A greedy brother inherits a house and mocks his younger sister, who only receives five old, rusty clocks from their late grandmother. They had no idea what secrets lay hidden within those timepieces.
“Oh, so Grandma called you too?! I thought you’d be too busy at the library… like a proper little bookworm!” Brian, 26, teased his younger sister, Linda, 19.
She had just stepped out of a taxi, her eyes filled with fear as her heart reassured her, “Nothing will happen to Grandma. She’ll be fine. She’ll live another hundred years.”
Brian and Linda had come to visit their grandmother, Marlene, 90, who had urgently requested to see them.
“My dears, I want to see you one last time. I may not get another chance,” Marlene had told them over the phone two days earlier.
As Linda entered her grandmother’s bedroom, she coughed, noticing how dusty it was. Marlene was too old and frail to take care of things herself. The floor hadn’t been swept, and Linda could see mold on the ceiling from a leak.
Linda opened the clock, and what she found inside would change her life.
“Grandma!” she cried, rushing to hug Marlene, who was lying in bed. “Nothing will happen to you. Don’t worry. God won’t take you away from us—you’re all we have.”
Up until a year ago, Linda had lived with Marlene, taking care of her and helping in every way she could. She had even been willing to turn down a life-changing scholarship, but Marlene insisted she move to the city to pursue her studies.
Brian entered the room, coughing and smirking. “Damn… I’m allergic to dust! Grandma, didn’t you sweep or clean your room?”
He stepped closer and saw how frail and sickly his grandmother looked. But instead of showing concern, he simply stood there, waiting to hear why she had called them over.
Marlene gazed into Brian’s eyes while clutching Linda’s trembling hands. The young woman’s heart ached to see her grandmother so pale, her once-bright eyes now dull and lifeless.
With a gentle smile, Marlene slowly sat up and took two envelopes from under her pillow. “My dears, these are for you,” she said. “Please use them wisely. I called you here to give you this.”
Brian and Linda opened their envelopes and found a stack of $5,000 in each.
Overwhelmed, Linda couldn’t hold back her tears and ran out of the room crying.
Meanwhile, Brian frowned. “Only this much? I thought you had more to give. Oh well, I have to go now.” Without even thanking her, he turned his back on Marlene and left.
The next day, Marlene was in for a surprise.
“Good morning, Grandma!” Marlene heard Linda’s voice in her room. She hadn’t expected her to come back.
As she woke up, Linda pulled the curtains open, letting sunlight stream into the dim, dusty room.
Marlene was taken aback—she had assumed Linda had returned to the city for her studies and her part-time job at the library.
Linda walked over to Marlene, holding the envelope she had received the day before.
“I added the $4,000 I’ve been saving over the past year. Grandma, do you remember telling me about your poor eyesight? Now I have $9,000. We can finally pay for your eye surgery.”
Marlene sat up in bed, embracing Linda as tears streamed down her face. “I knew you best, my dear! But it’s too late for the surgery. I feel that my time is near. I don’t want to waste this money when it can be used for something better.”
Linda wiped away Marlene’s tears and promised to stay with her.
“I took a month off. I’m not going anywhere until I see that golden smile on your face, Grandma.”
And Linda knew exactly what to do to bring back that smile.
Linda’s presence was a great comfort to Marlene. She no longer had to worry about cooking for herself.
There had been nights when Marlene ate stale bread for dinner because she didn’t have the energy to prepare a proper meal. But with Linda around, she began to feel more alive again. She had never felt so at peace and happy before.
One day, she heard unfamiliar voices outside her room and stepped out to see what was happening. She was stunned. Linda had spent the $9,000 to renovate the house and fix the leak.
“I knew you wanted to repair Grandpa’s precious home for so long. Are you happy now, Grandma?! I renovated it so you could have back the beautiful home where you once lived with Grandpa. Do you like it?”
Marlene was speechless. She walked toward Linda as fast as her frail legs could carry her and embraced her. Marlene had never cried the way she did on Linda’s shoulder that day.
Marlene had always made a wish: “I want to die at my happiest moment on earth!” A week later, that wish came true. Marlene passed away peacefully in her sleep, leaving Linda with more than just a broken heart.
A few days after the funeral, Linda and Brian were summoned to the lawyer’s office regarding Marlene’s will—something they had never known existed.
When they arrived, they learned of another unexpected inheritance.
“Mr. White, according to your grandmother’s will, you will inherit her house. Here are the papers. Please sign them.”
Linda was surprised. She wasn’t jealous of her older brother, but it troubled her—she had renovated the house, yet Brian received it at the moment he deserved it the least.
“And Miss Linda, this is for you,” the lawyer said, sliding a box toward her.
“What is this?” she asked, opening the box. Inside, she found five antique clocks.
Brian burst out laughing, mocking her.
“This is ridiculous and cheap! Grandma left me her house. She knew who was most deserving. You can decorate your rented apartment with those rusty clocks and cry over them, sis. Not everyone gets lucky!”
Disheartened, Linda returned to the city, taking the clocks with her. She didn’t bother examining them closely—until one day, she noticed an engraving on one of them.
“OPEN IT!” was beautifully inscribed in metal.
Curious, Linda opened the clock, and what she found inside would change her life.
“A note?” she murmured, pulling out a small scroll hidden inside the clock. She unrolled it and sat down, stunned.
“Never underestimate these old, rusty watches! These are 100-year-old classics that belonged to my grandfather. They’re made of rare and exquisite metals! Each one is worth $40,000, my dear!”
Tears of joy filled Linda’s eyes as she continued reading.
“Everyone gets what they truly deserve, Linda! I’m happy that you received only the best. With love, Grandma Marlene.”
Linda broke down in tears, clutching the antique clocks to her heart. They still worked, and she could hear them ticking in sync with her heartbeat. It felt as though her grandmother had never left.
Linda chose not to tell her brother.
“He’s blinded by greed and thinks he got the best from Grandma. Let him live with that belief. Grandma knew who truly deserved the best, and I don’t need to prove it to anyone,” she thought, locking away the rare timepieces in her drawer.
