Chapter 165: Letting Go Granny stepped out of the room, looking so tired. It broke my heart to see her this way. Her silver hair with strands of black was packed in a messy bun, and she had bags under her eyes, too. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶 "Granny, you should rest. I’ll watch him," I said, standing to my feet. I knew she wasn’t gonna leave him otherwise. "It’s okay." She took my hand and held it tightly, as we sat down. "I shouldn’t have panicked that way and gotten you so worried." Her eyes turned glassy, and she sobbed, swallowing a breath. "When he... when he collapsed, he was out checking the cows. I called his name, called for dinner and..." I stroked her back, and she trembled against me. "When he didn’t answer, I was so worried. I hurried out to check and saw him on the ground." Tears slipped beneath my lashes. I could only imagine how she felt at that moment or how scared she must have been. "I was scared too..." I admitted. "I thought..." She smiled. "You know how stubborn he is; he’s not going anywhere." "Good..." I sobbed. "Because I won’t allow it, you two are the only family I have, and I don’t know what I’ll do if you..." "Shhh..." She embraced me. "We’re not going anywhere. Not yet." I held her tightly, and we stayed there for a few seconds before I pulled back. Granny was smiling as she fixed my glasses right, admiring my face, and I could already tell she was picturing me smaller. I would always be her little peanut, and I don’t think that’d ever change. It took me back, and I also wish I could be a little girl again just to be in her protection and security. Adult life sucks. "We should really find a way to convince Walter to take it easy." "Good luck doing that." "But we have to. This happened because he wouldn’t listen. He’s so desperate to get the farm up and running again, but his body can’t take it." I nodded. "We can hire." "Oh, peanut," she stroked my arms. "We could, but we can’t keep up with that either." "It’s alright. I’ll handle it." "No!" she shook her head. "You’re already straining yourself by keeping up with all these payments. Imagine my shock when I heard you had been promoted. All that money and yet you..." She released an exhale. "I don’t like this." "Granny," I drawled. "It’s okay, really... Besides, none of this would be possible if you didn’t do everything in your power to make sure I had the best education. You both halted your lives for me." "But that doesn’t mean you should. We gave you the best because we didn’t want you to lack and have everything your heart desires. This... This is not the future I envision for you, peanut." "But it’s the best I have ever had, despite the ups and downs. I still have you two with me, and that’s more than I could ever ask for. You have no idea how much harder it could have been without you guys." She pressed her forehead against mine and did a little shake. I giggled at the action because it was close to home, and she does it randomly. My mom used to do it too. "You look so beautiful. I guess you weren’t lying when you said you have everything in control. Midnight is treating you alright." "I guess so..." Her smile turned sad. "I heard about Dan." My mood shifted instantly. "Don’t be mad at your gramps for telling me, I kept nagging, and you know when I nag—" "He spills." "I could feel something was wrong. I called him, but he wasn’t picking up, and then his line was no longer reachable. Walter didn’t need to say much after that." "I’m sorry... I should have told you. I just didn’t wanna hurt you with that news." "Forget about me, peanut. I was more worried about you. I didn’t wanna call you about it because I knew it’d be a hard topic. He hurt you, didn’t he?" I forced a nod. "Good thing I burned that wedding book." I gasped. "Granny!" "Yes, I did, and even though I poured hard work into those plans, I hated it the next second, at the thought of him hurting my peanut. Because I knew how much you love him and there was no way it was just a random disagreement." I forced a smile. "It’s been months. Then when he’s mentioned, there’s this deep pain in my chest. He betrayed me, Ma, everything we worked for, he ruined everything. He said it was my fault because of how wrecked my life is... my life is wrecked, but I don’t care, and I don’t mean the debts and everything, it’s just so hard to keep going. I know you think I’m weird for moving on so quickly after everything." "No... I don’t. I actually think it’s good that you did. It shows you’re strong enough not to let anything weigh you down." "Or it could mean that maybe somewhere along the line I have fallen out of love with Dan, and I was just so desperate to keep going because I didn’t wanna let go." "Peanut..." she murmured with sad eyes. "I know... that stupid habit of mine is more of a bad thing now. It’s my bad juju." "But you let go... That’s more important. Even though it’s hard, I’m super proud of you." My bottom lip trembled as I rested my head on her shoulder, and she held me tightly, stroking my arms. "Yes, I did. But I should have let go sooner instead of trying to hold on to the sharp edges," I said softly. Till this moment that was one of my biggest regrets and it got me thinking... When the time comes and every dark fairytale comes to an end. Will I be able to let go of Ares?