Momo read the message for a fourth time, wondering if she was missing something. Mina had sent her a text, saying that she was leaving on a business trip. ‘Hey Momo. I’ll be going overseas for work for a few days so I just wanted you to know.’ She had woken up to the message waiting for her and ended up spending the majority of the morning and afternoon trying to figure out the meaning behind it. There was nothing that indicated Mina had any expectations for Momo towards her confession and it seemed as if she was going to act as if it had never happened. Acting as normal was something Momo could do but it wasn’t easy forgetting that one of your friends had feelings for you. Her head had been in a shambles since Mina had dropped the bombshell that she liked Momo and she’d been unable to concentrate on much else.

She sighed and rubbed her face, turning the phone face-down. She ignored her assignment sitting in front of her and looked out the window to the sky beyond it. Clouds had gathered and blanketed the sky, giving off a gloomy shade to the day. Stuck in her one room apartment, Momo felt suffocated and she took a deep breath as she stood up. There was one place she always went to whenever she needed peace of mind and she grabbed her bag and keys, slipping on a pair of shoes and running out the door to catch a bus.

An hour later, Momo stood outside her grandmother’s hospital room and hesitated as she held her hand in the air, ready to knock. There were voices inside the room and she pressed her ear to the door.

‘I am sorry Mrs. Hirai but we are trying everything we can. I understand you are in a lot of pain and the drugs you are taking are having a toll on your body but there is no other solution. Cancer is a disease without a simple cure and it is callous of me to say, but you must endure it.’

More murmuring that Momo couldn’t hear and she stepped aside quickly as footsteps approached the door. A second later, the door slid open with a bang and her grandmother’s doctor walked out, looking frazzled. He turned and caught sight of Momo, fixing a smile onto his face as he adjusted his glasses.

‘Hello Momo. How are you? I was just checking in with your grandmother. She should be able to see you now.’

Momo bowed and watched the doctor leave before stepping into the room. Her grandmother was sitting in her bed and looking worse than she had ever seen. Her skin was saggy against her bones and her face was set into a grimace beneath her bald head. The expression on the older Hirai changed immediately as she took in Momo, smiling as if everything was fine. “How are you feeling?” greeted Momo, taking the empty seat beside the hospital bed.

‘Fine, fine. What about you?’

‘I’m fine too but are you sure you’re alright? I saw the doctor leaving when I arrived.’

Something indecipherable flashed across her grandmother face, too fast for Momo to catch. She wondered about it for a second but her grandmother patted her hand reassuringly and widened her smile.

‘I’m sure. I’m in a little bit of pain but now that you’re here, I feel much better.’

“A little bit?” Momo thought, remembering the rictus of pain she had seen. She considered pressing the issue but she knew that a stubborn streak ran in the Hirai blood and changed tack. She looked around the room before her gaze settled on a framed photo of her grandparents as a young couple, smiling for the camera and asked, “Gram, when did you first meet my grandfather?” Her grandmother grinned at her as she reached for the photo, seeming to say that she knew what Momo was doing but then she turned her face towards the open window, her eyes seeing far away.

‘Hmm, I met your grandfather when we were both teenagers. We had just finished a year of high school, I can’t remember which one, and our class went down to the lake to celebrate. While swimming, my foot got caught by some weeds and I was unable to swim back up to the surface. I out and woke to his face, and I later found out that he was the one who spotted me and saved me. We had never talked before but I went to visit him to thank him and we hit it off. From that day, I had already fallen in love with him.’

Her grandmother paused, her smile tinged with nostalgia.

‘I will never forget when he asked me to marry him. It was the most unexpected proposal. He had been conscripted into the army and I went to see him off at the docks. We were hugging farewell when he whispered into my ear asking me to marry him. Then he kissed me and ran onto the waiting ship and yelled out that he wanted an answer when he returned.’

There was a silence as Momo imagined the scene of her grandparents as young adults while her grandmother dwelled in the faded paths of memory. She blinked a few times and stared down at her hands, wondering how often a chance meeting between two people resulted in love. She frowned and a question popped into her head. She looked up and saw her grandmother staring at her. “Is there something wrong?” she asked. Her grandmother shook her head, chuckling softly. “I should be the one asking that. Is there a question you wanted to ask me?”

‘How did you know?’

‘Your brow always furrows whenever you’re curious about something and the pursing of your lips gives you away.’

Momo shook her head in wonder at her grandmother’s ability to see through her but opened her lips and tentatively asked the question that was buzzing in her head.

‘Why did you wait for him? I mean, you waited a few years for grandfather to return. Didn’t you find anyone else in that time?’

Momo tensed as the aged hand in her grip squeezed, afraid that she had asked the wrong question.

‘Of course there were others; suitors and the like chasing after me but I didn’t find anyone else. Rather, I wasn’t looking since I’d already found the real thing with your grandfather. What you’re thinking of is called affection which is oftentimes fleeting. What we had was different. I knew I loved