As the rain poured down heavily on the town’s cemetery, Cassian and his family made their way through the muddy ground to the corner where Jeremy’s grave was located. The stone slab was surrounded by a small fence, which was now half buried due to the rain that was presently dropping like little cold daggers piercing into the earth.
Madeline and Inna were huddled under one umbrella, and each and everyone of the family were clustered in groups as they shared an umbrella, looking in the direction of Jeremy’s grave with an air of melancholy. Orson and his family had also joined to pay Jeremy’s grave one last visit, and they were all dressed in their Sunday black, signifying the moment of their mourning, and Cassian was only forced to come since Madeline insisted it was the right thing to do in order to avoid appearing rude.
Everyone’s heart felt heavy as they approached Jeremy’s grave. It’s been three days since they buried Jeremy, and Richard had insisted that the family should gather to pay his grave some respect, even if he had done something awful, it wasn’t going to change the fact that he was still a member of the Albrecht family, and duties must be carried out without excuses.
Ignoring the puddles forming around his grave, Juliana moves forward and crouches down to place the bouquet of red and white flowers, the colors of the union flag that signaled the bloodline of every Albrecht family. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she gently placed the flower on the freshly earth, addressing her son as if he was still alive and could hear her call out to him.
Isabella could barely hold back her tears as she wiped it off with a tissue, sniffling it back since Abbot had told her to control herself.
Elaine felt completely downcast as she had never seen Juliana so shattered before, and it was understandable because she couldn’t imagine how she herself would react if she were to lose her only Cassian. Oliver stood in front of Elaine as they shared the umbrella, he barely shedded a single tear, but his pale expression already gave away how saddened he was to see his elder brother now below the earth, knowing he wouldn’t be able to see him anymore.
Abbot stepped forward to help his mother up to her feet, and Madeline couldn’t help but feel her heart being weighed by everything happening. The rain had turned the cemetery into a gloomy and dismal place, a chill reminder of the horrors of losing someone who was part of the family, and knowing it would be impossible to ever see them again.
Orson moved closer to Cassian who just gazed at what was happening with boredom in his eyes, barely uttering a word, and Orson let out a sigh as he patted Cassian’s chest in a brotherly manner. "As much as you hated him, he was still your brother, and what I’m thankful for is the fact that you never had a hand in his death."
"What does it feel like to lose someone that matters?" Came Cassian’s subtle question as he tilted his head, blankly watching Juliana cry in the arms of her son while Richard also placed a bouquet on Jeremy’s grave. The emotions they were feeling, Cassian barely felt it, and it made him really curious to know and understand what it feels like to lose someone that truly mattered to the heart.
"It is a feeling I’d rather remain emotionless to." Came Orson’s response as he let out a soft chuckle before taking a deep breath, his arms folded behind his back as he watched Oliver drop a flower next. "Unfortunately, I’m more of the emotional type and can be easily swayed by my feelings, sigh..... it must feel good to not have experience with something this tragic."
"Still." Cassian shrugged, his gaze unwavering. "I get curious."
"Ahhh..... maybe when you lose someone special in the future, you will realize, and by future I mean when you grow old and have white hair and lose all your charms with no teeth. I bet I’ll look more handsome when we both grow old." Orson teased, and Cassian couldn’t help but smile a bit at Orson’s words.
"Hey.."
"What."
"You’re a Jackass." He nudged Orson’s shoulder with his, attempting to find trouble, but Orson chose to overlook it since they shouldn’t be doing stuff like that in the presence of mourning people.
Meanwhile, Catherine’s teary eyes lingered on Jeremy’s grave, the families were all carried away by their own emotions and thoughts to notice how frighteningly pale Catherine had become after studying Jeremy’s grave and accepting the reality that he was dead.
Stealing glances at the family, Catherine decided to use the distraction to get away.
Quietly making her way past the family, Catherine disappeared from the little crowd and hurried down the muddy path, wanting to be alone as she couldn’t stand any second to watch Juliana tearing up like that.
Finally making it to an area that was far from where the families were mourning, Isabella sank to her knees as she couldn’t hold back the tears that escaped from her eyes, guilt washing over her as she covered her face, shaking her head in disbelief and praying to wake up from the nightmare that was at the point of consuming her soul.
"What have I done? What have I gotten myself into?? This wasn’t supposed to happen!" Catherine felt the ground should open and swallow her as she couldn’t contain the guilt in her heart, her blue eyes were filled to the brim with tears, yet it displayed the fear that was visible in them as she clutched both sides of her head with her hand.
"I shouldn’t have gone to see him, I shouldn’t have gone there! Now I’m entangled with this murder and I can’t even tell anyone about it!" Her eyes widened at the horrific scene replayed non-stop in her head. "He’ll kill me if I tell anyone, he’ll kill me, but what if Cassian finds out? What if Orson finds out? I’ll be doomed! What should I do? How do I save myself from this mess??"
"Catherine?"
Hearing an euphonious voice call her name with concern, Catherine’s gasp expressed her shock as she whipped her head to the direction of the voice that called her name, and no words could describe her bafflement when it turned out to be Madeline who was standing a few distance from the corner she had hidden, watching her with an umbrella in hand.
"Why are you here?" Madeline asked, "and what are you crying about?"
"You..!!.." Catherine’s eyes immediately darkened with hatred when Madeline came into sight. It felt like the anger, fear and frustration she had been trying to tame was instantly let loose by Madeline’s presence, and she rose to her feet with visible disgust playing in her eyes, pointing an accusing finger at the puzzled young woman.
"You...!!.. this is all your fault!" Unprepared about what was about to happen, Catherine suddenly grabbed hold of Madeline by her shoulders, startling her to a crucial point as she wasn’t expecting to be held so harshly as .
"Hey!"
"All this happened because of you, you’re responsible for everything!! You’re the cause of everything that has happened!" The umbrella dropped from Madeline’s hands as Catherine shook her violently, her rage going unnoticed and leaving Madeline speechless.
"You’ll pay for this!"
"Let go of me, what are you talking about?" Madeline tried to free herself as they both got drenched in the rain, and when Catherine continued, Madeline could no longer take it as she’s had enough.
"I said stop!" Freeing herself, Madeline landed a hot slap on Catherine’s cheek, her own dark orbs showing how offended she was by Catherine’s behavior.
"What has come over you??" Madeline’s chest kept rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath, shock-stricken by Catherine’s irrational behavior, but the lady she just slapped appeared more dumbstruck that someone like Madeline had hit her across the face.
Looking at Madeline with disbelief, she asked. "You....you slapped me?"
The sounds of approaching footsteps made both ladies turn to see who was coming, and under the rain stood Cassian and Orson who had halted after watching Catherine being slapped across the face, and their eyes widened slightly.