I contacted the funeral home to give him a proper farewell.
He had always been a man who valued cleanliness, so I paid top dollar for a mortuary makeup artist to restore his face so he could leave this world with dignity.
Even though my father was in poor health, he forced himself to attend the funeral—he and Mr. Hayes had been close friends for years.
“Where’s Ethan? How could he not be here for such an important moment—his own father’s farewell?”
I didn’t want my father to worry, so I made up an excuse.
Seeing sweat bead on his forehead, I called a car to send him home first.
As we brushed past each other, Ethan rubbed his eyes.
“Strange… was I seeing things? Like a ghost in broad daylight?”
Chloe tugged his sleeve.
“Come on, Ethan! After Buddy recognizes his new daughter, we still have to rush back to work on the paper!”
“I already leaked your latest results to the press—you’re going to be the first in the world to break species barriers!”
“And I’ll get second author and land on the Dean’s List!”
Chloe entered in a bright red dress, Buddy in her arms, clinging to Ethan’s side, just as I was bowing to the guests.
An obnoxiously cheerful song blasted through the funeral hall.
Chloe strutted up first, slammed Mr. Hayes’s portrait to the floor, and sneered at the body in the casket.
“Ugh, corpses look so ugly. Ethan, don’t let Buddy get scared!”
She grabbed a flower basket and hurled it onto Mr. Hayes’s face, the lush stems and petals covering his features.
A few neighbors couldn’t stand it and shoved the hysterical Chloe aside.
“Ethan, are you really going to watch this lunatic desecrate your father like that?”
Chloe’s eyes were rimmed red. Ethan pulled her close, scowling at the people who’d stepped in.
“Mind your own business.”
“This is a family matter. Who are you to tell us what to do?”
“Out. Now. Don’t delay Buddy’s recognition ceremony!”
Seeing a son indulge others in trampling his father, the onlookers shook their heads as if he were insane. No one wanted to waste anger on such an unfilial man, and they drifted away.
After the guests were gone, Chloe “accidentally” knocked over a candle beside the casket.
The wreaths and funeral offerings stacked nearby caught at once—flames roared up around the coffin.
“Chloe, the dead deserve respect—aren’t you afraid of divine punishment?”
I barely touched her, yet Chloe threw herself to the floor and began to sob theatrically.