2025-01-11 02:15:01The 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.
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Dee woke up in her bed with a throbbing ache in the right side of her head which made her wince inaudibly as she struggled to open her eyes. The curtains of her room had been left wide open and she could see the sun setting across the horizon. She had always loved watching the sunset especially when she sits by the pool of hers’ and Jason’s mansion which they lost to a deadly loan shark whose constant threat made them escape the city for her parents’. Jason had however never provided her with answers to the question of what he used the money for. She closed her eyes again as she felt the numbing ache returning with extra throbs. Dee caught herself drifting into dreamland again until she felt something warm snuggling close to her body. She instantly opened her eyes and turned her head to check what it was. It was then that she realized that Ria was sleeping beside her on the bed. She wondered why Ria was sleeping beside her as she rarely sleeps in the room with her without her father
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He hadn't planned on sleeping that long, but fatigue had a way of creeping up on him. Jason had slept for more than six hours on the couch in his study before he was woken up by a sudden crash that sounded like the shatter of a glass window. Instinct kicked in immediately, cutting through the haze of sleep like a razor.His hand reached for the sleek, black combat knife on the coffee table. The weight of the blade felt familiar in his grip, but it was the revolver that truly made him feel ready. He grabbed his Samuel Colt revolver from beneath the top of the coffee table, slipping a silencer onto its muzzle with practiced ease. The quiet click as he loaded the gun echoed softly through the silent room.Jason moved quickly, but silently, out of his study. His door had been reinforced and made in such a way that it creaked not once, even under the weight of his movements. His fingers wrapped around the doorframe as he slid into the hallway.The corridor was shrouded in shadows. The apar
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Jason’s hand tightened around the phone as he pressed the redial button again. His heart pounded, but not from fear as he was now used to high-stakes situations. No, this time, it was the sudden shift in his usual routine that had him on edge. He had specifically called his driver, Crux, to pick him up from the parking lot instead of the usual bus stop two blocks away. It wasn’t something he’d normally do, but something about today felt different. The people on the sidewalk had already started to notice, eyes tracking the car as it pulled out of the lot. Jason didn’t care about the stares. And right now, he couldn’t even shake off the feeling that he was being watched.“Everything alright?” Jason asked, his gaze sharp, glancing out the window to check their surroundings.“Everything’s fine, sir,” Crux replied, keeping his voice steady, but Jason could see the faint tension in the man’s posture. It was subtle, but it was there. Jason’s instincts were never wrong. As they merged onto
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The locker room grew quiet again, the tension thick in the air. Jason stood in front of the row of lockers, his reflection staring back at him from the dirty mirror. He adjusted his mask, pulling it down slightly to ensure it fit comfortably over his face. The familiar weight of the nosemask had always been a source of comfort for him, a shield that kept the world from seeing the parts of him that he wants to keep hidden.Behind him, Huda sat on the bench, his eyes carefully studying Jason. Huda had been the kind of guy who’d never asked too many questions, always keeping to himself, until recently. Jason could feel the shift in the air whenever Huda was around. He wasn’t just the coworker anymore. He was asking more questions than was safe, and that made Jason uneasy.Jason adjusted the hem of his uniform, pretending not to notice the subtle tension in the room. But Huda’s voice broke the silence.“What’s your deal with the president, Lucas? You’re stepping on toes without thinking
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Cain sat behind his desk, his fingers drumming anxiously on the polished wood. His mind was a whirlwind of frustration, anger, and strategy. The scene in his office, the humiliating confrontation with the newcomer janitor, still played over and over in his head, gnawing at him. He could hardly believe it had escalated so quickly. What had begun as a simple disagreement had turned into a full-blown spectacle, one that now involved not only his own men but the president's personal bodyguards as well.Cain’s pulse quickened as he replayed the moment in vivid detail. He had allowed himself to be provoked, something he hadn't done in years. But now, more than ever, he understood that he couldn’t afford any distractions. He needed to act, quickly, decisively. And above all, he had to ensure that no one spoke of what had happened.His bodyguards had been there, but they hadn’t seen much, only the tail-end of what had been a much more humiliating exchange. Cain had never been one to back down
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...Cain leaned back in his chair, visibly frustrated but unwilling to show weakness again as he opened up his laptop. Cain knew he had lost this round. Jason had already made his point: he was fearless. And that was something even Cain couldn’t manipulate.Cain glanced up from his laptop, his eyes flickering over Jason with an almost dismissive glance. With a practiced air of nonchalance, he closed the laptop with a swift motion, standing up immediately. He didn’t bother to acknowledge Jason directly, choosing instead to carry the laptop with him as he walked towards the far side of the office. Jason, unfazed as ever, immediately proceeded to start where Cain had vacated. He began sweeping the area under the desk, he realized that the office, with its sleek, polished surfaces and sharp edges, felt almost suffocating in its perfection. It was large, almost as big as the president’s office, and it offered a commanding view of the rest of the headquarters, and beyond that, the sprawlin
CHAPTER 28
After the staged grab and shove by the securities as well as the brief tete-a-tete with his father in his office, Jason became not only the most gossiped about individual amongst the workers of the cleaning agency but also in the whole of the ArkWrath headquarters. Nobody knew what he did except that he was taken to the president’s office where he spent almost an hour and came out unscathed or battered which was very much unusual. The rumour, which quickly spread of the newcomer Janitor, was that he possessed an ample amount of information either for or against the president for him to be allowed to wear a nose-mask around the premisies and defying the laid down rules and norms. Surprisingly, Jason was totally aware of what was going on alongside the expensive rumors but what shocked him most was the fact that Cain, his cousin requested him to clean his office. Cain was however not interested in the works of an ordinary Janitor. Rather, he wanted to come face to face with someone who
CHAPTER 27
Jason had no expectations from his new job. He knew exactly what he had to do and expected almost nothing in return. It, surprisingly felt too natural, as if this role had always been something he was familiar with. Like there had always been someone above, giving orders, telling him where to go and what to do.The first week was too simple. His introduction to the job consisted of observing the routines of the other janitors, who moved through the headquarters with a quiet, almost military precision. The task was simple, clean, scrub, organize, but it required a keen eye and a focus on detail. He’d been taught how to clean without disturbing the sensitive documents that filled the offices, how to polish the glass surfaces without leaving a streak, and how to ensure that every inch of the topmost floor of the building was spotless by the end of his shift. The mask he wore over his face and the glasses that shielded his eyes had now become a part of his identity. They were the first
CHAPTER 26
It had been three months since Jason began his reintegration into the system, and in those three months, his life had become a series of routines and adaptations. As the sun pierced through the blinds at 7 am, Jason rose from his bed, the rhythm of his body waking up as instinctively as his mind. The gym had become a non-negotiable part of his day, a daily ritual born out of his need for discipline and control. The private martial arts training that his father had arranged for him had transformed his body, honed his reflexes, and instilled in him a quiet sense of power. But today, as he prepared for his morning workout, something was different.On his study table, already cluttered with an assortment of packages that had arrived over the past weeks, was another box. It wasn’t particularly large, but it stood out among the others, as though it was waiting for him. The note attached to it was simple, scrawled in his father’s familiar hand: "Wear this."Jason raised an eyebrow, the feeli
CHAPTER 25
Jason stood in front of his father in his home office, the weight of everything was now pressing down on his shoulders. He had never imagined this moment would come, this confrontation that seemed to have been waiting all his life."Why didn’t you ever look for me?" Jason's voice broke the silence, hoarse with a mix of pain and accusation. "You just let me go... and didn’t try to find me. All this time, you never even cared enough to search."His father didn’t respond immediately. The old man looked down, his hands clenched tightly together, as if searching for the right words, but finding none. Finally, he sighed, a long, heavy exhalation, as if the weight of the past had crushed him too many times."I did look for you, Jason," Mr. ArkWrath said quietly, his voice trembling with a vulnerability Jason had never heard before. "I searched... but your letter..." He paused, as if the mere mention of it was a wound too fresh to touch. "You told us not to. You wrote that we should leave you
