Chapter Tree

Lily • Rosa • Jeanine • Park

"Are you ready for the surprise?" He asked, an evil smile appearing on his face.

• • •

Am I mentally ready to find out about another surprise of his? Won't I be greatly surprised? Will I like it? What if I won't? What if I don't like it, what will I tell him? Isn't it already enough of this vacation? Isn't he tired? Doesn't he miss home?

I left all of those questions back in my mind, exactly where they came from. I decided to not release them, to not let them out. I thought about, approximately million things, million questions I wanted to ask him. But I didn't. I decided to not. I better not.

"Yeah, hit me with it," I said, not thinking about a single thing, worried, and full of regrets, finally ready to meet with the reality. "I was born ready for this, c'mon," I added, not even a bit ready, but don't mind it. I needed to get through all of this already. "C'mon, tell me." I said, lastly.

"Okay, pack your things, we're leaving Italy." He replied.

Okay, I'm dead.

He killed me.

• • •

And so I found myself on the plane to France.

I've been there already a thousand times, but mainly because my grandma lives there. When I was young, I traveled to France very often, to spend the holidays with her. I traveled there hundred times a year. Back and forth. On my every free week, and I also spent there the whole summer and winter holidays. Back then, I was so happy to spent time with her, there in France. We were something like a inseparable best friends.

But then I grew older, years went by, and I slowly stopped visiting France. Free time turned into never-ending study lessons and my schedule got filled with school. I happened to be stuck in a huge triangle. Go to school, from school the studio, and from the studio, home. And this kept repeating all over again, and again.

• • •

My mom always loved dancing. She danced her whole life, ever since her very early age. It was her biggest passion. She danced to all kind of dance styles. Either it was swing, ballet, samba, jazz, hip-hop, modern dance, salsa, tango etc. To everything.

As I always watched my mom dancing, she began to teach me. But not in a serious way, she always danced with me for fun. Just some amateur dancing. Later, when I was older, she started to teach me more seriously, firstly because she's seen how happy and full of energy I was, and secondly, bacause she's seen how good I was at it, when we danced together.

I learned ballet at the age of 11. Samba, tango and salsa at the age of 14. And many many others. I even won a few dancing competitions in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Croatia at the age of 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. When I was good enough, I started teaching; just like my mom.

My mom was a star dancer, I always adored her so much. She wasn't just some kind of seriously brutal dancer, she didn't dance out of duty or because of her job career.

She danced out of joy and passion. Thanks to that, she didn't have to force herself, and started to earn money for teaching. Dancing itself, made her happy and full of life. And when I started dancing with her, we were the happiest. That was my passion. So I started teaching with her. We made just enough money, together with Matteo to live fully and without any financial problems.

Another grand aspect of this, was the money from dad. Every month came a huge amount of money, together with each time different phone number. I didn't even try to ask, where those money came from, I was just happy, that dad thought about us. And glad he was okay and safe. That's all I cared about.

Yet, on another hand I was sad thinking about grandma Dorothée in France; my mom's mom. Because of this, I wasn't able to visit her any time in the year. She lived so far away, that I couldn't just decide to visit her whenever I wanted. Because of my duties.

And I don't even mention grandma Nara in Korea; my dad's mom. I haven't seen her in years, for the reason that I've never been in Korea. All of those times that I've seen her, was only when I was still a child, when she came to Italy, to visit us. But when dad left, we lost contact with her.

And for my grandfathers...

I didn't know any of them.

One of them died before I was born and the other one...I don't know him. I've never seen him in my life. But Matteo did. Matteo knew both of them; grandpa Manuele; mom's dad from Italy (grandma Dorothée's husband) because Teo was 4 when he died, and a year after, I was born. Then grandpa Nero, who, from what we've knew, lived in Korea with grandma Nara, and I even have a few photos with him, from when I was a baby, but since then, they stopped coming. And after dad's departure, we never heard about them again. So there is nothing I know about them. Just from the stories my mom and Teo told me, and the pictures they showed me, only from them.

• • •

As the reason for that, I was so happy to go to France; to visit grandma Dorothée, or as I call her; Nana. It's been too long since I visited France, or as long as I remember going there. I couldn't wait to finally see her again.

Nana was so beautiful as long as I remember her. Regarding her age, she looks stunning; she's skinny, with a beautiful figure, she's tall; she's got awesome skin; brown hair with gray strips, which makes her look so cool. You could still see, that she used to be a model. I could talk hours about her, but I'll never fully describe the beauty she owns.

• • •

~After a two-hour flight~

~from Milan to Paris~

When we slowly started to get off the plane, focused, not to forget or leave anything behind, my hand being grabbed by Matteo's hand, so he would feel calm, walking through the platform of the plane, we walked to the suitcase section to get out things.

When we finally found our suitcases, and headed towards the exit of the airport, I spotted her. Nana, in all of her elegance, looking like a goddess, standing in front of a luxurious car, with a chauffeur standing a few steps behind her, waiting and looking around. When she finally spotted us. She immediately took off her sunglasses, the brightest smile appearing on her face, her eyes glowing from the morning sunshine.

As I saw her walking to us, I couldn't control my body and I instantly found myself, wrapped in her arms. I almost forgot this warm embrace of her. That was my safe place. That's where I felt calm. In a few seconds, I felt another pair of warm hands wrapping around me. That's when I realized, how important part of my life they were. In a brief moment, I took a glimpse of Nana, to see a small, unstoppable tear, falling down her cheek.

"Nana," I called her name, for her to look at me.

"Lily," She said, looking down at me, then at Matteo.

"You don't have an idea how much I missed you." She added, tightening her grip, not releasing any of us.

After our 4-minute hug, we finally managed to break it, and have a small talk. Full of emotional moments, teary eyes, but eternal happiness.

After that, we all got into the car Nana has prepared for us, and we headed to Nana's house. Spending a very joyful time in the car, after 40 minutes, we arrived to the place where I spent half of my childhood at. Memories running through my head.

"Welcome back!" Nana welcomed us, opening the door. She opened her arms and stood right next to the door for us to slide next to her and step inside.

"It haven't changed even a little bit." I smiled, and looked at Nana as I entered and analyzed the house.

"But you have."

To be continued...