Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 267

Chapter 267: Family House
I can tell you where he is, but if you’re not his grandchild, he might laugh at your joke or smash your head into the pavement, so be careful of what you say, is that alright with you?”

“Thank you”

Hans thought about the man’s words as he walked down a peaceful street in Milan.

It was almost completely silent since not many people were around, and even the few who passed by Hans were all moving quickly and making haste, leaving no time for some chatter with strangers.

‘It is still the busy city I remember… there isn’t a single person without dark circles under their eyes, and everyone seems to have something to do… just like a few years ago, I guess life here must’ve not changed too much.

Apart from the skyrocketing prices of course.

He was close to his destination, and yet his rhythm didn’t speed up, instead, it slowed down…

‘I am your grandson…. I’m your daughter’s son, I’m…

What should I even say?’

Too much time had passed, and he had never met this man.

Hans didn’t have any paternal grandparents, so he was completely clueless as to how he should have acted.

‘My mother said… my grandparents had died in a car crash…. And she also said that I had met them once, but I’m not sure.

Should I really…’

Before turning one last time, Hans took a few seconds to think about it, and for the first time ever since the idea of asking his grandfather for an explanation popped up in his mind, all of a sudden, it seemed like a terrible plan.

But in the end, he gathered enough courage to do it and took one last turn.

He passed a modern building and looked left, where a pretty wide street was left lifeless…

There wasn’t anyone… and the sides of the streets were delimited by the lateral faces of the high modern buildings, which didn’t look as good as the front.

There was only one thing in that place, and it was situated at the end of the little street.

Just about a couple dozen meters from Hans, a dark gray metal fence measuring almost three meters in height blocked the way forward.

The piked top of the fence seemed to be enough to keep most of the people away from that place, but as if that wasn’t enough, there was also a scary and pretty big golden sign that read:

“Beware of dog”

Just beside it was the portrait of a scary mastiff imprinted on a little plate of metal.

Behind those dark fences, a garden lay, it was the same width as the road, so it measured about twenty-five meters.

The green grass on the lawn was left to grow, and the terrain was uneven.

The only thing out of place was a little wooden table, which looked like it could fall apart any second.

Then, behind that little patch of grass, was a little house, its white front face had been dyed light gray by the city’s smog, but it was easy to tell it wasn’t supposed to be that way.

On the foremost left of the house was a wooden door, connected to the fence by a little path made out of cobblestone, and on the right was a garage door which was slightly further away from Hans, since it left some space for a little porch with only three columns, none of which on the front face, but only on the side, to let some space for a car to drive out of there.

The garage door was connected to a wide gate in the iron fence by a patch of cement, which seemed to have aged with the house because of its uneven surface, similar to the lawn.

Hans was left speechless for a second… it wasn’t the first time he had seen that house, he couldn’t remember where or when, but he was sure he had already been there, or he had at least seen a picture of the place.

Not minding that strong feeling of Deja Vu, Hans made his way to the little door on the left side of the fence.

He arrived there, and before he could even touch the doorbell to ask if anyone was home, suddenly, a shard of memory he had completely forgotten about flashed in his mind.

He remembered… that house, his mother used to keep a little photo of it in her room… it was always there, on the bedside table on his mother’s side of the bed.

It was kept in a wooden frame, and the color had almost completely faded out of it, but that photo was the reason why he felt such a strong sense of familiarity… he was now sure of it… that man was his grandfather, and whatever it may take, he wanted to hear his side of the story before jumping to any conclusion… there must’ve been a good reason…. Hans hoped there was a good reason, otherwise…

How could he forget that he had been abandoned for all that time?…

Hans rang the doorbell, and after a few seconds of anxiously waiting, he decided that he wasn’t able to do it, he didn’t even know what to ask…

He was about to turn around and walk away when a familiar sound reached his ears… it was a door’s click.

He immediately straightened his back and looked over, even if surprised, he didn’t want to ruin his image in front of his grandfather.

The door opened revealing the tired face of the old man, it was already almost twelve, and yet the man seemed to have woken up just a few minutes earlier.

He squeezed his eyelids a few times before saying: “what do you want?”

The sunlight was still blinding him, but he could see a figure standing outside his gate…

‘For fuck’s sake, are they here again? I’ve told them I don’t want to do that honorary leader shit! They should just get over it already and-‘

As his sight became better and the light blinding his eyes became more bearable, the figure standing a few meters from him began taking shape.

It was a young man with a very peculiar skin tone, and his ember eyes were also easy to recognize…

The young man he had been introduced to just a few days earlier.

“So… please, do not take me for crazy when I tell you this….”

Hans didn’t know what to say, but in such an awkward situation, the words came out of his mouth without him even having to think about it.

“… I think… You might be my grandfather”

The old man stared at the boy as if he had seen a ghost…

His eyes were widened to ensure he was seeing things right, and his facial muscles had completely stopped working from the shock, leaving his mouth slightly agape.

Just like Hans, he was also shocked…

It took quite a lot of time, but the old man finally let the boy inside and accompanied him to the living room.

The floor was covered by an oak parquet, which also seemed to be quite old, just like the walls, the shelves, the tables, and even the armchairs.

Those all belonged to the first half of the twentieth century at least, meaning the house had probably been passed down from his great-grandparents.

The old man sat on the armchair opposite to the one he offered his grandchild, and ashamed, said:

“I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to offer you, but if you want I can make you a coffee”

Hans replied by saying he was fine, something to eat wasn’t what he was searching for as he was more annoyed by the lack of lighting inside the room than anything else…

All four windows in the living room were opened, but the four green old-style shutters completely blocked off the light and cast the whole room into darkness, Hans was still adjusting to the change, so it was difficult to look at the old man simply because he couldn’t see his facial features.

“I… guess I’m your grandfather, I saw you when you were a little child, and I still remember your eyes… there has to be something special about blood ties.”

The old man said… even if the words he said weren’t sad, the way he said it was what made Hans feel like a bit of remorse was eating away at the old man…

Maybe he regretted it… spending most of his life searching for revenge instead of seeing his grandchild grow up.

“How’s life been?”

Hans asked.

“Uh… nothing much, I… simply used to hunt down criminals, and then search for the crimson lady until I found her, and tried to kill her before she escaped but… I’ve yet to get her…”

“You can rest easy then…”

The words Hans said had a bit of a creepy tone attached to them…

“She’s dead”