Chapter 33 - Chapter 32

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((( ZHIO )))

I was like Moses on the isle between divided waves of black. But unlike Moses, I wasn't expecting salvation or hope as I traversed the other side. I was expecting to meet my nightmare, the finely crafted Poudretteite coffin where my father's corpse lay.

The people quietly watched me as I gazed at him. He looked more peaceful than he had been on the hospital.  

On several occasion, a camera would flash and remind me I was indeed an actor running a script for the public to see. I held back my tears.  

Eriez tapped on my shoulder to express a wordless sympathy. I nodded in appreciation and whispered something.

"Please take the media out. I want this wake to be kept private. Some people out there were just snickering at my loss and the others…" I paused.

"I don't need their sympathy."

He nodded in understanding then left to settle my request.  

I sat beside the guests for a while and passively narrated the answers to their repetitive questions. Then I retreated to the comfort of my room, sunk on the soft comforter, and whispered a little wish in the air.  

I was a nobility trapped inside the confines of a palanquin, never to touch the ground as I was carried by servants through the same boring pathway to a lonely castle.

I wished my whole life would change a different direction.  

Somewhere wonderfully free and fun…

(CLAIRE)

The talk about Derick coming in to our house last night has surely spread throughout the slums, ignited by the assumptions of Ma and Nadine. I went to work early to avoid their attention. I least expected it at work but it turned out to be the same.

Heart shaped balloons and bouquets littered the place as if someone was holding a Valentine party at the entire premise of the fast food chain.

"What's with this decoration?" I asked a colleague, Diane, as she cheerfully mopped the floor.

"Go ask the manager," she chuckled back.

"An expression of love," asserted the manager as she leaned in at the counter" from your suitor! You didn't tell us Mr. Brundon was courting you."

Diane gently jabbed my side with an elbow to tease me, "If I were you I'd say 'yes'."

"I don't like him," I replied in disgust.  

"So that's a no?"

"Yes."

"Yes?" she teased again.

"Yes, it's a no."

How annoying this matchmaking has become.  

"Why not? Isn't his father the governor?" the manager inquired as she reviewed the papers she was holding.

"They were also major shareholders at Cryzastic Corporation and I heard Derick's the Vice President."

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