C5 Attending The Burial.

David closed his eyes once he sat down in the car's backseat. Felix turned on the car and peeked at his boss through the rearview mirror.

“Where do you want to go, boss?” David asked, but he was met with silence. He had learned on the job not to be presumptuous, so he did not pull out of the parking lot and patiently waited for David’s reply.

David was silent for five minutes before he opened his eyes and made eye contact with Felix, who had been watching him closely through the rear-view mirror.

“Is it time for the burial?” David asked, and Felix paused to think.

“They had probably left for the cemetery ten minutes after I left, I don’t know if they have arrived yet, but it should be time for the burial,” Felix explained.

“Then let’s go to the cemetery,” David said and relaxed his body and closed his eyes once more. His head was all over the place and his mood wasn’t too bad because of the alcohol he had consumed earlier.

He was wondering what the reporters would write the next day about the part he played on the funeral, since he had been absent, and would only show up now. It would probably cause a ruckus, right?

He pulled out a lighter from his pocket and lit a cigarette before placing it on his lips. He looked outside for a few seconds before observing Felix.

“Open the windows,” he said when he noticed his furrowed eyebrows. Felix cracked the windows of the two front seats open and the smoke in the car dissipated. Just like this, the two of them travelled to the cemetery in silence until they arrived.

“Get out of the car,” David said, and Felix got out without asking any questions. David combed his fingers through his hair and loosened his tie. He unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt and removed the navy-blue suit jacket he was wearing.

When he got out of the car, Felix almost gasped in surprise. He had never seen David look like this; he had always looked meticulous. Every strand of hair was always in place. Looking at him now, he looked like he was as heartbroken as David Lyon could manage to be over his wife’s death.

They had pulled an all-nighter the previous day, so the area under his eyes was slightly darkened. That, combined with his unkempt look and the slight smell of alcohol and cigarettes that still lingered on his body, was perfect for a show.

“Let’s go,” David said to Felix, who locked the car and followed him. The only reason he had bothered to attend the funeral was for the sake of both families. If he did not show up at all, they would all lose face. That was why they had even pushed back the burial to wait for him.

The first people to notice his presence was the press. As soon as one of them spotted him, they all started to furiously take pictures of him. David paid them no mind and continued to walk forward while he was expressionless.

He got to where the immediate family of the deceased was and stood next to the casket. He had missed the funeral service, but he still wanted to see whether the one in there was really Suzanne.

“Before you bury her…” he started to say and trailed off as if he was feeling conflicted about what he was about to say. Everyone had gone quiet at his sudden arrival, so even though his voice was low, the surrounding people could still hear him.

His mother had a worried expression on her face because he looked like he was distressed about her daughter-in-law’s death. Even his in-laws thought that he was heartbroken. Only his father, who had talked to him before and Felix, knew that this was just an act.

“Can… can I see her? For the last time?” he asked, his voice getting lower and lower towards the end of the sentence, giving the illusion that he was trying to control his emotions. He was no acting major, but it was not difficult to pull off something like this.

He normally appeared confident and charismatic in public, so he just had to tweak his image a bit for now and make some minor adjustments. Everyone will just think he was trying to act strong, he just had to say the right words.

Suzanne’s father was hesitant about allowing this, but his crying wife got even more distressed when she heard his words and cried even louder. It seemed like her perfect son-in-law was also heartbroken. So he allowed David to see his dead wife.

David opened the casket so only he could see so that the media wouldn’t be able to take pictures of her. As he looked inside, he confirmed that it was really Suzanne.

Even though her body was bloated from drowning, he still remembered the scar she had gotten on the inner fold of her elbow and also a tattoo she had gotten. Even the barely visible scar on her eyelid was noticed by him.

He almost snorted in disappointment. He would rather she had been faking her death after eloping with one of her boyfriends, but she actually was careless enough to go and die.

Even though he was having such controversial thoughts, his facial expression remained neutral as he stared at the body for a beat longer to look for any anomalies and also for effect.

After he felt that it was enough, he closed the casket and went to stand on the opposite side from where everyone was and leaned on a tree.

He took out a cigarette from his pocket and fiddled with it as he looked at his shoes. After thinking about it, he put the cigarette back in his pocket and watched the proceedings as if he was not part of it. But everyone just attributed it to him getting used to carrying a neutral expression.

When asked to pour soil into the grave, he paused for a few seconds before pouring some in and standing back to give a chance to everyone else in the family before they started burying the casket.

When they were halfway through, most of the crowd was gone already and when everyone left, the immediate family members left. His mother-in-law had already passed out from despair.

In the end, only he was left to watch the entire process with Felix standing behind him.

“Contact the PR department to publish articles,” David ordered as he put a cigarette in his lips and lit it. Felix nodded and made a phone call to the company to publish articles.

David stood there and watched the grave get filled with soil till the end. After standing there for another ten minutes, he left.

“Where to, sir?” Felix asked after not receiving any instructions for some time.

“Take me home, I’m sleepy,” David answered with a long sigh. It was one thing to act out this play alone, but he did not have the patience to do this with everyone offering their condolences for losing a wife who wasn’t really a wife to him anymore.

Their marriage had pretty much ended around seven years ago. Since then they would be cordial with each other. In the beginning, they lived like roommates. Then at some point, Suzanne’s guilt got the better of her and she moved out completely.

The only reason they did not divorce is because their marriage was a promise between their families. Now that she managed such a feat, he could finally take a break from the farce that was their marriage.