Elara rushed to the hospital to see William one last ti before his body could be taken away for the funeral ceremony, her heart beating fast, filled with guilt as a part of her thought this was all because of her.
And was it not?
The old man, despite being cunning and selfish when he bound her to his grandson because he wanted to protect his family from a vixen like Beatrice, was the only one who ever truly cared about her and treated her right.
She couldn’t care about what he used to think; all she could think of was the way he treated her like his own granddaughter.
There were tis they spent hours playing ludo and chess in his tea room, sharing nothing more than mundane things.
No matter how busy he was, he always made ti for her, never forgot her on important occasions, and always brought little gifts from wherever he went when he went out too far.
The thought that such a warm-hearted, good soul left this Earth because of her revenge made her heart ache and clench painfully in her chest.
When she reached the hospital, his body was being pulled out of the ICU after being declared dead. Tears brimd in her eyes before they rolled down her cheeks.
She saw Carla kneeling at her grandfather’s feet, asking him to wake up and handle everything like he used to. Sophia was standing there like a corpse, and the man who loved this old man more than he did his father was nowhere to be seen.
Elara hid behind the pillar, not wanting to be seen by the family. She didn’t think she would be able to hear with the guilt.
"You are here," she heard a gentle, sad voice from behind her and turned to look at Jason, who suddenly looked like he had grown ten years older from the last ti she saw him.
His beard had grown out, dark circles had grown under his eyes, and his complexion was paler than before, like he hadn’t been eating well either.
She clenched her fists by her side. The side effects of what she did were finally dawning upon her.
In the process of avenging what she went through, she didn’t hurt the family alone, but all the good people around them, too.
"I..." Elara opened her mouth to justify her presence, but the man before her shook his head.
"Don’t bla yourself for it," Jason said.
"Hmm?" Elara asked, confused.
Jason smiled sadly.
"The tears in your eyes aren’t because of Mr. Williams’ death alone. You think you are to bla for his death, but it’s not true. His health had been deteriorating since he heard Mr. Andrew slept with Beatrice. He recently got a major heart attack when he found out Beatrice was Mr. Heather’s illegitimate daughter and his grandson was married to his own sister," Jason explained.
Elara looked down at her feet.
The wisdom in Jason’s eyes told her he pretty much knew it was her behind everything, and she didn’t know what to say.
"Thank you for coming. However, our boss isn’t in the position to et anyone," Jason whispered before he turned and left.
Elara looked at the hunched back of the leaving man and pursed her lips.
Her gaze then drifted to Williams’ body one last ti before she left.
She made a call and asked her brother to finalize Carla for the singing gig. She wasn’t being lenient; she simply wanted to consider this charity.
She knew staying in the hospital would only bring speculations if soone from the dia spotted her, and it would only hurt the family even more.
As much as she wanted to have her revenge, she wasn’t inhumane enough to interrupt their mourning ti, either.
Thus, after a few more seconds, she turned and left the hospital with a heavy heart.
~~~~
A small funeral was held for Williams.
After news of their business’s collapse and their nasty actions toward Elara spread, people had already distanced themselves from the family.
Only a few with a conscience and who pitied them turned up for the funeral.
Trevor was one of them.
He walked to the place where Williams’ photo was kept before bowing to him out of respect.
He then stood and turned to Andrew, who was sitting there like a corpse. His eyes had no light, just endless pain and a weird hollowness.
"Andrew," Trevor called out, and the man finally looked up.
As a custom, he bowed back to Trevor to thank him for coming to his grandfather’s funeral before returning to his original position.
His condition broke Trevor’s heart, and he sighed.
"Co with ." He grabbed Andrew’s hand and pulled him out of the room to get so fresh air, where he could release his emotions because bottling them was clearly destroying him from the inside.
Andrew didn’t resist. He let his friend, the only one remaining so far, drag him out of the corridor, moving like a puppet with no purpose in life.
Carla and Sophia sat outside the funeral room, attending and bowing to the guests who were coming to offer their condolences.
So had genuine pity, so were neutral, while so were there just to play pretend.
The fact that no one is by your side when you are at your lowest smacked them in the face when none of their friends from the social circle they used to spend so much ti in turned up for the funeral.
It wasn’t like they were asking anyone for money. It should’ve been basic decency to show up, right? But no one did, and they realized what a fake life they had been living until now.
"Two-faced bitches. All of them were. They always pretended to be my friend, reaping the benefits of being in my friend circle and enjoying luxury, but now that the ti ca to prove their friendship, no one turned up," Carla scoffed as she thought about those girls who used to follow her around like honeybees.
Sophia didn’t say anything. She didn’t comnt, just like she had been for the past few days after she learned the truth.
What was there to comnt on? Her pride was shattered, her little family was destroyed, and she probably had a hand in that.
"Thank you for coming—" Carla started speaking and bowing, stopping when she saw who it was.
Elara stood before them, dressed in black funeral clothes, two white clips securing her voluptuous hair, with no makeup on her naturally beautiful face.
She nodded and bowed to them.
Sophia was surprised. She never expected the girl they bullied and despised to co when no one did.
For a second, she wondered whether this girl was here to mock them. After all, they were at their lowest.
However, when she saw genuine sadness in her eyes, all the thoughts dissipated in a second.
Elara didn’t stop near them. She walked inside the room and looked at the old man’s photo.
"I am sorry about how things turned out," Elara whispered before she got on her knees and bowed to the man’s photo, wishing him a peaceful afterlife in her prayers.
"Elara," Sophia’s voice interrupted her, and she stood before bowing one last ti.
She then turned to face the woman who made her married life hell.
"I am not here to argue on sothing or—"
"No. No. Don’t misunderstand . I am not here to criticize you. It’s just... Thank you for coming. Father-in-law used to care about you a lot. His soul must’ve felt good seeing you here," Sophia said.
Elara nodded, and then, without a word, she left.
Sophia stayed in her place before she realized she couldn’t apologize to her.
Sophia ran towards the exit, only to see Elara getting into a limited edition luxury car, and she couldn’t help but stop herself.
She had no right. She has no right to interfere or interact with a girl whom they never treated right. Maybe whatever was happening to them was indeed karma. They used to mock her for being poor; now look where they stand.
Andrew, who saw Elara getting inside the car and leaving from the second floor, looked at the scene with wide eyes.
"Elara!" Andrew shouted as loud as he could. He tried to catch her, running in the direction. However, the car had already sped up by the ti he reached outside.
"Elara!" Andrew shouted in pure agony.
Sophia watched his son shouting the woman’s na, and her heart shattered even more. If she hadn’t intervened and made things so hard for the girl, maybe she still would’ve been married to her son. Andrew wouldn’t have married his own half-sister. There were just so many, and if that could’ve happened.
Sophia wondered, her heart defeated.
"Did you pay your condolences?" Daniel asked after so ti as he looked at the girl, who was awfully quiet in the car.
Elara turned to him before she nodded with a smile.
"It’s just... looking at the photo and the funeral made realize life is so unpredictable and short. And we destroy it with our own hands by doing things that are not even important," Elara said.
Daniel humd before he pulled her into his lap.
"We can always do things that are important," he whispered in her ear before he turned up the partition in the car to have so privacy with his soon-to-be wife.
"Really?" Elara asked with a smile, trying to lighten up her heavy mood.
"Really," Daniel said before he kissed her cheeks and let her rest her head on his chest to relax.
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