Chapter 123: No Joke
Ryan’s POV
Now that he realized that the whole thing had been an elaborate scheme. That his grandfather was perfectly fine. Ryan’s instincts were screaming at him to get up and leave, to run out of the house and not come back.
But he forced himself to remain seated.
"Long time no see Grandfather, for someone who was supposedly very ill, you are looking good," The old man huffed at that, not looking like he regretted a single thing.
"I did what I had to do to get you to come and visit me,"
"Had you considered just calling me and asking me to come and visit you?" The old man raised a brow at that, and Ryan met his gaze head on despite the blush he could feel crawling up his neck.
"Just how many times have I called you, asking for that very thing. Only to have you suddenly find something else very important, that required you to not come and see me?" Shamed by his grandfather’s words Ryan turned his attention to the flowers before them, and quickly looked away from them when he realized what they were.
Forget-me-nots, how fitting. He wondered if his grandfather had sat by them on purpose.
"Even so, grandfather, having to rush all the way over here, thinking that you were dying was not fun. Please refrain from doing something like this ever again,"
"Will you promise to come visit more often and to actually talk to me for longer than five seconds when I call you?" Ryan wanted so badly to just say yes. But he knew that that would be a huge lie, so he stayed silent.
"Just as I thought," The old man said, not bothering to hide his disappointment. Ryan tried his best not to let guilt and shame consume him.
***
"Do you still have play dates with your friends once a week," Gripping his cane tight, the old man scoffed.
"What do you mean play dates? We gather to exchange valuable information, all under the guise of playing cards. Thanks to those ’play dates’, as you call them, I know more than you can possibly imagine about the inner workings of this country," Ryan did not doubt that at all, his grandfather’s friends were all very powerful people. They just liked saying they were retired so that the younger generation underestimated them.
"If you came to visit me more, perhaps I would share some of that information with you," There it was again, just as Ryan had thought that they’d come to a silent agreement to ignore the elephant in the room, the old man was bringing it back up.
"Grandfather, I can’t do that,"
"Can we not just enjoy each other’s company for the afternoon and forget about everything else?" He pleaded. But the old man was not having it. His back straightening, he pointed his cane at Ryan.
"These past few years, it seems that you, my grandson cannot do a lot of things, what happened to you Ryan?" The words were clearly bait, but Ryan still took it. Too emotional to stay quiet, he turned to his grandfather and looked him directly in the same blue eyes as his own.
"What are you talking about, grandfather?"
The old man shrugged. "It seems that you cannot pick up the phone to call me. You can’t find even the smallest amount of time in your schedule to come and see me, and not only that, you can’t even find it in yourself to settle down with just one girl," Ah, there it was. The reason that his grandfather had set up this entire scheme was because the old man wanted Ryan to settle down. For a split second, an image of Vivian Rose came to mind, but Ryan quickly pushed it away.
The woman was in the past. She had made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with Ryan. Getting to his feet angrily, he made to leave.
"Now that you’ve said your peace, grandfather, I will be leaving," The old man’s hand gently touching the back of his own made him stop in his tracks.
"Grandson, please, hear me out," The raw sadness in his grandfather’s tone had Ryan’s sitting back down. He just could not bear to leave the old man like that.
***
"You need to get married. I am worried that when I leave this earth, you will be left all alone," Taking the old man’s hand between his own two, Ryan lightly patted his grandfather’s knuckles. Once upon a time, the old man’s hands had been bigger than Ryan’s, but time had changed the status quo. It was a little heartbreaking.
"You do not need to worry about me, grandfather. When the time is right, I will settle down with the right woman,"
"When? When will the time be right, Ryan? If only I could at least see you happy with someone in your life, I could cross over to the other side feeling content," Letting go of the old man, Ryan ran a hand through his hair. "It is not that easy, grandfather. I have yet to find someone suitable," Yet again,
Vivian’s face was at the forefront of his mind for a few seconds before it faded.
"That is where you are wrong," His grandfather’s words had Ryan turning his attention back to the old man.
"What do you mean?"
His grandfather smiled gently. "There is someone who is perfect for you. A lady who would be the perfect Mrs Terrell?"
What was the old man talking about? Had he perhaps found out about Vivian?
"The woman I am talking about actually came to see me just a little while ago. Gwendolyn Stuart the fourth would be the perfect wife for you,"
There was no way he could allow such a thing to become reality. This time when Ryan got to his feet, nothing stopped him from taking a few steps away from his grandfather.
"Even if there were no women left in the world, I would not want to marry that woman. If you like her so much, that is fine, but do not try to force your preferences on me, grandfather," The words were sharper than intended, but Ryan did not bother to soften his tone.
Getting to his own feet, the old man stared at Ryan like he could not believe the words coming out of his mouth.
"She is the best thing to have ever happened to you, and you are too blinded by all of the skirts you are chasing to see that," Ha! If only his grandfather knew.
Feeling the truth right at the tip of his tongue, Ryan considered exposing everything. But taking a look at the old man, he knew he could not do that.
Realizing that if he stayed too long, he would be tempted to expose the truth, Ryan turned to leave.
"Goodbye grandfather. Hopefully we will be seeing each other sooner rather than later," Turning his back completely to the old man, Ryan began walking away.
"There you go, running away again. Why do you not want good things in your life? Why can’t you just-," The old man’s words suddenly cut off. Ryan, who had been intending to just walk away, found himself turning back to see why his grandfather was silent.
He found him clutching at his chest, his eyes wide.
"Grandfather for the last time, stop faking illness. You already did that once to get me here. Do you seriously think that I-" As Ryan watched, he realized that the old man was getting paler and paler.
"Grandfather?" There was no verbal response. Just the old man clutching at his chest more desperately. Moving back towards his grandfather . Ryan called out to him again, but there was still no answer.
Seeing his eyes roll back, Ryan broke into a run. He barely managed to catch the old man before he hit the ground.
"Help!" Ryan called out once, and all of a sudden they were surrounded by the staff. He barely paid them any mind. All of his attention on his now unconscious grandfather. Worry gnawing at him and making it very difficult to think straight. Could this really be it, was he losing his last living relative?
