The wooden door creaked open, and a sliver of sunlight illuminated the stooped figure of 102-year-old Rose as she gingerly stepped into the grocery store. Customers flocked in and out as Rose shuffled across the aisles on a wooden cane for support.

With trembling hands, she lifted some assorted candy bars and a bottle of water from the shelf and shakily walked toward the checkout. “That would be $15, Ma’am!” The cashier, Mr. Andrews, who was also the store owner, chirped with a smile as he curiously looked down at Rose.

“$15? That’s too much. I don’t have that kind of money,” she said, and her face sagged with disappointment. Rose reached into the depths of her faded floral purse and searched for the change, only to realize all she had was her last $5…

“I’ll just have the bottle of water, please,” she sadly said as she extended the coins to the cashier. “Thank you, young man!” she said again before leaving the store and slumping onto the wooden bench outside.

Rose was starving, and the aroma of freshly baked croissants from the bakery nearby seeped into her nostrils. Her stomach growled wildly as the smell grew stronger, but Rose refused to look in the bakery’s direction and just sat there.

It was half past five in the snowy evening as Mr. Andrews stepped out of the store rubbing his palms, ready to call it a day. He hurried to his car in the parking lot when his eyes fell upon Rose, who was still sitting on the bench, all alone and shivering.

She had been sitting there for the past five hours, and at first, Mr. Andrews ignored her the few times he vaguely looked out the glass wall of his store. He had assumed the Grandma had just retired on the bench for some rest or was waiting for someone.

But something bothered him when he saw Rose sobbing bitterly, and he approached her right away. He noticed Rose’s tear-stained face and felt compelled to find out what was wrong and why she was upset.

“Is everything alright, ma’am?” he approached Rose with a compassionate smile. “I saw you have been sitting here since afternoon…It’s getting late and colder…Are you waiting for someone? Is there something I could do to help you?”

Rose looked up at Mr. Andrews, her eyes red and puffy from weeping. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she looked around and realized she was still stranded in the new city. Tears wouldn’t stop flowing from her eyes, which worried Mr. Andrews even more.

“Ma’am? Are you alright? Do you mind telling me why you’re crying?” he asked, his tone heavy with concern as he sat beside Rose.

The Grandma snapped away her tears and snorted. “I’ve lived through wars…seen the world change before my eyes…but now, at 102, I’m going to find my beloved…” she began.

A grave silence settled upon Mr. Andrews as he listened earnestly. “Only if I could go back in time and never let them take him…” Rose clasped her hands tightly as she recounted the fateful incident that jolted her world two days ago…

It was a pleasant Tuesday afternoon. Rose was brimming with excitement as she entered the nursing home with her favorite white tulips and her 102nd birthday cake, her lips endlessly calling out to just one name—Arthur!

“Arthur! Where are you? I got flowers and the cake…can’t wait to blow out the candle and make a wish!” Rose chirped out loud. She grew worried when she didn’t see her best friend, 96-year-old Arthur, waiting for her on his usual spot, the wooden bench on the patio overlooking the main gate.

Whenever Rose returned from the local hospital after getting her blood tests done, Arthur would run toward her with fresh hand-picked lilies, waving at her like a little boy. He did it almost every day. But that afternoon, Arthur was not there, and the bench was eerily empty, so Rose knew something was wrong.

Her heart pounded with a mix of anticipation when she looked for her friend everywhere in the garden. He loved walking and sitting on the lawn with her, basking in silence. But Arthur was nowhere to be found in any of his favorite spots, which unsettled Rose even more.

A knot formed in her stomach as she approached the doctors as fast as her legs could carry her. “Where is Arthur? Why isn’t he here? Have you seen him around?” she asked, her eyes pleading for answers.

“Oh, dear, Miss Rose…Didn’t you know?” one of the doctors said sympathetically. “A family came for him a couple of hours ago while you were at the hospital…They took Arthur with them.”

“Took him?” Rose questioned with a start. “What do you mean they took him?”

“Miss Rose…Arthur is no longer listed as a patient here,” replied the doctor. “We know this is upsetting. But Arthur is now in the care of his family. He’s not going to come back.”

The ground seemed to shake beneath her feet as a wave of grief washed over Rose. How could they take her best friend away when he was all she had? Where was his family during those long, agonizing years when he battled sickness and solitude, with nobody to hold his hand or whisper kind words other than Rose?

Rose wanted to cry alone and hastily marched to her room, where she spent most of her time with her dearest Arthur. Every step started feeling heavy, and every corner reminded her of her best friend and his infectious laughter. Nothing but loneliness and silence engulfed Rose from all sides, and she felt her heart crack.

The scent of freshly picked lilies Arthur had last left in the vase lingered in the still air. And beside the vase was an old recorder that endlessly played ‘Just the Two of Us,’ their favorite melody they listened to every day.

Tears welled up in Rose’s eyes as she wandered through the labyrinth of her memories. She gingerly brushed her feeble fingers on the white lilies, regretting all those times when she could have professed her feelings for Arthur while he was there.

Rose had remained single all her life and met Arthur at the nursing home several years ago. What started as friendship soon blossomed into secret love in her heart, although Rose never really had the courage to tell Arthur how much she loved him. But now, it felt like the whole world was coming to an end without him.

Rose sobbed bitterly, and when she approached the table to fetch a tissue, she noticed a paper held in place by a red pen. It was Arthur’s favorite pen she had gifted him on his birthday last summer, and Rose’s heart fluttered and skipped a beat as she lifted the note with a message in messy handwriting:

“Dear Rose, I didn’t want to leave you.

But nobody informed me my family would come and take me with them today.

Maybe we’ll meet on the other side. But don’t hold your breath.

Write letters to this address: Maple Avenue, Springfield, VA, 7….”

“Oh dear…where’s the rest of his address?” Rose grew unsettled. As she scanned the message again, she couldn’t help but notice the delicate trail of tears smudging the last digits of Arthur’s house number.

Rose clutched the note close to her heart with a mixture of longing and determination. The messy handwriting on the paper seemed to hold Arthur’s feelings for her. Rose was not sure if he felt the same way she had felt for him but knew something untold and beautiful had bloomed between them.

“We’ll meet on the other side? Don’t hold your breath. What does he mean by this?” Rose murmured. The bond she shared with her best friend and their unspoken love was too much for her to accept their separation. Somewhere in the cranny of her heart, Rose knew she could not just let Arthur go like that.

After a deep thought, she decided to take matters into her own hands to defy the odds and reunite with her best friend. An ingenious plan suddenly struck Rose when her gaze drifted to the glowing candles and a matchbox near Virgin Mary’s statue in her room.

Rose grabbed the matchbox and then crept into the laundry room, where she stole an iron bucket while the workers were cleaning after dinner. A twinkle of joy lit Rose’s face as she waited until the next morning to put her plan into motion.

“Oh no… How am I going to make it with only this much?” Rose sobbed the following morning when she checked her retirement savings and found she had run out of all the money and was down to her last $30. “I must hurry…I don’t have time to think,” she whispered as she struck the match and set a heap of paper alight in the iron bucket.

“This should do it!” Rose slammed the door of her room shut and hastily marched to the patio, dusting her hands.

Moments later, the shrill blare of the fire alarm pierced through the facility as chaos erupted. Elderly residents and workers were startled, thinking a fire had broken out in the rest home, and frantically ran around. Guards and staff were busy evacuating everyone to safety as Rose whispered a sorry to everyone and secretly slipped out of the main gate.

With nothing more than $30 in her pocket and her asthma inhaler, Rose walked to the nearest bus stand. She barely had enough to afford a ticket back to town. But Rose was willing to go to great lengths to see Arthur, even if it meant spending her last money on the bus ticket to a city she had never visited before.

“Springfield, please!” She bought a ticket and boarded the bus. Rose sat quietly by the window, watching the tranquil town fade past her as the bus swiftly sped on the street-lit road.

Her happiness knew no bounds as she eagerly dreamed of reuniting with her beloved Arthur. And every time the bus stopped at a station, Rose walked up to the driver with the same question. “Have we reached Springfield?”

“Ma’am, we still have a long way to go,” the driver replied. “Haven’t you been to Springfield before?”

Rose nodded, her thoughts consumed by Arthur’s laughter and the times he told her he would bring down the skies for her. The ride seemed never-ending, and Rose was terribly hungry and tired. She had never traveled this far, and the journey pained her joints and made her tummy sick, making her want to throw up.

But Rose was ready to endure everything just to meet her beloved. Several hours later, the driver jolted Rose awake. She had fallen asleep on her seat and rose with a start. “Ma’am, we’re here. Aren’t you getting down?” she heard the driver.

Rose rubbed her sleepy eyes and thanked the driver before stepping down. The air was biting cold as she pulled her overcoat closer to her shivering body and looked around at random strangers and shops nearby.

“Is this Springfield? But why is this town so quiet?” Rose raised an eyebrow as she scanned the region as far as her eyes could see. Everything around seemed bleak. Rose looked at her bus ticket, which mentioned ‘Springfield’ in bold. Her instincts told her something had gone wrong when she saw Missouri instead of Virginia.

“Excuse me, is this Springfield? Can you please tell me how to get to this address?” Rose approached one of the bus drivers at the station and showed him the address on Arthur’s note.

“Yes, this is Springfield, Missouri…But wait a minute, lady. Looks like a mistake here…The Springfield mentioned on this address is in Virginia…Did you get down at the wrong stop or something?” the driver replied.

Disappointment washed over Rose like a tidal wave, and anguish was etched on her face. She had exhausted her last bit of savings on a ticket to the wrong city, and the very thought of it consumed her.

“Oh boy…I should have checked the ticket before getting on the bus…Is there any way to get to Virginia from here?” Rose looked up at the driver and asked with a glimmer of desperation. But her hopes were dashed when the driver told her that she needed to get to Los Angeles if she wanted to catch a bus to Virginia.

Rose was overwhelmed with disappointment. She barely had $5 in her purse, and now, she had to travel all the way to Los Angeles to make it to Virginia.

With hopes the driver could help, Rose cut through an intense chat he was having with his friend. “I spent my last money on a ticket to the wrong city…damn eyesight and my old age!” Rose nervously said. “I’d be grateful to you if you could offer me a free ride to Los Angeles, young man. I have $5, but I need this money to get to Springfield.”

The driver burst into a giddy chuckle. “$5 for a ride to Virginia?! Well, good luck, Grandma! And No! We don’t offer free rides. The only way you’d get a free ride to Los Angeles is in an ambulance coz the nearest hospital is there…and so is the morgue!!”

The guy and his friend laughed at Rose and disappeared into the crowd, going about their business, leaving the poor woman stranded in the middle of nowhere. The stranger’s words kept ringing in her ears as Rose turned around and thought, “An ambulance for a free ride? Well, why not? That gives me an idea!”

“It’s the old lady…she’s had an attack…somebody, call 911…” Chaos erupted in the bus stand as bystanders flocked around Rose, who lay on the pavement with her hands clutched onto her chest. She staged a heart attack and was so guilty for pulling such a nasty prank to get help. But Rose knew this was her only chance to get a free ride to Los Angeles.

Shortly, paramedics rushed to the scene and carried Rose on a gurney while she lay, pretending to be unconscious. She was examined at the hospital, and while the doctors were busy taking some critical tests and discussing her condition, Rose looked for an opportunity to escape.

She hated the smell of disinfectant and the white walls adorned with green curtains. The beeping of the heart rate monitor terrified her, and for a moment, Rose felt she had really had a heart attack and was going to die. Her lie had taken her a little too far, all the way to the emergency room!

“Jesus, please pardon me!” Rose thought. After a momentous wait, she was alone in the ward while the doctors and nurses switched shifts. Convinced nobody was around, Rose quietly slipped out of the hospital as quickly as possible and headed to the street.

Rose had no phone in hand to navigate through the unfamiliar city. And even if she had one, she was not used to smartphones and Google Maps. She walked around the streets on a scorching afternoon, not knowing where to go or who to approach. Moreover, she was so hungry.

Rose knew spending those $5 would sabotage her journey to Springfield. She was too naive to ask people for help and didn’t want to beg random strangers for money. She tried to cope, but when she couldn’t walk anymore, she headed straight to the grocery to buy whatever she could for the $5.

“And that’s how I made it to Los Angeles…and your store!” Rose finished narrating her story as Mr. Andrews’ eyes grew moist. “But now, I have only one dollar in my pocket. I don’t know how I’m going to make it to Springfield and find my Arthur. My legs are too weak to carry me around, and I don’t have much time left…”

Mr. Andrews smiled and asked Rose to show him Arthur’s note. After scanning it keenly, his smile broadened. He took out a marker and hastily scribbled something on a chart paper as Rose watched in disbelief.

“What are you doing?” She grew curious.

Mr. Andrews scribbled the last word and showed her the paper with the words: “Closed For 2 Days!” Rose didn’t understand what those words meant until Mr. Andrews opened his store and returned moments later with a bag in hand. He stuck the chart on the front door of his store next to the “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign and approached her, smiling.

“Allow me to help you, Grandma!” Mr. Andrews said. “Here, I brought some biscuits and cake for you. Even I have a granny at home, and you remind me of her! I’ll take you to Springfield and help you find Arthur! Get in my car!”

“You are taking me to Springfield…to…to…Virginia? Oh my God… Thank you! Thank you, dear…Thank you! But I don’t have anything to give you,” Rose chirped like a little girl as Mr. Andrews smiled and helped her get into his SUV.

With each passing mile, Rose’s eyes welled with excitement and tears at the thought of seeing Arthur again. She didn’t talk much and solemnly nodded to Mr. Andrews’ questions on the way.

“So…are you finally going to tell him you love him?!” he asked her as he mastered the wheel.

Rose nodded, a small smile flickering on her face.

“And what after that? Will he say yes? I bet he will, for sure! He loves you… That man sounds like a classic romantic!” Mr. Andrews chuckled.

Rose nodded again. And this time, her cheeks flushed a crimson red, and her eyes sparkled with joy.

After what felt like an eternity on wheels, they arrived at their destination in Virginia. Rose stepped out of the car and found herself surrounded by picturesque landscapes and lush green forests that made her awe with wonder.

“I’m sure this is the kind of place my Arthur would live in…I know he’s somewhere near me…I can feel his presence…” she cried.

“Ah, well, Miss Rose! The address should be around here somewhere. I checked on my phone, and if I’m guessing it right, we are on the same street where your Arthur lives!” Mr. Andrews exclaimed.

“But the only problem is…we don’t know the exact house number. It is blurred on the note, and there are hundreds of houses here. What do we do now? Maybe inquire in the shops and knock around the houses, asking for Arthur? You don’t even have his photo, and I guess our search is gonna take time. But it’s worth a shot! Let’s do it!”

Rose smiled and was overly excited. “I have an idea!” she said as Mr. Andrews looked at her with big, surprised eyes. “Can you play the song, ‘Just the Two of Us’ loudly on your car stereo?”

Mr. Andrews’ brows shot up in surprise. He could not believe this older woman’s love and craziness for her beloved, which brought tears to his eyes. “Alright! Let’s do it!” he excitedly said.

Mr. Andrews played the song on his car stereo as they drove across the streets. The melody pierced through the air as Rose eagerly looked out the window on either side, hoping to see Arthur somewhere on the way.

“Did you hear that?!” Mr. Andrews excitedly shouted out to her and pulled over as they crossed a house. Rose’s heart started pounding like horses galloping in her chest when she recognized that voice.

“Yes! Yes, I did!” she cried and got down from the car and turned around, tears brimming in her eyes. There was Arthur! He ran to her with his arms wide open, crying out just one name—Rose!

Mr. Andrews cried at seeing the two sweethearts reunite. He cried again a week later when Arthur slipped the wedding ring on Rose’s finger and kissed her at their beach-themed wedding! Mr. Andrews was the bridesman, and he was pleased to walk Rose down the aisle!

Newlyweds Rose and Arthur knew they had very little time to live. However, they promised each other that no matter what stood their way, they would love each other more and more until their last breath and live each second of their lives happily ever after!

What can we learn from this story?

• Hold onto your hope even in the darkest time because a tiny flicker of light is enough to light up even the darkest tunnel. Despite being aged and down to her last dollar, Rose did not give up her quest to find her beloved Arthur and reunite with him.
• Never hesitate to lend a helping hand to someone because a small act of kindness can make a big impact in their lives. After hearing Rose’s story, Mr. Andrews went out of his way to drive her to Springfield and help her reunite with her best friend and sweetheart, Arthur.