Mikael signalled the butler to keep quiet as he entered the hall and went to his mother who was in the kitchen. He got closer and gave Mrs. Sun a back hug saying.
''I missed doing this the most!''
Mrs. Regina's eyes lit up but she pretended and shrugged Mikael off saying. ''Who are you, young man? Do I know you? Don't you know that I could file a sexual harassment suit against you for hugging me without my permission?''
''Are you still mad at me?'' Mikael smiled and pulled her into a tight hug. ''Don't be mad. Am I not here now? I missed you so much, mother!''
''You've been in District Z for the past 48 hours and this is the only time you are coming to see me. Am I still your mother?''
''Of course, you are my mother. My first love!'' Mikael held his mother's hands and kissed the back of her palm affectionately.
''Look at you, why are you coming back just now? You've become so lean; don't you get time to eat at all?''
''I am here now! You can feed me all the delicious meal you can think of. I will eat all of them.''
''I thought you would have come to meet Natalie yesterday.''
''I am not going to meet that woman!'' Mikael spoke with contempt.
''That woman? Mikael, she is not just any woman. She is your sister in law and I love her like my own daughter.''
''I don't care. I am against the marriage!''
''Why? Care to give me a good reason why you don't like Natalie? She is such a darling''
''Isn't it obvious? She married Thomas for the money!''
''Why do you care so much? She didn't marry you, so let them be. Leave them alone!''
''I will be staying for a while mom. I came back to shoot a drama with Director Zou. I worked with him sometime back and he wants us to work together again.''
''Is it the same drama that 'that woman' is starring in?''
''Which woman?''
''Nothing, don't bother with it. I was making your favourite soup. It's almost done, go and freshen up and come back for it.''
''Thanks mom, love you!''
.....
C-CHAINS VILLAS.
T-VILLA.
Natalie woke up the next morning feeling lazy to get out of bed. She was still laying down staring at the ceiling when her phone started ringing.
''Who could be calling so early?'' She yawned and stretched her hand towards the table to pull the phone over. ''Must be Thomas calling to say he has arrived.'' She frowned when she saw the district hospital line registered on her phone.
''Hello…'' Natalie's hand quivered and the phone dropped from her hand. Her face drained off all colour as she gasped in shock.
.....
City M State Hospital.
Morgue.
Mrs. Regina and Mikael looked at the forensic doctor as they stood in front of the morgue.
''No, that is not my son!'' Mrs. Regina shook her head in disbelieve.
''Mrs. Sun, I am sorry!'' The doctor said.
''Are you sure that the private jet belonged to the Sun family? What about my father, what happened to him?'' Mikael asked with a confused look.
''The police will fill you in on that information, the detective is here already.'' The doctor said and pointed at the detective that was walking towards them.
''Hi, Mr. Sun. I am Detective Coby from the City Police Headquarters.''
''Can you explain the situation clearly for us to understand?'' Mikael asked.
''Mr. Sun, In the whole of Country V, your family private jet is the only plane that takes off at the city airport. I'm sorry, Mr. Sun but when we got wing of the situation, the plane was blown to pieces. The national forest searchers went in to the area but they couldn't find anything apart from the body of Mr. Thomas Sun that wasn't destroyed completely.''
''What… did you just say?'' Natalie asked from a distance. She clasped her shaking hands together. Everyone turned to look at her.
Mrs. Regina walked closer to Natalie and held her hand, ''Nat darling!''
Natalie pointed at the detective incoherently and asked. ''What is all this about? Thomas' plane did what? Aunt… is not true, right?'' Her eyes teared up and she kept gasping trying to catch her breath.
''Come here kid!'' Mrs. Regina hugged Natalie and she stepped back in utter shock.
''I understand this is difficult to take in, but, as I was saying. The plane that Mr. Thomas and his father Denis Sun boarded for Country C crashed and blew up. We could only find traces of the body parts and other things that were worn by him but Mr. Denis' body couldn't be recovered.''
''Officer, are you sure you are not mistaken? There were so many planes taking off, how are you sure it was my husband's plane and not a different one?'' Natalie walked closer to the officer and asked. Her hands kept quivering and she continuously bit her lips.
''We got a report from the airport and sent out an emergency team but unfortunately it was too late. There were no survivors.''
''No, that is not possible. I spoke to Thomas and he told me he would call me when he arrives. How can he… How can he?" Natalie shakenly fumbled her hands against her pyjamas. She didn't even change before rushing over. She looked haggard and her hair was messy.
"Please, tell me this isn't true?" Natalie shook her head continuously.
Mikael looked away immediately, the moment he felt a stab in his heart from watching her wrecked state. He turned to the doctor. ''Can I see the body?''
''No!'' Natalie screamed at Mikael as she took her phone, dialling Thomas' number, ''What body are you going to see? That body inside isn't Thomas. Whoever that is inside there is not my Thomas. I am going to call him right now and make you realise he is not the one in there...'' Natalie's tears fell on the phone as she dialled the number.
Mrs. Regina looked at Natalie with a teary gaze. She turned to look at Mikael who quickly wiped away the tears that fell from his eyes.
''Why is it not going through? Aunt, why is he not picking my calls. Thomas is not answering my calls...'' Her voice cracked as she asked looking at Mrs. Regina.
''Child...'' Mrs. Regina shook her head and hugged Natalie as she murmured.
''Aunt, he promised to call me when he arrives. Why is he not calling me? He should have gotten there by now.'' Natalie sobbed as she talked.
''Take me inside!'' Mikael said to the doctor.
''This way, please!'' The doctor opened the morgue and led him inside.
Mikael clenched his fists tightly as he watched the doctor pull out the body of Thomas out of the fridge.
''These were found on him!'' The detective handed over a small white bag containing a wedding ring, his wrist watch and a necklace in it.
''Thank you!'' Mikael took the bag and Natalie snatched it from him.
''This is the watch I bought for him last month!'' She said and the things fell to the floor.
''Thomas. Aah...'' Mrs. Regina gasped and Mikael held her steady as she was about to fall.
Natalie walked closer to the destroyed body and stared at it. She was still in a state of shock as she stared at the body. She chuckled and shook her head.
.....
A few days later...
Funeral hall.
Natalie looked at the raised beddings that contained the frames of Thomas and Denis Sun and shook her head. Her tears flowing like a stream, drenching her black outfit.
Mrs. Regina went forward and pulled her to the side to stand next to Mikael as they received the greetings and blessings of the guests.
A lot of people came in and placed flowers in front of the frames, paid their respects before going to greet Mrs. Regina, Mikael and Natalie.
A distance away, a reporter sneaked around, taking photos of the funeral hall. He walked towards Natalie and was about to take a photo when a shadow blocked him.
''What the hell do you think you are doing?'' The lady who blocked him asked before snatching the camera from him.
''I was just casually taking pictures. Give the camera back to me.'' He tried to snatch back the camera but the lady was fast enough to dodge him.
''How about, no!'' She replied and removed the memory card from the camera. ''You can have the camera but I'm keeping this.'' She crashed the memory card in his face.
''Hey, you can't do that?'' The man shouted making everyone turn to look at them.
Natalie walked to them and asked the lady, ''Kim Xia, what is going on here?''
''Nat, this useless reporter was secretly taking pictures of you and Mikael. Didn't you tell me that the funeral was private? How did he get inside here?'' The lady called Kim Xia asked.
Natalie looked at the man who didn't have the guts to meet her gaze. He was looking everywhere but her face. ''How did you get inside here?'' She asked him.
''Sis, look. I got this from him. This is the camera he was using.'' Xia snatched back the camera and showed it to Natalie.