Katherine acted quickly. When she came back down, Grandma Grant had only just walked up to the door, which Katherine opened as she greeted, “Ma’am.”
Smiling, Grandma Grant said, “That was fast. I’m no longer ‘grandma’?”
Katherine smiled back. “Please do come in.”
Grandma Grant walked into the house, where she hadn’t been before. Standing in the living room, she looked around and asked, “Did Marshall help you decorate this place? It doesn’t look his style.”
“Well,” replied Katherine, “he helped with the interior finish, but I redid the furnishing cuz I felt like his style didn’t suit my demands.”
“You did the right thing,” nodded the old lady, “this looks good.”
Katherine helped Grandma Grant sit down on the sofa before she asked, “I haven’t made tea yet. Do you mind having some beverages?”
Grandma Grant laughed. “That’s fine. I haven’t had beverages for a long time, but I actually quite liked them when I was younger.”
But she had to quit the habit as it was forbidden by her family.
Katherine instantly went to fetch two bottles of sodas from the fridge and handed one over to the lady, who inspected it before asking, “What’s the flavor of this? That’s some fancy packaging right there.”
“This one’s orange, and I’ve got a grape-flavored one. Which do you prefer?” asked Katherine, presenting the one in her hand.
“Orange is fine. I like oranges.”
Looking at the lady, Katherine reached for a box on the side, saying, “Granny, this was a gift from you, and I don’t think I should keep it any longer. I had planned to give it back to Marshall, but I never got the chance. So I’d like to return this since you’re here.”
What she was handing over was the piece of jade that Grandma Grant had given her.
Staring at the velvet box for a while, the lady spoke. “There must be a misunderstanding. I didn’t come here for this.”
“I know,” said Katherine, “you’re here presumably to thank me for sticking up for Marshall. But it’s the right thing to do, since my life can only get back to normal when this whole mess blows over. So, in a way, I’m not helping him; I’m helping myself.”
Grandma Grant was reassured by Katherine’s open honesty. She took Katherine’s hand and covered it with her own. “Regardless,” the old lady said with a sigh, “we owe you a big favor.”
“On the contrary,” said Katherine with a smile, “instead of owing me anything, you’ve given me plenty.”
The house she was living in was one of them, at least, without which she would have to go back to the countryside, where people’s livelihoods were at the mercy of the weather. She didn’t really want to go back.
Katherine put the old lady at a loss for words. Pausing for a bit, she said, “Marshall can be very obtuse sometimes. He’s been solely focused on work all these years, so much as that he hasn’t had a chance to think about anything else. For example, do you think he likes Clara? I don’t think he does.”
Because if he liked someone, he would be sad when he was to lose her. But when Marshall was asked to break off the engagement with Clara, he wasn’t sad at all, and then he devoted himself to preparing the wedding with Katherine immediately afterwards. Grandma Grand had felt bad for him because he had given so much, but Marshall simply waved it off, saying that he would be pleased if his grandfather was pleased.
“If you like someone,” said Grandma Grant, “you wouldn’t simply allow them to get away. But Marshall did.”
Sighing, she added, “He’s the type of people that wear their hearts on their sleeves. If he had feelings for Clara, he would’ve showed them a long time ago and he would’ve told us about it. But he didn’t, he never did. So, that would mean that he never had feelings for her.”
Katherine kept a faint smile on her face when she listened to the lady. It was no use, in fact, to talk about Marshall’s feelings with her, because she simply didn’t care either way. She had wanted to meddle with Marshall and Clara out of spite for the latter woman, but now, even if she could, she wouldn’t, because she no longer had the intention to.
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