hand on her hip, not happy with what I said or how I said it.
“Don’t use that tone with me, young lady. Your grandma may be eighty-four, but she’s been blessed with a brand-new hip, and forgive me for wanting to take it for a spin,” she states far too proudly, making a shiver pass through my spine.
“Oo-kay… you know what? I will move out. Let me just go and start packing.” I murmur, fighting myself to get free from my cooking apron and trying to escape into my room as fast as possible.
The last thing I heard before closing my bedroom door was, “Wait! Don’t you want to hear how I actually broke my hip?
” she shouted loud enough so she knew I heard it.
Her laugh echoed through the walls while my hand covered my mouth, and I sat on the floor, modified.
After that comment, I decided I wasn’t leaving this bedroom until LJ and Macy got here. The unsettling thought of my Gran getting it on haunted me, making me question if I could look her in the eye again.
Waiting for LJ & Macy was a lie. After about half an hour of hiding from Gran, I couldn’t just leave her to do the rest of the cooking and set the table on her own.
That wasn’t how I was raised.
Not to mention, Ji-ji wouldn’t approve either. So, even though I refused to look her in the eye because she greeted me with what I now know as her mischievous smile. I kept my head low and prepared the table.
Then, just like clockwork, the doorbell rang at 5 p,m and I don’t think I’ve ever run to the door so fast in my life. It got me an eye roll from Gran and surprised looks from my brother and sister-in-law when I ripped the door open and mouthed the words “Help me!”
Not long after that, the four of us sat down at the same dining table our grandparents had from long before we were born, recited ‘jal meokkesseumnida’ showing our thanks for the food like Ji-ji taught us, and once Gran took her first bite of rice, we all began eating.