章 44: Chapter 43: Mourning
Isaiah's funeral would be held for a week after the day of his death and then be cremated on day seven. Isaiah wished to be cremated and wished for Zarah to keep his ashes until Xavier would allow him to reunite with his beloved wife, Abigail.
Isaiah also grew up in an orphanage and didn't know who his parents were. That's why he deeply cared for Zarah.
He hoped for his final resting place to be beside Abigail, his second wife.
Isaiah's dead body would be staying for public viewing at the memorial chapel for six days.
Other than family members, those who were close to Isaiah, business associates, business partners, employees, and the representatives of his foundations were expected to come.
Some members of the circle who met or got the chance to interact with Isaiah were also expected to come and pay their respects.
Isaiah's death became the entire Oakridge City affair.
The atmosphere was gloomy and silent while they waited for Isaiah's body to arrive.
Elliott and Chris were guarding the other entrance. They were greeting the mourners and accepted the condolences on behalf of the family.
The entire premises were heavily guarded by Xavier's security team. The police force also offered its service on behalf of Commissioner Wagner.
After all, Isaiah's reputation was equal to that of a public figure as he was very active in participating in public events during his early years.
Everyone who came to the chapel was dressed in black.
While everyone was waiting for Isaiah's body to arrive, Xavier was talking to Commissioner Wagner on the phone about the case involving Isaiah's poisoning and the incident involving Detective McGuire and the police who illegally detained Zarah.
Xavier was glad that Jackson's team was quick in conducting the investigation. All evidence pointed at Nikolai. However, they failed to find Franklin's involvement in it.
Nikolai who was confined at the hospital after being beaten by his creditor at the casino woke up with police officers bringing a warrant and got arrested right away.
Of course, he denied everything. He was confident that they could not get him. But then what happened?
After he recovered, he'd be placed directly in jail. His case was non-bailable. Of course, Xavier made sure that he won't be able to escape while he and his legal team were finalizing the cases that they'd be filing against Franklin and Nikolai for swindling a large amount of money from the Stevens Group.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Master." Commissioner Wagner told him before Xavier ended the call.
He then looked at Zarah who was staring at the scenes outside while the car was driven to the memorial chapel.
Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen that she had to hide them underneath the sunglasses.
"Zarah." He tried calling her but there was no response.
The sunglasses were pulled down a little bit and so he knew that she was not sleeping.
Xavier didn't like seeing her like this. However, he also knew that she needed her time to mourn. He let her cry for the entire night and patiently accompanied her in grieving Isaiah's death.
It was not a pleasant day as it was drizzling outside which made the mood even more depressing.
The car finally pulled over in front of the chapel and both Rupert and Brian came out of the car with huge black umbrellas.
Brian opened Xavier's side while Rupert opened Zarah's.
Zarah looked lost as she came out of the car.
She looked like she had shut down her emotions to protect herself from the pain.
Both Trixie and Olivia were eagerly waiting at the entrance.
They were very worried for Zarah even though Elliott and Chris told them that Xavier was there to comfort her.
Xavier didn't leave Zarah's side after Isaiah died as he knew she needed someone to lean on. He asked Rupert's help with the arrangement.
As soon as they saw Zarah in view, they ran to her side to comfort her.
"Zaza..."
"Arah...."
Zarah hummed as she acknowledged them.
Xavier let the twins take Zarah as they entered the chapel. He thought that maybe they could cheer her up better than he did.
A lot of people were already inside the chapel when they entered. Hope who took a leave of absence from work was also there.
She immediately got up and rushed to Zarah's side. Zarah looked at her and then looked away.
Hope felt hurt after she felt ignored. However, she knew that Zarah was not her usual self today because she was mourning. And she was comforted by it.
She looked behind and saw Xavier whose eyes were glued to Zarah.
She went to Xavier to ask him about Zarah.
"How is she?" She asked while walking at his pace.
"She's not fine as you can see. She cried nonstop." He answered with his gaze still on Zarah.
"How are you?" She asked him.
Xavier halted as he was caught off-guard by the question.
He was mourning. He lost a parent, too. He's in pain. He wanted to cry but couldn't. He had no room to complain.
He didn't know when this pain would heal. However, he had to be strong for the company, for himself, and above all for Zarah.
"I'll be fine," was his honest answer.
"You'll be. She's here. Therefore, you'll be fine."
Meanwhile, Zarah, Olivia, and Trixie reached the first row of seats.
However, before they could take their seats, Franklin's wife, Nicole Stevens stopped Zarah.
"What are you doing here?" Her question snapped Zarah from her lost state.
"What do you mean?" She asked Nicole.
"Only family members are allowed to sit here." She said which caused the crowd who heard her to gossip.
"Who is she?"
"I've heard that Chairman Stevens had an adopted child."
"Oh?"
"Yes."
Zarah could hear them talking about her and so she looked down.
Xavier on the other hand knew that this would happen that's why he insisted on coming here before going to the company.
"That's right. Only family members are allowed to sit here." Xavier said and Nicole was surprised to hear that Xavier was taking her side.
She thanked him for this even though she didn't want to. It's all for the sake of publicity. "Thank you, brother-in-law."
She thought that Xavier was done. However, he was not.
"Only family members are allowed and that does not include you and your sons."
"What?!"
Franklin who went out to use the restroom came back and was confronted by his wife's question.
"Honey, why did Xavier say that we're not family members? I don't understand."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Franklin confronted Xavier.
Xavier walked forward and leaned to him to whisper the secret that Isaiah told him when they had that talk.
"You know what I mean, Franklin. Do you want me to present the document to prove my claim?"
This time, Franklin turned pale. He could not believe that Xavier knew about their biggest secret.
"Now go. Bring your family and yourself out of here. Neither of you belongs here." He continued.
Then Xavier retracted and touched Franklin's shoulders as if he was consoling him.
He then tapped it twice before he let it go.
Faced with Xavier's mockery, Franklin was infuriated.
He could not contain his anger and threw a punch at Xavier.
His punch was slow that Xavier stopped it with one hand.
"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! I gave you the chance to exit quietly and not embarrass your family and yourself but you opted for violence."
Rupert and Brian together with a few guards came to Xavier's side.
"Take them out of here! I don't want them to ruin Dad's funeral."
With the altercation that happened, the rumors that there was a strong feud between the brothers became even stronger.
They were always curious about what Xavier could bring to the table. Defeating his brothers was something that should not be ignored.
They could tell that he was a new force that could bring a great change not only in the Stevens Group but also in the entire Oakridge City.
Rupert and Brian then grabbed Franklin and brought him out. Meanwhile, the guards were about to bring Nicole out but her two sons, namely Jeremy and Ken interrupted them.
"Don't touch our mom. We will leave." The eldest Jeremy told the guards while Ken looked Xavier in the eye before smirking at Zarah.
Xavier didn't like the way how Ken looked at Zarah.
Zarah on the other hand looked was clinching her palm into a tight fist.
She thought that Ken's presence would no longer affect her. Yet here she was again.
Xavier grabbed Zarah's hand to comfort her.
Trixie and Olivia looked at each other because this was something they didn't expect to happen.
Meanwhile, Hope was smiling meaningfully on the sidelines but stopped when the Irving twins looked at her.
Franklin's family left the chapel and everything went back to normal.
Paula and Natalie didn't come as Natalie was busy pleasing Josh while Paula found it useless to attend the funeral when she was going to divorce Nikolai.
But now that Nikolai was in a tough position, it would be much harder for her to divorce him as he needed her now the most.
The casket containing Xavier's body finally arrived.
As soon as the casket was placed in front, Zarah and Xavier were given priority before anyone else.
Zarah didn't cry when she looked at Isaiah's sleeping face. Both paid their respects.
After thirty minutes, Rupert and Brian came to Xavier's side and told him that they had to go to the company now.
Xavier had a lot of papers that needed his signatures. Though Isaiah's funeral became a public event, it was different when it came to the business industry.
They had to keep going.
"I have to go. Will you be fine?" Xavier asked Zarah.
Zarah hummed in response. Xavier on the other hand reluctantly let go of her hand and followed Rupert and Brian on the way out.
Before leaving, he approached the twins and Hope. "Please watch her over for me. If something happens to her, call me right away."
For the entire time, Zarah didn't sit and only stood beside Isaiah's casket while the mourners took turns in coming to the front to pay for respect and utter their condolences.
Though they didn't know who Zarah was, they still expressed their condolences to her.
Some were even worried for her, especially after realizing that she was standing there for seven hours.
The twins and even Hope asked her to sit down but she declined them.
They had no other choice but to accompany her and offer her moral support.
When Xavier came back from doing overtime at the office, he saw her in that state.
"Has she been standing there since I left?" Xavier asked Hope.
"Yes. She refused to eat lunch and she declined to eat dinner too. She said that she wanted to accompany Chairman Stevens. Xavier, do something, please."
Hope was deeply worried for Zarah. The three of them felt helpless against Zarah's stubbornness.
Xavier walked towards Zarah and grabbed her hand.
"Let's eat dinner. Shall we?" He softly said but Zarah flatly declined him, "I'm not hungry."
"Okay." He simply said but he continued this time with seriousness, "However, do you think that he'll be happy seeing you like this?" Xavier knew the right buttons to press to get her attention.
"Zarah, I know you want to keep him company but how can you do that if you'd collapsed from exhaustion? Just est a little, okay?" He continued.
And somehow, he successfully convinced Zarah into eating dinner. And this surprised Olivia and Trixie.
She barely touched her food during dinner and it frustrated Xavier.
"Eat a little more."
"I can't."
Xavier grabbed her spoon and tried feeding her with it but she refused.
Xavier then had a bold idea in mind.
He scooped a spoonful and then put it in his mouth.
The next second, he got up and walked to Zarah's side and then held her chin.
Without saying any warning, he fed her through his mouth.
Zarah instinctively wanted to push him away but Xavier held her shoulder so she'd stay still.
Zarah had no other choice but to gulp down whatever Xavier was trying to feed her through his mouth to get it over with.
At the same time, she was stopping her mind from exploding because of what he was doing.
After Xavier successfully fed her, he retracted and walked back to his seat. He then touched the side of his lips and seductively bit his lower lip.
"Eat it. If you won't eat them, I'll do what I just did again."
Zarah was left without a choice but to obey.
***
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OrieNovel
OrieNovel I need someone like Xavier in my life.
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