Just like Hayden had promised, he got off work early in the afternoon and drove me to the hospital to visit my grandmother. The hospital staff were gracious enough to keep me informed daily of my grandmother’s condition. Thankfully, she was stable. That said, it wasn’t like her condition had improved. At this point, I guessed that I should be thankful that her condition didn’t get worse.
"You want to get her something before we go up?" Hayden asked, catching me a little off guard.
Now that he mentioned it, maybe some fruits would be good?
"Maybe some fruits? I think there’s a store over there that has some," I replied, pointing a finger in the direction of the store.
"Let’s go," Hayden said before reaching for my hand.
He held my hand as we walked towards the store. I couldn’t help but feel conscious of his warm hand holding mine. Hayden’s been holding my hand most of the time if not all the time now when we were together and, surprisingly, I didn’t hate it.
I wondered if people thought that we were a real couple when they looked at us walking hand-in-hand this way. We purchased the fruits together and made our way up to my grandmother’s hospital room.
Coming to visit my grandmother reminded me that I need to make some solid progress on her painting. So many things have been going on that I haven’t had the time to concentrate on it. I’ll get to it first thing when we get back to the penthouse.
"Hi grandma!" I said cheerfully when we entered her room.
As always, my grandmother was laying on her hospital bed with a white blanket covering her body and there were multiple machines hooked to her body. She seemed excited and very happy to see me. However, her eyes widened in slight surprise when she saw that Hayden was with me.
I guess the last time that he was here, he gave her a little shock as well.
"It’s good for you two to visit," my grandmother said before smiling kindly at us.
"We got you some fruits," Hayden said as he held up the basket of fruits that we had purchased.
"Oh wow, how nice of you," my grandmother said before her smile widened.
It looked like my grandmother had taken a liking to Hayden and his gentlemanly acts and angelic face. Looks can be deceiving, grandma!
"I see. Well, that’s a relief," she said before sighing loudly.
I hated to see her so worried for me when there wasn’t much that I could do for her. I’ve probably been a burden to her my whole life since I moved to live with her in the countryside.
"As I keep telling you, there’s nothing for you to be worried about," I told her, plastering my best smile on my face.
I wasn’t sure if I could fool her though.
"I’m a little scared, you know..." she said softly.
"What are you scared of?" I asked.
For a moment, I thought that she was going to tell me that she was scared of dying. I would have absolutely no response for that.
"I’m scared...that you will be all alone when I’m gone..." she confessed softly.
"Can you please stop saying things like that?" I said with a sigh.
"It’s no point trying to fool me or anyone at this point. Malissa, I just want you to find happiness and live life for yourself. Many things happened, but I don’t want you to suffer," she said as she looked me deep in the eyes.
"Grandma..." I whispered.
"When I’m gone, I will no longer be a burden to you. You can focus on yourself more without having to worry about me," she said.
"I have never thought of you as being a burden. You helped me so much and you took me in when I had nowhere left to go..." I said passionately.
"Do you like Hayden?" she asked abruptly.
--To be continued...