C1 Grace

Grace slammed the door of her room and shut her mouth after entering. She could still hear her mother's loud voice and disgust was written on her face while putting her clothes in her suitcase.

She grabs all the clothes she can, and puts it in her suitcase just like that. She doesn't even care anymore if the inside of her suitcase is messy, the important thing is that she can get out of her mother's control.

Grace violently carried the suitcase, and a backpack while tucked a large envelope into her armpit. As soon as she opened the door, her mother's angry face appeared.

"Where do you think you're going? Where are you going to live? Your friends have done nothing but take drugs? What about that, Grace? Do you understand what you're doing?" Her mother slammed the door of her room again, but Grace was not scared. Instead, she stood up straight and let go of the suitcase she was holding and angrily showed her mother the envelope she was holding.

"Liar!" Grace threw the envelope right in her mother's face and cried. "You're a liar! You're a worthless mother!" Grace burst into tears as her anger erupted.

Her mother was stunned and did not move immediately, but her eyes were fixed on the envelope. She took the envelope and opened its contents.

Grace saw the fear in her mother's eyes as she opened the envelope, and she became even angrier because she realized that her mother had no intention of telling her the truth.

"How did you get this?" her mother asked softly, but there was a trace of anger.

"You don't have to know, what's important is I totally knew--"

"I AM ASKING, WHERE DID YOU GET THIS!?" Grace becomes scared at her mother's voice.

This is the only time that she hears her mother's loud voice, and she was really scared, but still, anger overcame her.

"Now you're angry! Shouldn't I be angry with you for lying?" Grace shouted as much as she could. "You're a liar! You're a useless mother--" Grace stopped shouting when she felt a hard slap.

"I raised you, Grace. I love you, but why are you like this? What else do you need--"

"A father," Grace said stiffly and her mother stopped at what she heard. "I need a father and not a mother like you. You said my father was dead, you said he cheated on us and then he left, and you also said lots of bad words about him, but why ... Why ... Why did you lie?" Grace cried in pain and took the envelope from her mother and read what was written there.

"Marly, how is my daughter, Grace? Is she grown up? How are you too? Tell Grace how much I love her. Are you alright there? Do you need money? Just tell me if you need anything, I will give it right away. I love you very much." Grace covered her mouth and took out another letter. "How are you Marly? Is Grace okay? How is she in elementary school? Did someone bully our daughter? Do you want me to put a bodyguard on her? I'm worried about Grace, Marly. I hope you're okay there. I love you both very much." Grace looked at her mother angrily.

Grace read to her mother all the letters of her father's love for her, her father who she thought cheated on them and died, suddenly turned out to be alive and loved her dearly.

"Marly, do you receive my letters? You don't reply to my letters anymore. Are you alright? Grace and you are alright, aren't you? Did something happen? I'm worried, Marly." Grace cried as she read her father's letters.

"Grace, I'll explain--"

"I just need a yes or no!"

"Grace, you don't understand everything--"

"Is my father alive?" Grace hugged herself while crying. She prepares herself for the answer she wants to hear right from her mother.

"Yes." Grace cried loudly at what she heard. "I'm sorry, Grace. I just want to keep you out of harms--"

"I'm going to my father, I want to meet my father whether you don't want to or not," Grace said. Her voice was determined and no one could stop her, but her mother was more determined that Grace should not meet her father.

"He's not a good father, Grace--"

"Which of the things I read isn't good, mother? Which part of it isn't good?" she said, angrily. "As soon as I read my father's letters, I immediately felt his love for me while you!" Grace pointed to her mother angrily. "You have been with me for twenty years and I have not felt your love for over two decades!"

No words came out from her mother, but her emotions did not change even though, but inside it was like she was being stabbed by the sharp and painful things coming out of her own child's mouth.

"You're still not leaving."

"As if you can stop me," Grace said sarcastically and smiled. "Wish me luck, mother."

Grace was completely out of her mother's control at that time and at the same time she did not know where she was going because there was no address in the letters that came from her father.

All Grace knows is that she has a dedication to find her father no matter what happens to her. She no longer thought of the possibility of getting lost on the road or being in danger, because for her it is important to find her father.

On the other hand, Grace's mother, Marly just stared at the distant child and sadly looked at her daughter. "Cedrick, no matter how far we are there. Grace will come back and come back to her home." Grace's mother sighed and wished for a peaceful journey for her daughter.

Grace, on the other hand, smiled as she looked at her father's letters and hurried to the post office and expecting that they knew where her father's letters came from, but Grace was disappointed because no one knew where the letters came from, there was no address and her hope that was once as high as the wall was gradually destroyed.

Grace looked around when someone blew a horn in an old-fashioned taxi that made her frown. "I've been waiting for you for a while. Are you Laya? The new helper of the Nostrad family?"

Grace looked at the driver and frowned, then shook her head. "I didn't understand you."

"What are you talking about? There." The driver pointed the letter she was holding, so Grace also looked at it. "Those letters came from the Nostrad family in the town of Malaya."

Grace looked back and forth at the letter and the driver. She suddenly blinked and her hope was formed again because of the driver.

"Yes, you're right! I'm Laya." Grace shook the driver's hand with the overwhelming joy she felt. "This is indeed the letter from the Nostrad family."

"Nice! Come in. Just sit back and relax because the trip is too long." Grace stood up and entered the taxi. Grace could not hide her excitement, because it looked like she was going to her father right away.

"Is there more life in the town of Alarcon?" Grace looked at the driver as he spoke out of nowhere. "It's good that you can go in and out of your town, unlike the town of Malaya."

Grace was confused and wanted to ask, but she didn't because she had to pretend that she was Laya. Grace just kept quiet and didn't speak, so the driver spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Laya. I can't avoid our travels without feeling sorry for the situation of towns like ours."

Even though Grace was not in the town of Malaya, and even though she had not seen her father, she was horrified by what the driver said next, and in a second, she seemed to want to go home and hug her mother back.

"Especially your life will be one of the sacrifices for Ada."