Fifty-eight days later...
Cainan’s car parked in front of the cemetery for a while now, but he doesn't dare to go out of his car just like every day for the past fifty-eight days. He’d come to the cemetery with flowers in his hands, but not having enough guts to step out of his car and go over to her grave and drop the flower. Instead, he’d call the grave watcher, handing him the flower and telling him the name of the gravestone and a few cash.
He stares ahead of him at the cemetery, looking past the many tombstones to the one that belongs to Neriah, but hasn’t found a reason to leave his car yet.
Andrew, the grave keeper, approaches him as he has done in the past fifty-eight days, but unlike the other days, he shakes his head with a small smile on his face, “I’ve got it today, thank you.”
He nods and walks away from the car.
Another hour passes by as Cainan sits in his car, thinking of the best way he can use to step out of his car and approach Neriah’s grave for the first time.
He knows this has to be done one way or another and sitting in his car will not help, so he takes a deep breath and opens the door of his car and steps out with the red roses in his hand.
With boldness, he makes his way over to the grave of Neriah and when he finally gets there; he drops the rose in his hand on top of the tombstone where other dried and withered roses are.
He stares at the engravings boldly written on the tombstone.
Neriah Faith Gomez Inferno
            December 25th, 1994 - April 12th, 2018
Wife, Daughter, Sister, Friend.
May her soul rest in perfect peace.
And holds his breath and bites down on his lips to stop his glassy eyes from releasing the tears they are failing so miserably to hold.
Damn! He thought he could handle it, he thought he’d be able to let the thought of her being gone sit now, but it’s just too hard to.
“Neriah, I’m sorry, I’m still a mess.” He says, smiling painfully and wiping the tears rolling down his face away. “I need you here. I miss you and every day is harder than the last, but I feel it’s my fault for not listening to you and letting go just like you told me to.”
His heart is squeezing in his chest, threatening to stop responding at any moment because of the pain thereof.
“I need to sit, love.” He says weakly and sits down beside her tombstone. “I hope you’re not mad that it’s taken me so long to talk to you, but knowing you, you probably are. It’s been so hard to accept the fact that you are gone. But I feel the need to do this now.”
“I didn’t give any last words at your funeral service and I’m sorry, I was still grieving and I would have messed up bad if I had tried to. Also, I wanted you to be the only one to hear it, no one else. I wrote my last words the other night, but I tore it up and threw it away because I know no words can come close to explaining how it feels to lose you.”
The cloud above him rumbles and Cainan looks up to see it forming above them and looking like it’s about to rain. And he looks down at the tombstone with a raised brow. And a small chuckle escapes his mouth.
“You’re still mad at me, eh?” He sighs and nods his head, “well that makes the two of us because I am mad at me too, but I’m not leaving until I man up and say goodbye even if it means getting soaked in the rain.”
He stays quiet for a while, then speaks. “Funny what life does to people like us and how people tell us what to do and how to live life. They say we can’t change our fate or our destiny, as we are going to be who or what we are in the end, but I was privileged to have known someone who defiled fate, who changed her fate, life and time, I had the privileged to know you. You stood against all odds just to live longer with those you loved.”
He stays silent for another long while before he speaks again.
“I remember vowing once to be your worst nightmare, but you were my worst nightmare. You called me an idiotic billionaire, something no one had ever said to me before and that was an eye-opener. I chased you down, but ended up falling for you instead.” He smiles and shakes his head, “I do not regret that our path crossed, I do not regret that I fell for you even though all odds and senses told me not to and I’m grateful for the time you had to live and I feel lucky you were beside me. And I don’t regret marrying you and calling you mine even though it was for a short time because it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I wish you would have lived though, I wish you’d lived and made my life miserable, to torture me and make me feel horrible, and I’d gladly pick you and every pain you would have caused me over not having you at all.”
Drops of rain touch Cainan’s red shirt and he looks down at his shirt before looking up as though nothing happened.
“Someday I hope to take your advice and move on, but that day isn’t today.”
“Well unto some other important matters, Riá-no has been a success and I’m glad you could start something for yourself and your family before leaving. Your family is here now. I didn’t see the need for them to go back to Jos after your funeral, so I told them the penthouse was yours and they could stay if they wanted to. They have been there ever since.”
“Onü will take the position as the manager at Riá-no once he turns eighteen, and that’s a few months from now. I think he’ll do great. He’s smart, young and committed. Your sister, Kamsi, would join in a year and your mom tries to be the tough one for them like always, but she’s still grieving. As I promised, I’ll be there to help and assist them the best way I can and I’m not giving up on that promise.” By the time he finishes talking, he is already soaked in the dripping rainwater.
“You’re probably having fun soaking me up with the rain. This has your signature written all over it, but it makes me happy to know you’re in a better place. I’ll always love you, Ria and you are still being missed.”
With that, he gets up and makes his way out of the cemetery.
          The End
A.N it’s hard to say goodbye, but in the end, we all must say goodbye to what we love someday.
Thanks for staying by this book to the end. Please leave feedback and reviews so others can feel encouraged to read it. Thank you, much love ❤️❤️