The Billionaire's Masked Heir

CHAPTER 6

The funeral house was located at the southern end of the Catholic Mid-west district church. Neither Jason nor his wife was a devoted church goer but as the church owned the only funeral house which was allowed to exist in the southern province of Arkwrath, it made sense to bury the deceased in the ways of the people. The way of the people required the widow of the deceased to be present during the funeral ceremony at the church but not at the graveyard during the burial.

Even though Dee had never regarded black as a colour fit for her body, she was shrouded in a knee-length black silk dress flattering her hourglass figure at the funeral with a tiny shawl hanging loosely on her shoulders. The funeral ceremony was packed with people she could not recall knowing or seeing until that day especially the several men who were all suited up.

Dee was too lost in the myriad of the thoughts of losing her husband and the euphoria of false freedom she knew she never wanted when she was called to read her tribute to Jason.

The last few days had passed by in a blur as she remembered how a single call shattered her heart. She was not sure whether she loved him or not any more until that evening. Dee realized that she did not love him anymore as a husband but she wanted him as a father for his daughter who she was looking to abandon with him to start a new family with ZacXavi. She however knew that she had to keep up a loving widowed wife front for a show and here she was in a church about to read the tribute about a loving husband whose death had shattered her whole world.

‘My whole world, my ass’ , she thought.

As she felt her lips curling into a sneer, she effortlessly masked it with a sniff while dabbing her nose with a black silk napkin. As she stood up to approach the pulpit, she did something that shocked herself and Luke, Miss Lily, Daisy and ZacXavi. She burst into an uncontrollable stream of tears. She continued this show for more than a minute that she appeared inconsolable even though her sister and her mom were sitted on her sides holding her hands in theirs.

Successfully, Dee failed to read the tribute that she never wrote as she was escorted out of the church by her mom and sister as the funeral ceremony continued with others reading their tributes.

The last few days after she was told he was hit by a fire truck was a blur because she had to submerge herself in heavy doses of her medications because of her anxiety issues which however had nothing to do with Jason’s death. Rather, she was concerned about whom is capable of taking care of her daughter whom she loved enough to want a good and stable life for.

She had zoned out until she felt the car come to a sudden stop outside the cemetery which was about 3 kilometers from the funeral house. ‘Good Riddance to bad rubbish’, she thought as she stepped out of the car. As a widow was not allowed to watch her deceased husband being lowered into the earth, she was led to a garden few meters away. She found the garden surprisingly comforting in the midst of the gloomy cloud which had shrouded every soul present at the cemetery. ‘Including the dead’, she thought smiling lazily while starring at the darkened statue of previously white angels who now had broken wings. She turned suddenly as she heard a twig break behind her.

‘Hey beauty’, ZacXavi said while brandishing his newly installed veneers.

‘Hey’, Dee replied with a tired voice.

‘You sure know that your performance is an Oscar winning one, right?', he said while patting the tip of her waist length blonde hair, the only contrasting colour to what she had on asides her skin colour which was blush pink. Beside her was jason’s boss who comforted her while whispering to her that she deserved an Oscar for her performance. ‘They would actually think that you actually loved Jason.’ he continued.

‘I did!’, she said almost screaming with tears choking her voice.

ZacXavi was more than speechless and merely laughed quietly as he turned back towards Jason’s final resting place where the burial was ongoing.

Dee felt a hand wrap around her shoulder few minutes after she heard ZacXavi’s retreating steps and looked sideways to see who it was. It was the woman that Jason fondly referred to as Aunt May. She handed out a handkerchief to Dee to clean the tears streaming down her face. It was only then did Dee realize that she had been crying. The woman said nothing as she held Dee to her body while looking into the far distance. She had always been emotionless and she still is. As Dee continued to cry without holding back, Aunt May he hugged her tighter and said something that sent shivers down Dee’s spine and halted her tears and award winning performances.‘He loved you, you did not. He worshipped you, he never cheated but you did. He was willing to forgive you but he is dead now.’

Dee instantly pulled out of her arms before she finished talkingand took 2 steps away from her. Aunt May merely shook her head before adding her last words, ‘To you.’

Zacxavi who had been watching her and the woman can only be amused on how good of an actress Dee was.

‘Maybe she loved him or not. That’s her business. I have her all to myself now’, He thought as he moved towards her again and saw that her expression had changed. ZacXavi was interested in taunting Dee again but the look on her face stopped his thought as well as his walk to where she was. He could not decipher whether she was angry, sad or both. ‘That’s enough drama for today’, he thought as he quickly masked the smile forming on his lips with an emotionless face.

As he turned towards the parking lot of the church, he felt a pair of eyes on his back. He looked back and saw Dee looking at him. This time around, he made no effort to mask the smile forming at the corner of his lips as he winked at Dee while licking his lower lips at the same time.

Dee did not know how to react. She was more shocked than pleased with his actions. She quickly looked around to ensure that no one saw him do that. And unfortunately, she saw an oddly familiar pair of eyes in the crowd looking straight at her and the direction of ZacXavi. The lower part of his face was however covered with a black nose mask like a K-Drama star. The physique was indisputably his as she knew how breathtaking he looked in black on black. She looked down hurriedly as she felt her heart beating faster than normal as her head started to ache. She thought she might be hallucinating as she shook her head to get the face as well as the ache out of her head.

Dee looked up again towards where she had seen him. He was still there with his arms at akimbo and his eyes were fixed on her figure.

Dee’s heart could no longer absorb the stares as she only remembered crashing into the damp bush of finely trimmed chrysanthemum as she lost consciousness.