119 A bad dream
There were still six more years until her death, and Jun was sure that Jinhai would do everything in his power to possibly stop it from happening. He might have already reached out to Nana’s elder brother, Liang Shin who was an acclaimed doctor, to keep a track of her medical reports and scrutinize it even more carefully.
Death was inevitable one day, and they didn’t know if these efforts would pay off. But Jun knew that Jinhai would try until the very end.
Grandma Liu’s hands trembled, and she lovingly held his face. “You…you didn’t come to the Christmas party, nor in the New Years! Even at the wedding anniversary celebration, you didn’t meet me! You don’t love your great-grandma anymore?” She coughed a bit and breathed hard. “You suddenly left and then…and then broke contact…”
Nana and Liu Chunhua hurriedly went over to her side, “Grandma, don’t cry. Jun is here now.”
She wiped her eyes and seemed pale. “But he doesn’t meet us anymore. Sometimes I feel…that he is avoiding us…”
He stiffened.
Jian and Nian grinned. “Should we beat him up?”
Nuo smacked their heads. “No beating and fighting!”
Grandma Liu wiped her cheeks again. “Jun, don’t you love your family anymore?”
Jun hastily replied. “Of course, it’s not like that, Grandma. You don’t need to stress over this.
She trembled. “But you didn’t celebrate Christmas and New Year’s with us. When did work get so important to you, huh? Then you didn’t bother to meet me during the anniversary too. I miss you so much. But you…Now tell me, when will you come back to live here?” She coughed again. “I had a bad dream last night, you know? I was calling you so many times. But you weren’t a-answering me…”
Her eyes teared up, and she softly sobbed. “I saw that the whole family was on one side, but you were alone…a-and you weren’t coming to our side either…”
At this point, her breaths got ragged and restless.
“Grandma!” Jun patted her back. Everybody anxiously got up from their seats and helped her.
Liu Hai sighed. “Mom, you were just fine until now. Why are you worrying so much?”
She glared at him. “Shut up, you brat. I didn’t want to make you all worry. But then I saw Jun, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore…*cough cough*”
Nuo quickly brought water for her, but Grandma Liu seemed to be trembling even more.
Jun held her hand and said with an urgency in his voice, “Grandma, I am here. You don’t have to worry.”
“B-But in my dream you were not…It was such a nightmare…” she touched her chest, feeling uneasy and in pain, “I am old. I don’t want my family to break apart…” her eyes ached. “I felt so lonely, Jun. You-you seemed to be going farther and farther away…I was so scared that you would never come back…”
She suddenly gasped and coughed hard, making everyone panic even more.
Jinhai immediately said, “I will call brother-in-law, Shin. Take her to her room right now.”
Jian and Nian didn’t waste a second further and quickly placed her on the bed in her room.
Jing and the others stayed by the bedside, doing their best to console her. Nana fed her some water and said, “Calm down, Grandma. It was just a bad dream.”
In her gentle and soothing voice, she tried to reassure her.
Jing nodded. “Yes, Grandma. Nobody is going anywhere.”
Jun stood rooted at the back, seeing her in such a fragile state. This hadn’t happened in his past life.
But because he left home, the chain of events changed, causing Grandma Liu to have bad dreams. He quickly asked Nian to shift and sat beside her. “Grandma…”
She dazedly looked up, still tired and restless. “Everybody is here now…Good…”
He slightly squeezed her hand. “Don’t fall sick, Grandma. You have to live a long life.”
She weakly smiled. “I will if everyone is happy like this…”
—
A while later, Nana’s elder brother, Dr. Liang Shin and his son studying medicine, Liang Bao, quickly got busy in taking her checkup. Hearing the news, Shui, Siying and Leina and her little brother, Yuhan also came to visit.
Leina stood beside Jian and entwined her hand against his. “Don’t worry, okay? Grandma will be fit in no time.”
Yuhan patted his arms. “She is even stronger than my muscles! Nothing will faze her.”
Jian gave them a solemn nod.
Siying consoled Nuo on his side, who was sobbing, deathly worried about Grandma Liu. He patted her head. “Grandma Liu is very strong. As if something like this can take her down. So, don’t cry. If you cry, then she will get more worried.”
The tip of her nose turned reddish, and she nodded.
On the other side, Shui herself was on the verge of tears. She had played in Liu villa countless times in her childhood. Out of everyone, she liked to play with Grandma Liu the most. She used to tell her the best stories.
Now hearing that she almost got an attack made her worried sick. She quietly stood beside Jun, keeping aside all the differences between them at this moment. “She will be fine.”
Jun clenched his fist. “Yes…She will be.”
When Shin came outside, he assured. “She is fine. There isn’t any problem with her blood pressure or pulse either. The nightmare has given her a bad scare.”
Bao said, “That’s why she panicked and was overthinking. Just make sure not to make her tense about anything. She will forget the nightmare and eventually settle down.”
Everybody heaved a great sigh of relief. “Thank God…”
When Grandma Liu saw them gathered around her, she smiled. “En. Indeed…it feels good to see you all together like this…”
She looked at six people and asked them to sit by her side, “Jian, Leina. Siying, Nuo. Jun, Shui. Come here.”
They obediently sat around her, and she lovingly gazed at them one by one. She sighed in satisfaction, her gaze hazy. “This feels so nice. I never imagined I would live to see my great-grandchildren in such happy relationships too. You…all stay together like this, okay?”
Jun and Shui stiffened.
“Always love each other, support each other. Even if you fight…don’t fight for too long,” she gazed at her two lovely great grandsons and smiled. “Jian. Jun. Can I ask you two a favor?”