Lorenzo did not hear a single word she uttered rather the horrible sight before him left the old man in shock.
"OH! SHIT!"
"Grandpa? Grandpa what happened?"
I was not able to hear grandpa's voice, he was not talking to me rather I heard screeching of tires.
Maybe he pulled the brakes in emergency, but what was happening?
"Grandpa? Hello! grandpa? Can you hear me?"
I shouted to him in a panicked state but no response came from the other side of the phone.
"Fuck….from where it emerged?"
I heard his quizzical voice which was laced with fright as if the fear of death crept into his body. His voice was a bit muffled perhaps he placed the phone somewhere else closeby.
"Grandpa, are you driving? Hello! can you hear me?"
The mere thought sent chills down my spine as I had always instructed him curtly not to attend the call while driving.
Now the whole sight was flashing in my mind, I could picture the consequences and did not want to lose him. It made me impatient that how he was doing?
It was not that late when I heard his whisper of "Lord Jesus!" and a loud crash accompanied his voice.
My connection with him got disconnected, the sound of 'beep' was still echoing in my ears as the call ended and the screen of my cell phone became black.
"It can't be happening ...n-no it can't be happening."
I was still in the denial state to accept that he just met with an accident.
I happened to suffer with so many things in the past three days and yet another accompanied them, and a horrible, unbearable incident.
Unconsciously my body dropped down on the pedestrian path with a thump as my wobbly legs could not hold it anymore and I covered my lips with the palm of my right hand.
A few tears had already rolled down my cheeks and a warm stream followed, my silhouette began to shiver and hands became cold.
The cluster of people in the cab stand started to gather around me and an elderly lady, might be in her forties lunged forward and knelt down to me.
"Young lady, are you fine? Feeling okay?"
She cupped my face and lifted up my chin, I simply stared into her sparkling eyes and without hesitating hugged the woman.
My arms around her went tight as I unconsciously squeezed her slender silhouette in snow pink long skirt and white collared shirt.
"You must be going through something hard. But do not worry God has his ways with everyone and plans everything perfectly. He must have planned something better for you, as to put you into this pain maybe he wants to grant you happiness further."
I could not comprehend what she was intending to teach me or how she was trying to calm my unsettling tension.
But one thing was sure as I learned at that very spot and in that interminable moment, that everything that had happened was all because of me!
Yes, I knew while sitting at the cab stand instantaneously that I was the cause of his misery. All because I refused to marry the Ghost King and dared to fight against my destiny.
It was the way of God to punish me for going against his will and the thought made me scream, but it was only the 'inner me' who did silently.
"Y-yes, he must ha-have thought something better. I was a fool to go against him."
I responded to the woman who was caressing my hair while I was helplessly sitting in her embrace.
I made up my mind not to do it anymore rather to surrender and marry the Ghost king. But my priority at that moment was to check for grandpa Lorenzo.
I broke free from the lady's embrace and smiled at her, in order not to do a manifestation of my fear that was shattering my soul.
I could not tell her that what was up with me and even if I did, neither she nor the people there would have believed me anyway.
"Thank you."
Giving her a genuine but forced smile I thanked her for the concern she showed towards a stranger.
"No worries, love."
She responded back to me with the same expressions and called out to people behind her.
"Someone call a cab for this child."
She stood up and flung her arm out to support me.
Within a few moments a cab arrived and giving the lady a smile again and waving her out of love, I board the yellow cab.
"Where to ma'am?"
The driver's voice filtered through the air as I directed him towards the orphanage, in a hope that by now the news must have arrived there.
"To Lennox avenue, street number nine."
I settled back helplessly and threw my head against the headset. A few more tears which perhaps remained somewhere in my sockets crawled out and rolled on my cheeks.