Chapter 188 Making Me Cry, Satisfied?
Ebony looked at Lloyd innocently, blinked her eyes, and refused to speak.
Lloyd didn't blame her any further.
He let go of her hand and asked, "Wouldn't you show me around?"
Ebony snorted and said, "You restored it. Don't you know what the place looks like?"
She refused to be outdone, but her high spirits and jumping gave away her true feelings. She showed Lloyd around.
She pointed to a vase and said, "Here, this was my grandmother's favorite vase! I'll tell you a secret. When she bought it, the seller told her it was an antique. She believed it. In fact, it's not an antique at all. Later, my grandfather learned about it and secretly replaced it with a real one. He was afraid my grandmother would be upset once she found out the truth!"
Ebony then added, "And this painting was created by my grandpa. I mixed the paint for him. Look at this cute turtle. It was drawn by me though with the help of my grandpa!"
"This is my dad's collection room. Wow, this is awesome. You found so many old clocks! They cost you a lot of money, didn't they?"
Standing in the doorway, Lloyd chuckled and replied, "Not much."
Ebony didn't believe it. The retro products were usually very expensive.
She then led Lloyd to the other rooms.
They went up the stairs and visited every room.
The more she looked, the more astonished she was. Everything was pretty much the same!
Ebony asked Lloyd incredulously, "How on earth did you do that? Although the other rooms are not exactly the same as before, the living room is. This is unbelievable!"
Lloyd enjoyed the girl's admiration and replied after a while, "Thanks to the tape."
Ebony was puzzled. "The tape?"
Lloyd walked to the TV set and took out a tape from the cabinet drawer.
It was an old-fashioned videotape from many years ago.
He put the tape into the VCR.
After he pressed several buttons, the VCR started to run, and a somewhat tattered picture appeared on the screen.
Ebony looked at the TV screen and froze.
A huge face appeared. It was her dad!
The man walked around the house before his crisp voice rang out. "Ebs, see what I've bought back."
Soon, a small head poked out from behind the kitchen door.
Ebony's eyes rounded as she was surprised to see herself as a child.
She was about four or five when she was naughtiest.
Wearing a pink dress and pigtails, she hopped her way over.
"Wow, a DV. It's a DV..." The short girl stumbled into her father's arms.
The father picked up his daughter.
The girl was then out of sight.
The image started to shake. Probably, the man couldn't hold the DV steady while he was carrying the child.
Outside the image, the girl's voice rang out again, "I want to hold it. I want to hold it..."
There came the father's indulgent voice. "It's heavy, sweetie."
"Let me hold it, Daddy. I can do it..."
The DV was in a different hand, and the image shook more violently till the equipment fell to the floor.
Someone caught it in the nick of time!
The man's mocking voice then rang out. "Hahaha, as I said, it's too heavy for you. Look at your short fingers. You know what? Children with short fingers won't grow tall. Ebony will be a shortie in the future!"
She was taunted without warning!
The girl was upset. She snorted and said, "Ebs is not a shortie..."
Her father laughed even louder. "But you are!"
The girl hit the roof and complained, "Grandma, Daddy is bullying me!"
The man shouted, "Your granddaughter is a devil, and I'm just lecturing her. Given her short fuse, who would dare to marry her?"
"So what?"
Just then, the voice of an old man came over.
The lens of the DV was directed to the balcony. Manuel, who had just watered the flowers, came in with a jug.
The old man snorted and said, "It's okay that Ebs will not get married. I will raise her forever!"
The man said helplessly, "Dad, you've spoiled her so much that she's got the nerve to fight me now."
"It serves you right!" Manuel reprimanded his son, keeping a straight face, "She is your daughter, and you've only got yourself to blame!"
The girl chimed in, "Yeah, blame my daddy!"
"Okay, blaming me, right?" The man suddenly raised his voice, "You little rascal, I'm gonna throw you out. Throw you out..."
"Hahaha."
The DV lens shook like a roller coaster.
The man was running around the house with the girl in his arms and posed to throw her away.
In the video, the girl's happy laughter reverberated through the house.
The video was paused.
Lloyd put down the remote control and turned around to look at Ebony, who was sitting on the sofa.
Ebony was silent, covering her face with both hands. Her dark eyes were peeping at the TV through her fingers.
"Lloyd?"
A hoarse voice rang out after a while.
Lloyd hummed softly.
Ebony sniffled, suddenly put her hands down, pointed to her misty eyes, and said, "You made my cry, satisfied?"
With a frown, Lloyd got up, walked to her side, cupped her face, and wiped her tears with his fingers.
Ebony pouted, but her eyes were filled with tenacity.
The rims of her eyes and the tip of her nose were terribly red while the corners of her eyes were wet.
He sighed and gently took her into his arms. His palm clasped the back of her head as he said softly, "I found the tape in the storage room of the army among the belongings of your father. He served in the army for many years, and there are some unreturned items."
Ebony silently buried her face in Lloyd's arms, wiping her tears and snot with Lloyd's clothes.
The man added, "In the tape, there are vivid details about the house, and the restoration is based on it."
Ebony sobbed again, pushed Lloyd away, wiped the tears with the back of her hand, and said, "You don't have to tell me that. I just didn't expect myself to be so pretty as a child."
Lloyd was flabbergasted.
He was dazed by the sudden change of topic.
Ebony still looked at Lloyd in sadness, but her tone softened a lot. "You know what? I once met a pretty girl when I was a child. She has big eyes, long eyelashes, and fair skin. I asked my father if she was an angel. He told me that it was called a mirror."
Lloyd was stunned.
Ebony said, "That's me."
Lloyd didn't know what to say.
Ebony saw his dazed look.
She was amused and burst into laughter.
Once again, Lloyd reached out and wiped her tears with the back of his hand. "Okay, you're the cutest," he said.
Ebony wiped her face, nudged Lloyd's hand, and requested, "Play it again for me!"
Lloyd frowned and asked, "Are you sure?"
Ebony nodded repeatedly and replied, "Yes, I am."
She then watched it six times.
When she finished watching it, she was choking with sobs.
She had just found another blind spot. "Why do I feel like I look a bit familiar as a child?"
Lloyd arched his eyebrows and hummed wonderingly.
Ebony suddenly slapped her thigh. "I remember. Virginia and I look alike. I mean the girl you took with you. Take a look. Aren't we two beans in a pod?"