Author's POV
"So how and when do we discuss everything? Do you already have an idea of how it's going to be?" He was certain, that to Kehna's father, took his offer as very spontaneous and uncomfortable to accept. "Sir, I-"
"Don't address me like that, I'm not even older than you" he chuckled before answering.
"Well, I'll try not to address you like that anymore. But we planned on making it small, I mean it's not something we should celebrate." He wasn't ready to give in and Mr. William wasn't ready to give up either. "If possible, we would appreciate it, if only family members could be there, but none of our families will be able to show up" the more he talked, the more curious Mr. William became.
"Why wouldn't they come? I mean it's a serious matter, and it's probably the least they can do" he nodded.
He was about to answer the question when Rachel appeared out of nowhere. "Sorry, to interrupt" she looked at her husband before saying "Have you forgotten about the meeting?"
"I don't remember having an appointment today. I completely cleared my schedule for today." She was still trying to give him signals with her movements, facial expression and stares.
"It's okay, you've done enough for us. We appreciate you coming" Kehna's father said in between. "Okay, I'll give you my business card so you can contact me and tell me, what you think about what we discussed" he nodded in agreement. Mr. William sighed and followed his wife.
They decided to go look for Ruby, so they could all go home together.
After finding Ruby, they went out of the building and immediately went to the car.
As they were walking to their car Mr. William told Ruby to give him and her mother a minute. "Ruby can you wait in the car, we'll be there in a minute" without hesitating she went to the car.
"What was that for?" He asked his wife furiously "What do you mean?" She asked in return "You know exactly what I mean"
"Okay, and so what?"
"Are you joking, right now?" She stayed silent "Why would you interrupt, like that"
"Well, I overheard your conversation and you were trying to force the man into something, he didn't want to be part of"
"You came up with the idea in the first place. How come, you're complaining now?"
"I'm not complaining, I'm trying to tell you that, you have a brain, use it! The way you were pressuring him, wouldn't make him take your offer, neither would he think of calling, after that experience."
What she said was making him come back to reality. "So what do we do?"
"We?" She asked "Yes, we. You came up with this incredible idea, in the first place," he said and rolled his eyes. "First of all, we'd have to drive back home, before talking about anything" they agreed on that and went to the car.
Inside the house of the Arellalo's,
"How did it go?" Kehna asked, her father while putting back the Utensils their guests used. "What?"
"You talked with Mr. William for a long time, so I thought maybe you guys were discussing something important" he didn't answer and Kehna didn't bother asking anymore. As she was about to leave the kitchen her dad stopped her by saying... "We did" she instantly turned back. "You did?"
"We talked about your mother's burial. He wants to take care of everything, but I told him we can't accept it" Kehna was satisfied with the answer of her father.
She left the kitchen without saying a word.
On the other hand, what was on the mind of Mr. Arellalo was different. He said, they weren't going to accept the offer, but he was going to call Mr. William, anyway.
In Mr. William office,
"So? What are we going to do?"
"We'll have to wait for him to call" she replied taking off her jacket and putting it on the chair.
"And what if he doesn't call?" She sighed heavily "This what I'm trying to explain to you, you've got to have patience. What if he's busy and can't call you just, yet? What are you going to do then? Are you going to go back and threaten him?"
"Which question do you want me to answer first?" They were both mad at each other, but recognized that with that behaviour, they weren't going anywhere. "I see no reason why we should ignore each other now. We are both stuck in this"
"No, you're stuck in this alone, I'm helping you because I don't want my daughter's name to reflect in this case"
"She's still our daughter" Rachel laughed slightly after hearing what her husband said. "When you start treating her like yours, then we can talk about me addressing her as our daughter and not as mine, okay?"
He was going to say something when she interrupted. "And once you're through feeling frustrated come downstairs, I'm going to make dinner" She left him in his office dumbfounded.
As Rachel proceeded to the kitchen, she noticed Ruby already sitting in the kitchen.
"Are you that, hungry?"
"What?" She gave as a response. "Well, you're already sitting here, so I thought maybe you're waiting for dinner"
"No, I'm not hungry"
"Is something bothering you?" Ruby didn't say anything.
All of a sudden she spoke as if she remembered something very important. "Mom?" Her mother who had her back facing Ruby responded with a "hmmm"
"While I was gone, did you by any chance get my schoolwork?"
"No" she answered simply "Mom! If you couldn't come to visit in the hospital then you could have, at least thought about my schoolwork"
"I wasn't the one who ran off like it's no man's business. I was going to go to your school and get the materials you missed out on, but I thought it's your education, after all, do whatever you want with it"
"Why do you have to be like this? Ugh, you guys make me sick. I'm so tired of you" she said rushing out of the kitchen.
All her mother could do, was watch her daughter move away from her physically and mentally.
Later that day,
Mr. William was in his office waiting for a call from, Kehna's father. He was hoping that he hadn't made the wrong decision by trying to persuade him. He tried working on different things to keep himself busy, but failed. "What do I do now?" He kept on repeating to himself. "What if he doesn't call?"
While he was roaming around his office repeating the same thing, the phone rang... "Hello," he said rapidly "Hello... It's Kehna's father, you came by today and gave me your number" he was about to sincerely thank him for calling, but he had to calm down so his excitement wouldn't show. "Well, good that you called. So did you give my offer a second thought?"
"Yes, we do want to keep it small, but no matter how small we want to have it, we'll have to spend money and after the burial, I don't want to be stranded" while Kehna's dad was still talking, on the other end of the phone Mr. William was busy going nuts over the information that his strategy wasn't a complete failure. "I'm glad you accepted the offer but since you already have an idea of how you would have the burial, when are you planning to do it?"
"Um, we were hoping to get it done as quick as possible, that's maybe in a week or two"
"Okay, you'll just have to write down everything needed and how much it is in total, so I can send you a check" after he said that Mr. Arellalo showed his appreciation very clearly through the phone.
Mr. William kept his promise and paid for everything Mr. Arellalo had listed out. However, Kehna knew nothing about her father sealing the deal he had promised not to seal behind her back.
At the burial,
They had picked up the corpse and went to the church. Everyone was clothed in black and you could hardly find someone smiling. They took her to the church, where they would say their last goodbye's and also bury her.
The pastor began to speak "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away" after a while of silence, he started talking again "For the Lord hath given us Claudia Arellalo as a blessing, but he said in his word, Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy cometh in the morning" again a long silence... "Let us pray" they all rose "God, we thank you for the life you gave us. It is full of work and of responsibility, of sorrow and of joy. Today we thank you for Claudia Arellalo, and we pray, that you keep her family safe and healthy"
"Amen" was what everyone said, in response.
After the pastor was done with the prayer and blessings, Kehna and her father were left alone to say their goodbye's. Kehna didn't leave her father's side throughout, she kept her head down so no one could see how much of a mess she looked like.
When her father decided to go and thank the people who showed up, he also advised Kehna to look for her friends. As she was going to look for them as her father had instructed, surprisingly a few of her classmates were there, before she could go and say hi, Ruby and Stella were already approaching.
"Hey, Kehna," Stella said softly giving her a warm hug. "Thank you" she smiled in return. "Have you been crying?" Ruby asked "Really Ruby? How about hi Kehna, how have been doing?"
"Sorry, you're right. How are you?" Kehna giggled knowing that they couldn't stay without hating on each other. "First of all, yes I've been crying and secondly thanks, I'm fine".