Who Do You Like More, Mom or Dad?

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‘Just what in the world is going on?’

 

The woman stretched out her hand, which was covering her mouth, to Diana, before quickly retracting it.
Taking off her gloves, the woman reached her hand out again.
The heat of something neither warm nor cold touched Diana’s cheeks.

 

“Are you alright Madam?”

 

Diana said carefully.

 

She was groping the face of the person whom she had only met for the first time today.
Diana deserved to feel that it was rude, but somehow she didn’t have any thought of taking the woman’s hands off.

 

“I’m saying this but… by any chance.
By any chance…”

 

The woman’s voice was so small that Dian wouldn’t have heard it if she didn’t concentrate.

 

“Is your mother Phi, Philli, Phil…”

 

The woman stuttered several times as she couldn’t bear to say that name.

 

“…Phillipa?”

 

The woman shook her head first before Diana answered.
The hair on the woman’s head became disheveled as she turned her head.

 

“No, no.
It’s impossible that your mother isn’t Phillipa.
Your mother is Phillipa, right?”

 

It was a confident voice.
Diana nodded carefully as she stared at the woman.

 

“Do you know my mother?”

 

“Of course, of course I know.
How can I not know.”

 

The woman gently grabbed Diana’s hand.
The lukewarm temperature returned and the tears that dripped on top of it were hot.

 

“You, you don’t know? I’m… I’m your…”

 

She wanted to listen to the woman but for some reason, she also didn’t want to listen to her.
There was no reason, but her heart started beating faster.

 

“Your grandmother.”

 

“….”

 

Diana’s eyes, which were looking at the tear marks on the back of her hand, slowly looked up. 

 

When the woman gestured, a maid brought a small frame on the table.

 

“Here, this, look at this once.”

 

The frame she received showed a black-and-white picture.
The quality of the old picture was not good.
But it was enough for Diana to recognize the face on it.

 

The young face in the frame was familiar.
Diana’s shaking eyes faced a mirror on the other side of the table.
Then, she looked at the frame again, looked at the woman, looked in the mirror, and simply repeated this several times.

 

“This, what is this…”

 

Diana, who stumbled, pointed at the table, covering her gasping mouth.

 

“…Are you really my grandmother?”

 

“Yes.
Really.
It’s really the truth.”

 

“Really? Are you seriously telling the truth?”

 

“Yes.
I’m telling you it’s real.”

 

So… the person in the picture was her mother.
Her mother in the picture was a little younger than what she remembered, and the woman next to her young mother was a young Madam, the person in front of her.

 

“Ha… Haha, ha.
This… What’s…”

 

It was so ridiculous that she burst into laughter.

 

“Why now? No, I mean, really? Why….”

 

Diana grabbed the woman’s arm and asked pitifully.

 

“Are you really my grandmother?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Tears formed in Diana’s eyes too.
Diana shook her head.
She burst into tears and laughter.
It was too unrealistic.

 

“Why? Just why now…”

 

“One day, Philippa disappeared.
I tried every means, but I couldn’t find her.”

 

The woman’s cheeks were wet with tears.

 

“However, not long ago, Phillipa’s inheritance was given to someone.”

 

“Don’t tell me…?”

 

The inheritance that Hermann handed over?

 

“We found the owner of the inheritance.
And I was told that the person looked exactly like my daughter.
I also heard that the child’s mother was already dead.”

 

The woman bent down and grabbed the hem of her clothes.

 

“I didn’t believe it.
That my daughter died, and that I have a granddaughter.
But… By any chance, just by any chance….”

 

The woman bowed her head, biting her lips.

 

It was suffocating.
She couldn’t believe it.
She didn’t believe it.
The sound of her heart pounding thumped painfully in her ears.

 

She had dreamed countless times after her mother died.
That maybe, by any chance, another family member would come to find her.
For the first time, she also wanted to find her father.

 

Father, or even if it wasn’t him, maybe a relative.
Somewhere, wouldn’t there be at least one person who would protect her? She wanted to rely on someone, anyone was fine! As long as there was someone…

 

But, day after day passed.
In her tiring life, her hope soon died down and crumbled like faded paper.

 

“It’s true that you’re my granddaughter.
It’s true.
It’s impossible for you to not be my granddaughter.”

 

Diana opened her lips to deny it, but her voice didn’t come out.

 

‘You’re asking me to trust this?’

 

Diana, who was panting, looked down at the frame in her hand.
However, her eyes were blurred, so she couldn’t see the face in the picture.
Before she knew it, her cheeks were soaked with tears.
More than anyone else, she wanted to believe it and also at the same time didn’t want to believe it.

 

What if it turned out to be a lie? It was better to not have hope from the beginning.

 

Diana, who repeatedly cried and laughed, pinched her cheek.
It hurt, but it still seemed like a dream.
When she tried to pinch again, someone grabbed Diana’s hand.

 

“Don’t be like that.
It hurts, right? It’s not a dream.”

 

Diana’s face distorted, she could feel the hand of the woman who grabbed her, shaking.
There was only a crying sound like that of a wounded beast’s moaning. 

 

“Diana, don’t… don’t cry.”

 

Eventually, Diana collapsed to the floor and buried her face in both of her hands.

 

“Raise your head.
Let me see your face.”

 

Diana continuously shook her head.

 

“If you don’t want to, it’s fine not to raise your head.
Don’t cry.
Hm?”

 

No matter what the woman said, Diana just kept shaking her head.

 

She really wanted to believe it.