"Grandpa?"-The little girl said.

"Yeah?"-Grandpa said faintly as if falling into a deep sleep.

"You still love me, right?"

"Yeah…"

The little girl smiled and buried her face on grandpa's chest.

That little girl is my sister. She and grandpa had this special bond that could not be broken. Sometimes it made me jealous of how close they were…

Sometime in the future the moment came were my sister was getting married. I could see how happy she was a mile away. It was her smile that made her easy to talk to her.

But ever since her husband proposed she sometimes seemed out of it. Like she knew something bad would happen but she didn't know what.

She sometimes made us nervous. By "us" I mean me and my other 2 cousins. -Both women.-

The eldest was named Sam and the other was Danielle. Sam was the oldest of us all, Danielle was the mature one, I was the shy one and Sophie, my sis, was the heart of the family. The happy, mischievous and kind little girl. She also had a love and talent for painting.

She always seemed to absorb whatever sadness you felt inside with her smile.

So the bond they had started growing because our parents were always working, grandpa always kept cheering her up. Grandma was the chef, also our mother version 2.

-We were happy.-

At the day of the wedding, everyone inside the church seemed so happy. She finally found someone she truly loves. But she didn't seem happy at all. Anyway, the wedding lasted two hours so when the father said "You may now kiss the bride" I wanted to scream in happiness that it finally ended.

It was a happy moment for everyone. But right after they kissed, grandpa collapsed.

Everything began to fall apart after grandpa died. Everyone grew apart from one another. Grandma became silent and Sophie couldn't stop crying. The feeling of losing someone is unbearable.

At some point Sophie became distant, even after a year since our grandpa's death she could still not believe he had passed away. Everything was messed up; broken. She even stopped painting.

She often talked to herself. Making herself believe he was just away for the moment. Grandma moved out and the house became still and silent. It was once a house full of energy, always ready to be cleaned and now it's just a reminder of the memories we had with him.

It took ten years for her to understand he was gone. Our kids never really got to know that man…

So after 11 years of mourning we finally had the guts to go back to that house. Danielle, Sam, Sophie and I opened the door together. The house was filled with spider webs and dust.

–No sign of life-

We searched the house for a chest. That chest was made by us and filled it with pictures; promised ourselves we wouldn't open it until grandpa's 80th birth day but that day never came. So we open it now.

We all hesitated at first but Danielle finally got the courage to open it.

The pictures made us break down in tears. We saw photos of grandpa teaching me to play basketball, photos of Grandpa teaching math to Sam. Others were of Sophie and him goofing around and also some with Danielle teaching him to play the piano.

But what made us cry the most was a photo of him us together and for the first time in a picture, he was smiling.

Smiling… Was he that happy when he was with us?

"He's smiling…"-Sam says holding the picture.

"That's rare…"-Danielle said trying to lighten the mood.

I looked at the picture with sadness in my eyes.

Until Sophie stood up and clapped her hands twice.

We all looked at her confused.

"Well what are you guys waiting for?"-She said with a mischievous smile.

I stood up.

"Let's clean this house up!"-She shouted.

Sam chuckled. "I knew it…"

"Knew what?"-I asked.

"You're back!"-Sam said hugging Sophie.

Danielle smiled but I joined in the group hug. When we all started crying Danielle joined us.

"I missed you so much!"-Sam said crying harder.

"I'm so sorry, guys!"-Sophie shouted in tears.

"You're forgiven but you go to jail anyways"-I say.

Everyone laughed and cried at the same time.

This was the first moment we all felt alive again after grandpa's death. As we cleaned the house we heard grandpa's favorite music. In the afternoon grandma came by with a pot filled with rice and meat. She also talked for the first time in 11 years.

Sophie filled most of the rooms of the house with grandpa's old favorite paintings, made by her when she was a kid.

We fixed up the house and Grandma moved back in. And every Sunday we all go to grandma's house with our kids, bringing the house to life once again.

Also little by little… Sophie began to paint again.

We became happy again.