“Coming!” you yelled from the diner of the Sauna. Crashing into a coworker slightly older than you, you apologized and swiftly walked passed him. “Yes?” you said while peeking into your Grandfather’s office. His hair was becoming thin, his wrinkles were deeper and even his reactions had grown slower. Which, in turn gave you the upper hand as you always played tricks on him. 

“Are you going to stay here forever?” he asked.

You straightened up and stood blocking the doorway. “Of course,” you replied and then paced into his office beaming, “I told you I’d rather be here.”

He stared at you suspiciously and you quickly went around him and reached to massage his shoulders. Every time he looked at you that way, you always found it hard to tell him anything on your mind. Thus, hiding behind him made it easier for you to talk without stuttering.

“Honey. It’s ok you know?” he replied, and you focused harder on massaging his shoulders. “I think it’s time we close down the Sauna,”

“No!” You let go of his shoulders and moved to his side, “I want to be here. With you. We can keep it open. I’ll help you run it the way we have been doing it for four and a half months now. We have helpful workers here willing to do their part. I mean there’s not a lot of helpers, but I’m here. I can do it.”

“You refuse to activate your phone. You spend hours wiping the sauna down. You’re not doing anything for yourself,” he argued, and you pouted in reply. Your Grandfather stood up and shut the door behind you. “What is it?” he asked, “What are you so afraid of?”

You turned to face him, and your heart began to race. The only thing you were afraid of was losing your Grandfather. Didn’t he know that? Losing time with him was all that you could think of. So what if you were wiping down the sauna like a maniac and cleaning floors ten times a day. Pledis had trained you well. The sauna was spot clean, and you were great at it. If this was your Grandfather’s dream, you were willing to help him live it to the fullest. You had no dreams. And now you realized even more that your dreams were fake, unobtainable and just downright dumb. You were good at cleaning, so good, that you had mastered the art of waxing wood floors.

Yes, it was true. You had disconnected your phone for four and a half months. But you had to. The best way to let go was to throw everything away. Messages or calls to distract you and make you reminisce on the past was a waste of time.

“I’m embarrassed,” you spoke without realizing and stuttered to correct yourself. “I…I mean I’m not embarrassed, I just, I need time to find a new passion,”

“Embarrassed of what?” your Grandfather probed unconvinced of your false excuse.

“Well…well I said that wrong, what I meant was…”

He walked over to you and placed his hands onto your shoulders while you kept your eyes glued to his blue-collar shirt that were wrinkled at the armpits.

He stated your name making you sigh in response and look down to study his dark brown shoes.

In a soft caring tone he announced, “A package came for you.”

You looked up to meet his