Aurora smiled as she said, “If you ever change your mind about staying here, you can always give us a
call. We’ll try to help you in whatever way we can. Besides, there’s still a long way for us to go forward
in life, so we’ll see each other again someday.”
A long way, huh? The butler shook his head a little ruefully. He thought of life as but a short journey,
and at his age, he looked back to find that time had passed him by in a daze; he was old now, his hair
peppered through with gray, and he couldn’t count the days that he had lost.
Having left the house, Cindy and Aurora flagged an approaching taxi. Along the drive, Aurora appeared
to be in a reverie as she muttered, “Did you see how he looked in the casket? As it turns out, death
does not flatter anyone, even if that person had lived through all the glory. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t
get the creeps earlier.”
In spite of herself, Cindy laughed and said a little self-effacingly, “I didn’t even get so up close and
personal; I stood to the side the whole time.”
She had seen what her own father looked like before he was cremated, so it took only a sprinkle of
imagination for her to picture what Bryce must have looked like.
Aurora nodded, still a little dazed as she said, “Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t see him. You would
have been scared half to death.” Then, in a somewhat comical transition, she added, “Hey, we still
have plenty of time on our hands. Let’s go shopping.”
The way her mood swung from one to the other was fast enough to give Cindy whiplash. It was as if
seeing Bryce had given her a personality switch. However, Cindy was more than accommodating as
she agreed placidly, “I don’t see why not. Maybe a little stroll around the mall is just what we need to
perk up.”
After all, they had all been in some kind of slum recently. They had been distressed ever since Bryce’s
hospitalization, and while his death took some weight off their shoulders, they were all still suffering
from the aftermath of a burn-out.
Presently, Aurora and Cindy picked out a nearby mall and headed in together. They did a little bit of
window-shopping, then stuffed themselves with a hearty meal.
The morning whirled past idly, and when it was close to noon, Cindy decided to give Ian a call just to
check up on him and the things on his end.
Unsurprisingly, he was tied up with mourning guests who had piled into the parlor, and his voice was
thick with exasperation as he grumbled on the other line, “There are some of them here who came
yesterday, and I don’t even know why they bother showing up two days in a row. It’s not as if they could
strike a business deal in the middle of a funeral.”
Upon sensing that he was in a foul mood, Cindy hastened to point out half-jokingly, “It’s amazing how
with so many people you could still remember the faces of those who showed up yesterday.”
In all frankness, Ian didn’t know any of those who had shown up, either, but they had paraded
themselves around the parlor and the house that it was impossible not to remember them. When they
showed up today, they were practically vying for the media to take not-so-accidental shots of them,
hoping to catch their fifteen minutes of fame.
Ian couldn’t understand them. There was nothing glorified about showing up at a funeral, much less
being seen attending one.
Cindy felt equally helpless and frustrated as she listened to his complaints, but she set aside her own
grumbles, for she could only cajole him into looking on the brighter side of things at this point.
Fortunately, today was the last day of the wake service, and once the funeral was over and done with,
they would all be liberated.
Ian must be exhausted, or perhaps he just simply couldn’t stand the pompous crowd that had shown up
in the guise of mourning, because he grumbled now in a mutinous tone, “I’m so glad I don’t have to
associate myself with the likes of these business folks; otherwise, I might just drop dead from anger.”
Cindy smiled, and she nearly said, “Well, it’s not as if the entertainment industry is any less patronizing
than the business circle.” There were both free markets where everyone fought for precious
commodities, and formalities aside, these markets were equivalents of a vicious battlefield.
Ian only preferred the entertainment industry because he was a rising star who was climbing up the
success ladder, and there were plenty of investors ready to bolster his fame. In truth, the entertainment
industry was not as transparent as the business world, with dangerous depths where everyone
strategized in the shadows. Indeed, the ugliness of the entertainment industry revealed itself more
frequently than the scandals in the business world.
As of now, Cindy adopted a milder approach as she tried to soothe him. “I don’t think you’ll be staying
there for longer than necessary. You can leave as soon as you’re done with the ushering and the banal
greetings. Just hold out a little while longer, okay?”
It wasn’t as if he had a choice. With a weary sigh, he said, “Okay, I just need to get some things off my
chest. Don’t let me affect you, though, and have fun with my mom.”
She hummed in response. “Don’t worry. We’re coping just fine.”
When she hung up the call, Aurora turned to give her a curious look. “What is it? What did Ian say? He
sounded pretty upset.”
Cindy kept her phone. “It’s nothing. He was telling me about how some of the guests showed up two
days in a row just for the sake of appearances, and that got on his nerves.”
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