SCENE: 17

"I'm planning to stay here for long but I think Shane's wedding is coming and she wants me to be there. You know her dad," I muttered as they both just smiled at me and hugged me once more. "By the way, where are Shane and Rico? Are they are already here?" I asked.

"Oh, Shane is already in the garden with Rico. They were having a talk about the plan for the wedding, 3 months from now." Mom answered as she gestured to me in the garden area.

"Your Lola wants us to have dinner in the garden. Let's just understand it," dad muttered and held me in his hand.

This is the reason why I just want to be with them the whole year, but we can't because we are all busy too. Perhaps, I always celebrate my Christmas and new years eve with them.

I don't like celebrating it alone because Ramon is coming home to his parents too. That's why I'm always left alone in the condo.

My eyes roamed around the whole cast of my grandma's garden. There are lots of lanterns and colorful flowers that have hanging led lights.

I don't know why she likes to put something like that in her flowers. Instead of just putting it on a ceiling or more like in the chair to give a glow.

But instead, she loved to put them all in her flowers. I wonder what my grandpa could say about it.

"Good evening Lola," I greeted and kissed her on the cheeks.

"My beautiful moon, where is your sister?" She asked, which made me confused and glanced at my mother.

Mom just smiled a bit and tried not to panic in front. I don't understand what is going on but I still tried to act normal in front of her.

"Lola, I think Shane is with her fiancee. Didn't the three of you go to the same area for a talk?" I asked simply and undermined their reactions.

Did I just miss something in this family? or I am not that too oriented on what is going on in this family the whole time.

"Mom, Shane is with us the whole time, look." Mom interrupted as she stood in between me and my love.

She called someone from my side and saw that she was calling Shane to come over. I'm still upset and confused that I couldn't even move in my spot nor step back to give them space for a while. Did I miss something in this family? I didn't even know what happened to grandma.

I watched them as they handled everything while my dad gestured his eyes in the other direction. I was hesitant to leave because they were all in serious conversations and it would be disrespectful if I left them.

But I was too good to follow someone's commands. That's why I followed my father and so we remained standing in the shed full of flowers and dim lantern lights. I haven't greeted my grandfather because of what happened but I think he wasn't in there when that thing happened.

"Dad, could you tell me what's going on with Lola?" I spoke first as we stopped walking and sat on a bench placed inside the shed.

"Your Grandma is having a mild sickness, she has Alzheimer's disease. She can easily forget about things that happened earlier and when she looks for another view she loses the previous thing she'd done." Dad stated.

I let him explain everything as I just listened to every word that came out of his mouth. Because I don't have any choice but to listen to him because he's the only one who can explain it to me right now.

"So she can forget me, is that it?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"Exactly, but ija, she can still recognize you when she goes back to herself already. You don't have to worry, just think of it as part of human living."

"But dad…"

"Darling, we want her to fight for that but she already declared that she will never undergo therapy or get admitted to the hospital. She wants to live her life normal even though she has that kind of disease." My dad explained as she held my hands to calm me.

Even if I wasn't that close to her, I love her because she's my grandmother. And even if she won't remember me again and again, I will always remember her no matter how I get old and it will never fade. Memories of her with me will always be present and the sweet moments of us together even though everything was forced.

Still not gonna throw it away just because she couldn't remember me again. There's a big possibility that she couldn't recognize us anymore but still could feel the presence of us that we were her grandchildren and mom was her daughter.

"And how about Lolo? Does he know about this?" I asked.

"He did, but you don't have to worry about it, my dear princess. The family already talked about it and everything is fine right now, things for now until the end will be the same. Except for Sunday dinner at your grandma's house." Dad mumbled which made me smile and shook my head.

"Y'all did this night to give her our presence and to make her feel that we are still existing in her life. Am I right dad?" I asked while facing the cast of the fountain in front of the bench that we were sitting on.

"It is, hast. You are such a smart woman, you look like me and your mother. A mixed signal but I hope you will never tire of understanding everything about your Lola, she may not become part of your life for too long but perhaps she's still your grandmother." He uttered which made me glance at him with sad and tearful eyes.

I was touched by what he was telling me right now. Despite the discrimination and insults that my mom's mother told him about, he still respects her because she was my mom's mother and it was the mother of the girl that she loves.

"Why are you crying?" Dad laughed which made me wipe my tears while laughing too.

"Nah, I just realized how good you are to grandma. After all the suffering and the insults she told you, you still believed in respecting and loving the first woman that mom loved." I mumbled full of emotions as my dad pulled me, giving me a tight hug.

"Hmm, my little princess is giving me butterflies again." He laughed and swayed my body, still hugging me tightly.

"Why dad? Why are you doing this, after everything she has done to your life." I asked once again.

"Marico. When you love someone, to make her feel that you truly love her so much. The only thing you need to do is to show her that you love her no matter how harsh her parents and the people that surround her." Dad muttered and withdrew his hug before facing me with his hopeful eyes.

"I love your mother not because of her fortunes and golds. I love her because it was because of your grandmother." He smiled and kissed the top of my head.