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It felt like a punishment from the heavens, having to watch Lucian handle my funeral arrangements every day while Elias murmured strange things to me.
Sometimes, he would wake up in the middle of the night, calling my name in his sleep. When Vivian came to apologize to him, she was struck on the head by a flowerpot he had thrown.
She cried and begged, but she never received any response.
Elias, drowning in his alcohol addiction, suddenly had his wounds become infected and had to undergo amputation surgery.
After losing his legs, he sat in a wheelchair, no longer the proud man he once was.
He locked himself in his room, living like a shell of a person.
Then, on my birthday, Elias, still groggy from sleep, received a call from the bakery.
“Sir, I apologize for asking, but if Cressida Hale has passed away, should we still deliver the birthday cake today?”
The words shook Elias awake, and it finally hit him. The cake he had ordered for me would never be eaten.
Lucian had decided to hold a memorial for me on my birthday.
When Elias found out, he rushed to the funeral home like a madman. But when he arrived, all he saw was my picture and an urn.
Lucian was receiving my friends, but Elias, in his wheelchair, stormed in and tried to rip my picture down.
Lucian, furious at his actions, kicked Elias‘ wheelchair over with all his strength.
“Get out!” he shouted.
Elias, now sitting on the ground, stared at my photo with bloodshot eyes, muttering apologies over and over again.
Lucian stood by the wall, watching Elias for a long time before finally regaining his
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composure. He quietly recounted everything.
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“Do you know? I took Cressida to see the fireworks to fulfill her last wish. But you, bringing this woman there, caused Cressida’s death, taking away her last chance at life. She’s never coming back. If you don’t want to hurt her more, then stop disturbing her.”
Elias, knowing he couldn’t stay any longer, finally climbed back into his wheelchair and left.
He locked himself away at home, refusing to eat or drink. Within days, his face became unkempt.
When Seraphina visited, she cursed me.
“What’s so great about that woman? She’s better off dead!”
Elias, who had never fought with his family before, immediately kicked his sister out and
severed ties with her.
His family’s business was left unmanaged, quickly spiraling into chaos.
But Elias didn’t care.
His once cherished career, destroyed by his own self–destructive behavior, crumbled.
Elias somehow found out where my grave was and took a photo of it.
He took my picture and went to the fireworks display.
That night, the fireworks went off all night, and he held my photo, crying for the entire night.
Was Elias watching the fireworks with me? But I didn’t need that anymore.
Only after losing someone do you realize how much you cared. But what’s the point?
Every day, he clutched my photo, talking to me at my grave.
Sometimes, drunk and stumbling, he was kicked out by Lucian several times.
After a few months, one day, he just stopped coming.
al heard that he died. It was probably for the best.
Without his torment, I could finally rest in peace.
