Love is the Sunshine novel Chapter 68

Carla cautiously opened the little box. On top of everything, a black and white photo caught her attention. The edge of the photo had turned yellow and seemed aged. She could tell from the photo that it was taken when her mom and dad were very young. Beneath it, there were two colored photos of the day that they got married. The pictures were not so clear and colors weren't that saturated which indicated the age of the photograph, yet again.

Carla felt sad as she stared at the happy smiles on their faces. 'They were so young at that time, so beautiful as well, ' Carla drowned herself in deep sorrows and tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Over the past few years after Marian passed away, Carla hadn't allowed herself to recall the good old days when her mother used to be around. She knew herself so well that once she started thinking of her mother, she would become weak and would want to escape from the reality. She was just a little girl when she lost her mother but she had to bear all the responsibilities that were left behind--their home, and Sean.

Therefore, she refrained herself. She had to be strong for her brother and bring him up on her own.

Continuous stream of tears blurred her eyes. Carla took a deep breath and flipped her parent's photos to the back. Then she started to explore the inside of the box. While she was trying to sort things out, something hard and cold touched her finger. She picked it up gently and patiently.

It was a ring.

Carla took a close look at it and reckoned that the stone on that ring was emerald in a size of a fingernail.

Under the soft glow of the lamp, the emerald was glowing in crisp green light. The emerald was so transparent that Carla could effortlessly see through it. It looked ageless. 'When had mom bought this beautiful ring?' Carla wondered.

She had never seen her mother wearing this ring. 'It looked garish for mom since she preferred plain colors over bright colors, ' Carla mumbled from within.

She rolled the ring over and noticed a couple of letters carved onto the ring itself. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and took a close look at the letters. But they were too small for her eyes to see. She gave up soon enough.

Then she tried it on her fingers. Strangely, it fitted perfectly on the ring finger of her right hand.

At this moment, she felt intrigued and puzzled. She used to try on Marian's rings but none of them fitted her since her fingers were slightly thinner than Marian's. She could now confirm that this ring didn't belong to her mother. 'But... Who's ring is this then?' Carla furrowed her brows and guessed, 'Maybe it was a ring that had been passed over from generation to generation? Maybe it belonged to my great grandma or great great grandma, who knows?' Carla put aside her questions and continued her exploration.

Although many of the things seemed familiar to her, some of them were definitely a novelty to her eyes. Marian seldom took this box out in public so Carla didn't really know what else had been stored inside.

"Wait... What is this? Why is my date of birth inscribed on it?"

A piece of paper caught Carla's attention. The texture and overall condition of the paper did convey the message that it was indeed a relic.

The whole paper was blank except for Carla's birth date and time.

Carla was confused beyond description. 'Maybe, mom had written it down just in case that she forgot?' Carla guessed.

She put down the paper and continued to go through the rest of the things. She found their marriage certificate in faded red color and two letters addressed to Marian. 'Oh! Letters that father wrote to her!' Carla was surprised.

She opened the letter and read it in her heart. Instantly, the wave of sadness that had been haunting her for the whole night was swept away right after she got to the initial half page of it. 'Dad was so romantic at that time...' Carla went on reading the rest of the letter and sighed. She loved the way how her dad loved her mom. The whole letter contained his passion and love towards her mother which was extremely valuable for her right now.

This matched the image of her parent in her memories. They were always so clingy and cuddly around the house. They had taken very good care of Carla and Sean, but the affection they had for each other exceeded everything else.

Carla put the letter in front of her chest and smiled uncontrollably for a moment. She closed her eye and the long string of memories began to flash inside her head. After a long while, she opened her eyes and withdrew herself from her dreams. She the opened a drawer and took out a new metal box that she just bought yesterday. Since tomorrow was Marian's memorial day, she decided to replace the burned box with a new one and take it with her to Marian's grave.

She carefully arranged everything in the box and took them out piece by piece.

Suddenly, her nails slightly hit on the bottom of the metal box and an unusual sound reached her ears. The sound was stuffy compared to the crisp metal sound when she knocked on the body of the box. She extended her hand inside and felt a clip. She pressed it very lightly and the bottom split opened from the middle abruptly. 'Wow, what is this?' Carla seemed surprised to find that there was a secret hole hiding at the bottom. She picked whatever she could lay her hands on outside the box. It was an envelope.

'Another letter hidden at the bottom?' Carla curiously opened the envelope. She scanned through the cover looking to find who this letter was addressed to but she failed.

As the envelope unfolded, the letter wasn't legible. The color had all turned to yellow and it looked aged. She kept unfolding it, she could tell the characters on the letter had been well-preserved even after a very long time.

At first, Carla couldn't tell whose handwriting it was. She looked closely and suddenly realized, 'Why is the handwriting very similar to father's?'

"In the year of pigs. Late December. The lake has been frozen under the bridge and there lies a maple tree," the letter read.

'What is this?

A riddle or something?'

Although Carla was confused, she didn't pay too much attention to it and gave it a helpless smile. She wasn't intrigued.

Her father had been a Chinese teacher since she could remember. He used to publish poems to the newspaper so Carla wasn't so surprised if the letter was indeed written by her father. 'Maybe he was just recording something important in an implicative way. Who knows?' Carla thought to herself.

Since she couldn't understand the hidden meaning of the words, she put the letter aside with other things and placed them inside the new box. She then locked it in the drawer just in case Sean might drop in and stumble upon this

When she was about to put the old box in the garbage can, she discovered that the size of the can turned out to be too small to accommodate the box in. Therefore, she put it on the top of the book shelf and decided to deal with it later. Soon, she felt tired and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, Carla chose to wear a plain colored dress and put on some light makeup. Before she reached the graveyard, she stopped at a flower shop and picked out a bunch of white roses. She remembered that her mother loved white roses more than any other kind of flowers.

"Hey mom. How have you been? I've brought your favorite flowers. I still remember that when I was little, you loved it so much but seldom bought the flower home. Dad asked you why and you told him that flowers were beautiful indeed but they didn't last. Moreover, you said that the roses were too expensive. Mom, how about if I buy you flowers every time I pay you a visit?"

Carla's eyes got reddened and filled with tears. She placed the roses in front of the gravestone and kneeled down. She then wiped the dirt off the image of Marian that was carved into the stone with her sleeves. Her thin lips parted slightly and her voice was choked with emotions. She sobbed, "Mom, Sean is doing a very good job at school. He is always ahead of other students and has never let me down. So don't worry about him. I will take good care of him until he doesn't need me anymore.

Mom, something happened accidentally and Sean was unable to go to school for a few days. But he is trying his best to catch up. That's why I didn't bring him with me today. I hope you don't mind and I promise you that he will be accompanying me the next time!"

For a long while, Carla continued to cry and laugh as she kneeled down near the grave. She told her mom a lot of things, including Terence and her trip to JA City. It was not until noon that she decided to stand up and return to the hotel.

Right after Carla left her spot, a man who was wearing dark clothes and a black hat walked towards Marian's grave with a branch of daisy held close to his chest.

He stopped in front of the gravestone and spotted some white roses lying on the ground. He leaned down and put the daisy right beside it and curled up his dry lips distastefully.

"What a coincidence, dear Marian. I have finally found something valuable from that old stinky man. I thought he has never left anything behind. It seems like he had hidden a diamond amidst this city.

Oops, too late.

I have found it now, ' the man spoke vengefully to the image of Marian with a crooked smile on his face.

He continued, "I have sacrificed all my life for this family. My blood has been spilled and my soul has suffered on the way. No one can take it away from me, not even his own blood! Not even her.

If any of them dare to come in my way, I will not show them mercy and cut their throats while they're made to watch.

With all due respect, Marian. Bye-bye."

The man finished his evil speech spreading venomous sinister intentions to a grave soon enough. He took off his hat and bowed slightly towards the grave. As he straightened his body, he narrowed his eyes and a sense of ferocity flashed across his eyes.

This man was a source of immense danger to the ones around him, just like a hungry wolf which was ready to strike its sharp teeth inside the throat of a new born sheep ruthlessly.