"Can grandparents and Lele work together to make it bloom?"
…
"good!"
The child responded loudly and happily.
"Bloom, blossom..."
The child happily waved the branch in his hand.
Jumping in place like a little jumping bean.
…
Both old men raised their eyebrows.
This kid...
…
Since they agreed to their grandson, the two old men did a lot of homework.
I checked a lot of information and asked a lot of people who knew about this aspect.
The moment they finally planted the branches, the three of them seemed to be performing some kind of unusually careful ritual.
…
Every day after that, the child would run to the place where the plum branch was planted, hoping that the branch he picked up from the snow would bloom into the beautiful plum blossoms he remembered.
"Red, white, yellow..."
The child muttered.
The old lady passing by asked curiously, "Lele, what are you talking about alone?"
"grandmother."
The child held his chin with his hands, his eyes still staring blankly at the branches.
"I'm guessing what color the flowers it blooms are."
"Don't plum blossoms have many colors?"
…
"What color flowers does Lele hope it will bloom?"
The old lady followed the child's words and asked.
"Um……"
The child's thin eyebrows were tangled together.
“White looks great…”
"Red is beautiful..."
"Yellow looks good too..."
…
Phew~
The old lady couldn't help laughing.
Aren’t they all beautiful?
Under such circumstances, if this child is asked to choose the most beautiful one, I don’t know how long it will take to choose one.
"Grandma knows."
The old lady smiled and said, "No matter what color flowers this plum branch blooms, Lele will like it, right?"
"......Um."
The child tilted his head, then smiled and grinned.
"I like all of them."
"So, hurry up and bloom~"
…
Despite the children's earnest expectations, the plum branches never blossomed.
The two old men didn't understand which step they made wrong.
It's just that they can't bear to see the disappointed eyes of their children.
While their grandson was being taken out to play by his parents, the two old men bought a small plum tree.
Really small.
After all, even children who are still in kindergarten would not believe that if they go out for a few days, the branches they once had will turn into a mature plum tree.
...
The two old men hesitated for a while, but still did not pull up the branches that the children had picked up and throw them away.
They knew, even though they couldn't understand it, that the child liked the branch very much.
I wholeheartedly hope that this branch will bloom.
This is probably what is called eye contact.
...
The two old men planted the small plum trees they bought on the edge of the branches.
...
At the end of winter, the two old men finally let the children, who went straight to the plum tree in the yard as soon as they came back, see the plum blossoms in full bloom.
The children's happy smiles at that time remain in their minds.
There was never a hint of gloom.
...
So much so that the child left them forever, but looking at the plum tree, they still felt as if the child was still with them.
They take care of the plum tree.
It feels like nothing has changed.
But......
"Changed..."
The old lady looked down at her wrinkled hands.
"The plum tree is sick..."
"We don't know when it started to get sick..."
"By the time we found out, the situation was already serious."
"...They all said the plum tree was hopeless."
"But we don't believe it."
"This is the plum tree that the child took care of with us."
"The child likes the plum tree very much."
"Every time I come to our place, the first thing I see is this plum tree."
...
"The child... left because of our negligence."
The old lady's voice was hoarse and trembling.
"...This plum tree that he took good care of is also due to our negligence..."
"I disagree."
The old man's voice was very soft, but it revealed a strong will.
"I don't believe what those people say..."
"The plum tree will be fine."
"Obviously it will still bloom..."
"Obviously its flowers are still so fragrant..."
...
"look!"
The old lady's voice rose.
"That plum tree has survived to this day."
"It's still alive."
"They are all liars."
"Why is this plum tree hopeless? Why is this plum tree going to wither soon..."
"But it's still alive and well..."
The old lady sounded excited.
"As long as we don't give up..."
The old lady's voice stopped suddenly.
The look of despair on his face was unbearable to disturb.
...
After a long while, the old lady spoke again.
"...as long as we don't give up..."
"I don't want to give up Lele..."
"The child is still so young..."
"Obviously he just called me grandma..."
The childish voice would occasionally echo in her ears when she dreamed back at midnight.
"...it's all blood..."
"That child didn't even say something as simple as shouting to me that he was in pain..."
"I desperately called him..."
"Lele, Lele, Lele... Lele!"
"But he never responded to me again."
"The doctor asked us to express our condolences."
...
"Condolences?"
"I can not be reconciled."
"They haven't done anything yet, so why are they asking me to express condolences?"
"They haven't done anything yet..."
"Why did you abandon Lele without authorization..."
...
That day, the old lady fell to the ground, holding on to the doctor's white coat. She didn't realize the tears on her face, but she just prayed and begged stubbornly -
"Save Lele..."
"Save him..."
"He's still angry..."
"He can still be saved..."
...
In the end, the old man forcibly pulled away the old lady's almost spastic hand.
The doctor's white coat was in a "messy" state.
...
The old lady wanted to struggle.
But his vision went dark and he fainted.
...
When the old lady woke up again, everything had "settled".
She didn't want to believe it.
Regardless of the obstruction from his family, doctors and nurses, he kept shouting and clamoring to see his grandson.
Like crazy.
...
"enough!"
She is the old lady's daughter-in-law.
The young woman, who always wore decent make-up, was now in a state of embarrassment, her eyes red from crying and bloodshot.
"he died!"
"Lele is dead!"
"My son is dead!"
The woman shouted hysterically.
"I feel so bad already!"
The woman stared at the old lady with red eyes, "...it's very uncomfortable!"
The woman clutched the clothes on her chest and breathed loudly.
"So...I'm not in the mood to comfort you again!"
...
"boom!"
After saying these words, the woman turned and left.
The door was slammed shut.
...
"Why-?!"
After a few seconds of pause, the old man's son lowered his outstretched hand.