When her daughter died, the shine of light in the man's eyes dimmed even more. He seemed strong, but his will to live was half gone. He was buried in sadness for several weeks before waking up and giving renessa the entire collection album of Claudia. The old man felt that he had spent a beautiful and valuable time together with Claudia, unlike Renessa, who only spent 7 years together with her mother.
The man hoped that Renessa could keep all her mother's precious pictures. He hoped that Renessa could use the picture as a medicine to heal the yearning in her heart.
Sadly, all the photos are gone now. Renessa grips on the album tightened, trying to hold back the flood of emotions that began to make her nauseating. If she could turn back time and meet her grandpa again, she would tell the man to give her mother's photo collection to someone. Anyone who could take better care of it.
Renessa opened one of the albums and looked at her mother's beautiful pictures with a dejected face. The four albums contained only photos of her mother in her teenage years. She was beautiful, bright, and youthful. Renessa could feel the warm feeling just by looking at her mother's face.
Renessa ran her fingers on the picture, feeling blue.
Her mother's face actually started to fade in her memory after ten years. She couldn't remember her face anymore and she felt like a bad daughter. Her mother in her memory was just a woman that had a warm hug and always spent all the time with her. She couldn't even remember her face, but the loving feeling never faded. She yearned for her mother. She wanted to see her even in her dream, but even if she dreamt of her mother, she couldn't see her face.
"The late madam was just as beautiful as you," Rosalin said while stroking Renessa's hair while the girl looked at her mother's picture.
"It's really unfortunate that the previous madam was so weak like her mother. I hope that you are stronger than them and break the bad curse," Rosalin said with remembrance in her voice. It was after she finished talking that she suddenly realized what she had just said and quickly covered her mouth.
"Bad curse?" Renessa asked. Curiosity and surprise could be heard from her voice.
"Hmmm…. It's nothing, miss. I misspoke," Rosaline quickly said, "I am getting so old that I did not know what was coming out of my mouth."
"Please don't lie to me. I am not angry, I am just curious about the bad curse that you mention just now," Renessa said as she looked at Rosaline with sad eyes.
Rosaline cursed her stupid mouth for having no restraint when speaking in front of Renessa. It was because in the past, whenever the topic about Claudia arose, everyone always connected the previous madam's death with a bad curse.
"The old maids that worked here always said that there should be a curse to the family that the miss Renessa grandmother and late madam died not long after giving birth. I always pray that the same thing will not happen to you," Rosaline explained slowly, choosing her words carefully.
"I see…" Renesa mumbled then nodded her head slowly. She looked at the picture of her mother in her hand.
She looks like her mother. They have the same face and skin tone. Both of them have this pale white skin that sometimes makes them look sick. As she grew, she started to look identical to her mother.
In the past, everyone who came to visit her mother always said that Renessa was a small replica of her mother because she has her mother's smile and eyes.
The only difference between Renessa and her mother is their hair. Claudia has dark black hair that is very straight and smooth, while Renessa's hair is a little brown and a little bit choppy. She got it from her father. Without those, Renessa would definitely think that she was not her father's daughter.
"Thank you, Rosaline. I will lose all of this without you. I would definitely forget how beautiful my mother is without these pictures" Renessa said as she heaved a sigh of relief.
She was in turmoil when she heard that all her belongings were burned into dust by her father's current wife.
She was pretty upset to know that from the heap, a collection of photos of her mother, only four small albums remain. But she also felt grateful. If Rosalin was not at the house when the woman threw everything away, she may have no chance to see her mother's face again.
The fact that his father suddenly threw her abroad for 11 years made Renessa have to leave all her precious things. In the past, she had this beautiful story book that was given by her grandfather, the dolls collection from her mother, and the album collection. As she grew older, the things she considered precious changed. Everything she never considered important as a child like her family, the memory of her mother, the photo album, the place she called home are actually more important.
Renessa remembered, she once cried because she started to forget her mother's face. She was awakened in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. In her dream, she put her head in her mother's lap while her mother brushed her hair with her fingers. It was so peaceful before she looked at her mother's face and found nothing was there. She tried to remember her face, but she couldn't. It was the time she hoped that Rosaline would put one of her mother's pictures inside her bag.
Because of that night, she had a new resolution. She wants to complete her studies as soon as possible. If she could make her father proud, the man might appear at her graduation and take her back to their home where her mother's album collection was stored. She would be back as soon as possible and seeing her mother's beautiful smile.
Renessa closed the album of photos and then stood up, " Let us go back." That's right, it's not the time to remember all the sad past. She has to do a lot of things before her father comes back. She then calmly walked toward the hall. Liam, the butler, was standing there. A maid was seen standing at his side, reporting something.
The maid was aware of the presence of Renessa and Rosalin then bowed down slightly at Renessa before walking away.
"We had prepared a room for you, miss. Please follow me," Liam spoke in a friendly and professional tone.
Renesa nodded slowly. She might have forgotten several things about her childhood, but she still clearly remembers the house. She still remembers her room was on the opposite side of her parents' room in the mansion and was the second biggest room in the house, just after her mother's. Like her mother's room, her room also has a big walk-in-closet, a large bathtub, refrigerator, and a small library corner.
Renessa snickered in amusement as she followed Liam. She found it ridiculous the way Liam treated her like a guest who would lose her way inside the house. She just came home after more than a decade, not losing all her memory. She still remembers the location of her room. This is her home and the small changes here and there in several corners did not make her forget the way to her room.
They climbed the stairs to the second floor. When arriving at the room Liam mentioned, the man readily opened the door, inviting Renessa inside. Unfortunately, Renesa had other ideas as she ignored Liam's gesture and kept moving ahead to the last room in the corridor.
When realizing that Renessa did not step inside the room, Liam quickly followed Renessa behind, "Miss, this is the room we have prepared for you."
Renessa ignored the poor butler and opened the door of the last room. She blinked in surprise when she found an amazing scenery. The walls are painted white while all the furniture has this soft pink color that made her flinched. Even her room when she was 9 years old was never this 'flowery'.
"This is Miss Mary's room. Since she is not around now, we could wait somewhere first and come here again with Miss Marry when she's back," Liam hurriedly explained. He would get in trouble if something happened.
Renessa pretended not to hear the man's words and smiled mockingly as she looked around the room. Dolls, decoration lights on the wall, family pictures that filled one side of the wall. Her personal library in the corner was gone and changed into an album and achievement's corner.
Renessa could guess that her sister must be adored by her parents. She then walked toward the album and achievement's corner and took one photo frame there. It took her a whole minute to recognize someone there. It was her father.