CHAPTER 4

Jeremiah, who tried to cope with what he just heard, chuckled.

“I’m sorry, doctor, but I don’t think I heard you properly. You said my mother is what—?“ Jeremiah said, trying his best to trick himself into not believing what Doctor Gabriel told him.

Unfortunately, the sad expressions he saw on the doctor's and Nurse Victoria’s faces made it hard.

"Doctor Gabriel, please stop joking,” Jeremiah said and then looked at Nurse Victoria beside him.

"My mom is fine so tell Doctor Gabriel to stop lying to me. Please" Jeremiah pleaded but all he got from the nurse was the look of pity.

"I'm sorry Mister Jeremiah, but as I said, her body was just too weak for the severity of the heart attack. Please accept my condolences" Doctor Gabriel lowered his head to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah's eyes widened when the realization of his mother’s death finally sank in.

Confused and lost about what to do, he looked at the Doctor and didn’t know what to say back.

“I know this doesn’t ease your pain but after waking from her coma, your mother gave one of the nurses this to give to you, so here” Doctor Gabriel reached into his lab coat’s pocket and brought out a folded piece of paper then he gave it to Jeremiah.

“What’s this?” Jeremiah asked as he looked at the piece of paper.

“Out of respect for your mother and you, I didn’t open it so I don’t know what’s written inside. You should check because I doubt your mother would have been adamant about the nurses writing it down if it wasn’t important” Doctor Gabriel advised and listening to him, Jeremiah opened the piece of paper.

"What does it say?" The curious nurse beside Jeremiah asked.

"I'm not sure but I think it's a phone number,” Jeremiah replied with a confused expression.

“A phone number? Does it say who it belongs to?” Nurse Victoria asked.

“No, only the number is written on it. Why would mom tell the nurse to write something like this? What’s so special about a phone number?" Jeremiah asked himself.

"I don't know but you should call it and see who answers" Nurse Victoria advised.

Jeremiah pondered about it for a moment and then sighed.

He seriously wasn’t in the mood to do anything and just wanted to be alone.

He stuffed the paper into his pocket and looked at Doctor Gabriel.

“When can I hope to get my mother’s body? I’d like to give her a befitting burial” Jeremiah asked.

“Tomorrow should be fine. You’ll just have to sign all the required documents and you’ll be free to take her with you” Doctor Gabriel said then placed his hand on Jeremiah’s shoulder.

“Again, I’m sorry we weren’t able to save your mother. I’m sure she’s in a better place now” Doctor Gabriel said.

“Yeah,” Jeremiah replied then left the hospital.

Immediately he went outside, all the emotions he had been holding back overwhelmed him and not being able to bear it anymore, he sat on the ground and cried his eyes out.

Memories of the moments he spent with his mother before the accident that killed his father and put her in a coma bombarded his mind.

No pain was as severe as losing a loved one and now Jeremiah was truly alone. This was in every sense of the word the worst day of his life and he didn't know what to do anymore.

He had no one and nothing left to look forward to so what point was there in living anymore?

Jeremiah contemplated just ending it all and so he stood up and dusted the back of his trouser.

He left the environment, got into a taxi, and went back home.

The taxi parked in front of the house and Jeremiah paid the fair then came down.

The first thing he saw was a beautiful, black Mercedes-Benz S-Class— a car he had never seen there before— parked a few feet away.

"Whose car is that?" Jeremiah asked himself as he continued to stare at the car while he walked to the front door of his apartment.

He decided to not bother with it and reached into his pocket to fish out his house key. Just when he was about to insert into the keyhole, he realized that the door wasn't locked.

Jeremiah grimaced, wondering if he had forgotten to lock it while rushing out of the house earlier.

Since he couldn’t remember, he shrugged and opened the door.

He went inside, closed the door and when he turned around to face the room, to his surprise, he saw Mary coming out of their bedroom.

"Mary?" Jeremiah froze.

Mary looked at him from head to toe with disgust in her eyes.

"I guess you're back," she said coldly.

"Yeah," Jeremiah replied and then saw that in her hands was a cardboard box that had a few things inside.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I came to get the important things I left here.” She replied.

“Where are you going?” Jeremiah grimaced.

“I'll be staying with Paul for the meantime then when we become official, after our divorce, I'll move into the house he promised to buy me. I left my clothes and shoes here so you can throw them out or burn them if you want. I won’t be needing those low-quality things you bought me anymore" Mary said and then looked at the decorations all over the house.

"So this is the decoration you were talking about? What an absolute joke" Mary rolled her eyes as she scoffed.

She did some more looking around and she found a gift box on the couch.

"What's that?" She asked, making Jeremiah look at the gift box too.

He cleared his throat and said "Umm, that's the gift I said I had bought for you. Well, I guess it doesn't matter now that the whole anniversary is ruined"

Mary looked at him through the corner of his eyes and saw how sad he seemed then she looked at the gift box and walked to the couch.

She dropped her cardboard box on the armrest of the couch then picked up the gift box and shook it.

"What's in here?" She asked and then grimaced "Doesn't sound like anything expensive"

Curious about what Jeremiah could have possibly gotten her, Mary opened the gift box and saw a little jewelry box inside which she reached for and took out.

With a look of dissatisfaction, she opened the jewelry box and frowned immediately at what she saw.

"It's the necklace you said you wanted. I saved up a good chunk of my salary for it but I thought it'd at least put a smile on your face so it was worth the sacrifice—" Jeremiah said nervously but Mary looked at him with a condescending glare cut him off.

"Jeremiah, are you fucking stupid?"

"What?" Jeremiah jolted.