Just a single moment of anger had ruined everything....absolutely everything.
And now the question lingered like a curse: What if… what if that day Pranee had not forced Grandmother and Talotkan out of the house? What if she had abandoned her stubbornness about leaving for England? Would Talotkan still be alive today? Would this unbearable truth, this searing fire of reality that Pranee now endured, ever have come to pass?
Perhaps not. Perhaps never. If that day Pranee had controlled her rage, then maybe.....just maybe.....Talotkan would still be breathing, still smiling. For it was not just her illness that consumed her, but the weight of her rising anxieties, the silent suffering she carried within. That pain devoured her whole, leaving nothing behind.
And yet...if it had happened differently...Talotkan would never have met Yim. That too was her destiny.
We often believe fate shifts as we make choices, as if the future bends with every step we take. But the truth is harsher: everything has already been woven, every thread decided long before we walk the path.
Now Pranee bore the weight of grief, regret, fury at herself, and above all, the unbearable sorrow of losing her daughter. Everyone gathered within that lonely house felt it....Talotkan's absence pressing down upon their souls, suffocating, undeniable.
Truly, there was no one there… no one whose presence mattered most.
No one but.....
Talotkan.
Through tears and trembling, Pranee finally bent her knees before Grandmother, begging forgiveness. But forgiveness had long since been given. Talotkan had forgiven her, and so had Grandmother. Gently, Grandmother placed her hands on Pranee's shoulders, lifted her up, and laid a tender palm upon her head.
"Child," she whispered, her voice both fragile and strong,
"What time has done, it was by its own will. It is no less than the shattering of a world that Talotkan left us because of her illness.....an illness we never truly understood. But daughter, Talotkan left behind a gift for you, a forgiveness she had already granted… long before today. My child."
And in that moment, Grandmother's words washed over Pranee's heart like rain dispersing a heavy fog. The storms of guilt, the flames of anguish.....slowly, painfully.....began to fade.