Fati stood rooted to the spot, her body trembling as her eyes searched in bewildered shock as the personal servant carefully unfolded the wheelchair, lowering her grandfather onto it with extreme caution and deliberation!
The servant pushed him smoothly and quietly forward toward where Fati stood. Driven by an innate maternal instinct, she instantly pulled her little boy behind the folds of her skirt, shielding him completely from view with her own body.
Yet Leo naturally outgoing and fondly social by nature could not contain his curiosity. He peeked his small face out from behind his mother's skirt, gazing with wide, inquisitive eyes at the strange visitor seated in the wheelchair, tightly clutching his grandmother's plush rabbit against his chest!
Fati stared at her grandfather, absorbing his exhausted features now ravaged by gray age, frailty, and the deep lines of time. Before her grandfather could utter a single word or voice an excuse, her noble spirit and inherent kindness prevailed. She spoke first in a soft, gentle voice laced with surprise and genuine pity:
- Grandfather... how are you?! Is your health all right?!
Fati was not angry; the passing days had extinguished the burning embers of her painful past. Yet what her heart now carried toward everyone was nothing more than dry, formal courtesy. Though a quiet curiosity inside her urged her to ask why he was still confined to a wheelchair when he should have recovered and resumed his normal life she refrained from asking. She had completely lost the capacity to love anyone, to embrace them, or to radiate even a sliver of warmth toward those around her, especially her grandfather and Jaguar.
Her grandfather gazed intensely at the little boy sheltered behind the folds of her skirt, speaking in a soft voice trembling with deep longing:
- I am fine, my dear... I simply missed you so very much
He then directed his warm, tender gaze toward the child, asking in a shaky breath his eyes locked in stunned awe on the plush rabbit the little boy clutched tightly against his chest like a prized treasure:
- Is this... my grandson?
Fati responded with a pale, cold composure, her voice devoid of all emotion:
- Yes, Grandfather, he is your grandson... but I am certain you have other grandchildren by now from Jaguar and that woman, Miranda. So please, leave my little one to me alone
The grandfather offered a noble, sorrowful smile, a deep warmth settling in his exhausted eyes as he asked her gently,
- What is his name?
Fati replied with brief, cold detachment,
- Leo.
His frail, aging hand reached out with a slight tremble toward the child as he murmured,
- I love this name... Leo.
Yet despite the formidable stone wall Fati had built around her heart over years of exile, the nobility of her spirit prevailed. She gently guided her little boy out from behind the folds of her skirt, whispering softly,
- Leo, my sweet boy... say hello to your grandfather
Leo extended his tiny hand toward the old man, a sweet, radiant smile lighting up his innocent features as he chirped in a playful, childish tone,
- Grandpa... Grandpa
His words were simple and his pronunciation still imperfect, yet his small voice drew a warm, joyful laugh from the depths of the old man's exhausted heart. Assisted by his loyal servant Butler, the grandfather eagerly lifted the little boy onto his lap atop the wheelchair, pulling him tightly against his chest in an embrace suffocated by tears and profound regret.
- Leo... my little boy! At last I have seen my grandson before meeting my Lord
The little boy was not yet skilled in speech, and all he could master and repeat with his soft tongue at that moment was the word:
- Grandpa... Grandpa
Yet its simple, rhythmic echo was enough to flood the grandfather's exhausted heart with an overwhelming joy he had not tasted in long years.
Suddenly... Leo reached out the plush rabbit's tiny paw and placed it inside the old man's palm, as if innocently asking him to greet and make friends with his favorite toy. The grandfather offered a bittersweet smile, gently taking the rabbit's paw, then leaned down and reverently kissed the toy's hand conjuring the ghost of his late daughter, Rosie.
The grandfather eagerly absorbed the boy's features, speaking in a voice filled with wonder and boundless affection:
- He carries Jaguar's face to the absolute letter when he was a child... yet he possesses your clear, transparent eyes, Fati! He is an exceptionally handsome and beautiful boy
Fati responded with a faint, quiet smile devoid of heat:
- Thank you, Grandfather.
In that emotionally charged moment, the grandfather could no longer suppress his feelings; a warm tear of deep regret welled from his eyes and trickled down his aged, weathered cheek. Yet little Leo could not bear the sight of his sadness; his small hand reached out with innocent, worried concern, wiping away his grandfather's tear while gazing at him with wide, pure eyes, whispering softly:
- Grandpa?
The grandfather showered the boy's tiny hands with tender kisses, pulling him into another tight embrace before stepping back slightly to gaze at his small, radiant face glowing with hope.
Then the grandfather raised his exhausted, tear filled eyes toward Fati, speaking in a trembling, emotional voice:
- Fati... do you know that Jaguar...
Fati cut him off immediately with a dry, decisive severity used to shield her fragile heart:
- Grandfather! Please... do not speak to me about him! He has his own life, and I have mine here with my child!
Yet the grandfather responded with tender persistence and a voice filled with desperate pleading:
- No... listen to me just this once! I will tell you his story from the very beginning... In his early childhood, Jaguar was a child overflowing with affection and immense tenderness. He was just like your little boy, Leo he felt others' sorrow, clinging to people with great love and warmth, until his parents perished in a tragic car accident, leaving him at such a tender age under my mercy and strict authority
The grandfather paused, taking a ragged breath, before continuing in a tone drenched in scalding regret and pain:
- I stripped him of all affection, Fati... I forcibly drove him toward coldness and emotional numbness through my outdated, misguided belief that this was the only way real men were raised! Over time, he completely lost the ability to love, especially after his aunt's death. I tried to fill his heart with resentment and cruelty... yet he never became resentful; instead, he perfected absolute emotional numbness! He grew unable to offer feelings or demonstrate affection, violently pulling away in fear from anything that might stir his locked heart
The grandfather paused for a moment, gazing at the child's small features with eyes blurring with longing and remorse, before continuing with a raw honesty that shattered all veils of deception:
- That is why Jaguar abstained from marriage for so many long years... and when he suddenly announced that he wished to marry you specifically, I realized in secret that it was his clever way to force me to stop pursuing and pressuring him with the idea of marriage
After a heavy silence that suffocated all tears, the old man added in a voice saturated with sorrow:
- Do you know, Fati?! It was I who planted the seed of revenge in his mind from the very beginning... and he was never truly onboard with it. He merely humored me, hoping I might change my mind on my own volition! Afterward, he fought with all his strength to push you away from his life so you wouldn't be wounded by the cruelty of that cold mansion... He loves you, Fati! I do not know precisely when he fell for you, but I am utterly convinced he adored you from the very first moment; his gaze toward you was entirely different and consumed with passion ever since the wedding night
The grandfather fell silent briefly, his exhausted tone shifting into a deeply human, desperate plea:
- Please, Fati... give Jaguar another chance
The grandfather spoke in a trembling voice after Fati's cold silence lingered, for she had refused to relent based on those reasons alone:
- I should have told you from the very beginning that I was the primary cause of everything you endured, but I was terrified you would hate and reject me... So please, my child, return to him
Fati's eyes widened in pale shock, her breath catching in a voice filled with doubt, confusion, and lingering pain:
- Grandfather... what do you mean?! And what about Miranda?
The grandfather responded in a firm tone that instantly shattered all her assumptions:
- And who told you he ever married her?! He threw her out that very same night in the most humiliating fashion! In fact, he severed all commercial partnerships and business deals with her father simply because he dared to mock you under his own roof! He adores you, Fati... he adores you to the point of undoing
The grandfather then turned slowly and signaled to his servant, Butler, who hurried to retrieve a wooden box strikingly familiar to Fati's eyes from inside the car, placing it carefully before her feet.
Gazing at the box, the old man spoke in a voice drenched in sorrow and burning regret:
- He has stared at this box every single day for three full years... from the moment he returns from work until sleep overtakes him while gazing at the clippings and photos inside! I specifically stole it from him this morning just to bring it to you... I believe everything inside this box belongs to you, and you alone
The grandfather continued with a heartbroken sorrow, his tone drenched in searing regret:
- I will not claim innocence, Fati... I was the orchestrator and the hidden force behind the scheme of revenge, yet he never disclosed the truth to you out of fear that you would despise me or that my dignity would fall in your eyes! Thus, he chose to shoulder all the blame and guilt entirely alone until the very end... but I truly did not deserve his sacrifice, for through my harshness and stubborness, I forced you away and caused your break!
Fati sank slowly, crouching before the box, her clouded eyes fixed on that humble cardboard box resting between her hands. It was the exact same box where she had once kept magazine clippings and photos gathered for his sake, letters laden with burning affection, her old journals... and even that small necklace shaped like a "teddy bear"!
Her eyes widened in pale disbelief, her heart pounding frantically against her chest like a war drum: When did Jaguar obtain this box?! And how did it reach him?! She had been utterly certain that she had discarded all those memories and scribbles of the past amidst the rubble before her departure... Was it conceivable that he had retraced her steps like a madman, sifting through the debris merely to recover her cheap cardboard box only to cherish it as a sacred treasure, guarding and gazing upon it every single night for three full years?
Fati slowly raised her head toward her grandfather, asking in a raspy voice trembling with disbelief, unable to process what her eyes saw and her ears heard:
- Grandfather... where is Jaguar now?
The grandfather gently shrugged his shoulders with a tender smile soaked in sorrow and melancholy, speaking in a tone brimming with newfound hope:
- I believe he has just discovered that I stole his most beloved, precious treasure... for my phone has not stopped ringing and vibrating incessantly ever since I left the mansion! Thus... I am absolutely certain he is already on his way here right now