[ six ] 

For days, Marie and I messaged each other back and forth, planning how we would meet up. Marie, Antoine and Theo wanted us to arrive in Paris, and then we would all catch a train to Mâcon, where they were born. It was the town where our grandfather had lived as well, and it was also the place where the family still lived now.

We packed our bags, got our papers in order and the four of us were on our way to France without delay.

My mother was very excited. She had grown up without a father and siblings, and though her mother gave her all the love she needed, a real family was something she always yearned for. Now she had two siblings she could share her life with. 

And she wanted to know everything about them. 

She especially wanted to hear their stories of our grandfather. What his interests were, any childhood memories they had, and even his favorite football team. We had done a lot of talking about football with my cousin Antoine, since he played for a popular football team in Spain called Atletico de Madrid. 

The flight was long and tiring.

Nearly nineteen hours, but it was worth it. I felt my heart racing as the pilot announced we would be landing in the Paris airport. From beside me, I could see the same excitement in my mother's eyes. But my grandmother, on the other hand, looked nervous. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to return to her home in Vietnam. 

But there was no turning back now. We would be landing in minutes, then we would go to our hotel to rest, and we would be meeting my cousins in the morning. 

I doubted I would be able to sleep.

I was much too excited for that. 

Though meeting them wouldn't be the only surprise of our trip.

.

My mother and I woke up bright and early the next morning, without any sign of being tired or having any jet lag. The truth was it had been difficult to even fall asleep the previous night.

Now we only needed to wait for Marie to message me through facebook. Antoine would be coming in from Spain for the day, which was a short flight from Paris, and Theo would be coming in from Mâcon with his sister Marie. We were set to meet up at a cafe near the hotel because Marie didn't want us to get lost, since we'd never been to France before and didn't speak the language.

I had taken a few classes in high school, but I didn't know the language well enough to carry on an intelligent conversation. The peak of my abilities was being able to utter words of distress in case we were to get into an unforeseen trouble.

It was around lunch time when I finally got a message from Marie. Antoine had just arrived from Spain and they were on their way to meet us at the cafe. They said they would be there within the hour, so I gave my family the news and everyone went to get ready. 

.

We went down to the lobby and out the front entrance of our hotel. Then we followed the way Marie had indicated to get to the cafe. 

Instead of going inside to order something, we decided to wait for them to arrive.

We found a table outside under the shade of a parasol on a warm day. I wanted to sit some place that would make it easy for them to spot us. My mom tapped her foot on the cement floor below nervously. My grandmother bit her lip in worry while my dad seemed calm. It wasn't his family we were meeting after all.

It was a short few minutes of agony until we saw them come around the corner of the street. The three of them were with similar expressions to ours, happy yet nervous. No one else was with them, which led me to believe we would be meeting up with the rest of the family in Mâcon instead of having everyone come to Paris to greet us.

I felt my heart race as they inched closer to us. 

The three of them were breath taking, but especially Antoine. Though it was more because of the striking resemblance he had with our grandfather. 

My grandmother noticed it too and I saw her dark brown eyes tear up as memories flooded back from the past.

We all stood up from our seats when they stopped in front of us. All except my grandmother. She was still a bit tired from the long flight. Marie smiled wide when she saw me. "You must me Margaux." She pointed at me with her index finger. "I recognize you from your facebook picture."

I nodded my head, suddenly feeling shy. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting my grandfather's family." Was all I could manage to get out.

Gesturing to the two young men by her side, she offered introductions for her brothers. "This is Antoine," she pointed to the one with dark blonde hair. Then she pointed to the one with dark hair. "And this is Theo. We were all so excited to meet you and our aunt Camille." She spoke in a thick, but lovely, French accent. Her brothers nodded in agreement to her words.

From behind me, I could almost hear the grin on my mother's face. "I'm Camille. Its wonderful to meet you three. But where are my brother and sister?"

That was when their smiles dropped.

Before speaking, I saw Marie crinkle up her nose. I immediately knew she wouldn't be giving us good news. "They're..." she paused for a moment. "not coming."

"But why?" My mother wondered.

"They..."She found herself once again unable to get the words out. "They said they didn't want to meet you."

I felt my heart drop.

My grandfather's family didn't want to meet me.

-

yay, close to the last updates for this story. thank you all so much for reading ans supporting. it really means a lot. this story isn't meant to be romantic or anything, which is why its close to its end without our main character having a love interest.

this is actually based on a true story. one of my friends had something similar happen to her. except no footballer was involved. lol

thank you for everything. i love you!

-clary xx