As Caspian wailed in pain, Larry pulled him by the ear to get him out from under the table.
“Oh, my ear’s falling off. Let go, Boss,” Caspian pleaded.
Looking at the scene, everyone burst into laughter.
After packing up, they went to the public cemetery in Pillere.
While on the way, they did not chat and joke like they did the day before as they kept their heads down in silence with a gloomy look on their faces, seemingly absorbed in thought.
When they reached the middle of the cemetery, Joan finally saw the tombstones of the three deceased friends of Larry and got heavy-hearted as well.
On the headstones were photos of three young and lively faces that spoke of the perseverance and sternness unique to a soldier.
The three smiling men were staring back at the men who stood before their tombs and used to be the people closest to them.
Looking at the three tombstones, Joan was in awe, whereas Larry and his friends already had tears welled up in their eyes.
Their tombs were empty as Larry and the rest narrowly escaped death that time, so they could not even bring their bodies back.
The thought of their unrecovered bodies pierced the hearts of Larry and his friends.
Standing before the tombstones, Larry and his friends bowed as they recalled the times the eight of them spent together with mixed feelings.
In just a few years, they were separated forever. Even after a few years, they still found it hard to accept this hard truth.
Rest in peace, guys! We’ll live well for you!
Looking at the men standing before the tombstones like a kid who refused to accept the truth, Joan could not help but shed tears.
After a long silence, Leon suggested, “Boss, it’s cold now, and Joan’s pregnant too. I think Hector and the others appreciate our visit today. Why don’t we go back now?”
Standing at the same spot with his head down, Larry came to his senses and replied, “Alright. Let’s go back then.”
After speaking, he took one final glance at the tombstones, and the smiles on the three faces stung his heart. Unable to bear to look at them anymore, he turned around and walked out of the cemetery.
The rest of his friends also gazed at the tombstones for a while before they went up to Larry.
It was not until sometime that they finally got over the grief and began chatting again in a relaxed atmosphere.
“Let’s have a meal together. After that, we’ll go and visit the parents of Hector, Tom, and Marc, okay?” proposed Larry.
“Sure. Let’s visit them together.”
Everyone agreed with Larry’s suggestion. It had become their annual habit to visit the parents of their deceased friends, buy them some food and give them some money.
After eating, they went to Hector’s house with bags of goods as they did in previous years.
“Dad, Mom, we’re here to visit you!” shouted Larry as soon as they entered the house.
The rest of his friends also greeted Hector’s parents joyfully.
The five of them had vowed to treat the parents of their deceased friends as their own parents, so they changed the form of address to “Dad” and “Mom” since the beginning.
At this time, two middle-aged people walked out of the house and beamed at the sight of Larry and his friends. “Oh, it’s our sons! Hurry up. Come on in!”
The middle-aged man began to greet them enthusiastically, while the middle-aged woman went to get them some drinks.
“Dad, it’s been a long time. How are you and Mom doing?” Larry asked respectfully while sitting in front of the middle-aged man.
“Don’t worry. We’re living a good life!”
The middle-aged man laughed. Obviously, their presence breathed life into the initially gloomy place and made him happy.
