YM778.TV Chapter 73
His father handed him his appointment letter, his body still as sturdy as an oak, as towering as before. But if anyone looks closely, the life in his eyes was long gone.
He has died with his mother. On her sick bed that day, she took his heart with her as she went.
“You are ready,” his father told him, his voice made sure he didn’t raise any issue.
Jiro nodded and accepted the letter. “Will you be going then, father?”
His father nodded, a smile finally gracing his lips after all these years. Jiro felt scared of that smile. Because he knew exactly what that meant.
He knew his father will be leaving him soon, the perfect medical report has nothing to do with it. He knew it as surely as he stepped into this office.
His father trained him and made sure he will be the best in everything. He made sure he can take over the company at a young age.
Now at twenty-two, he has turned over everything to him. The company and all their properties. He knew what it meant.
.....
His father handed him his lighter, the one he kept since he was a young man. To others, it may seem like a symbol of good tidings.
But knowing the meaning behind it, he knew it wasn’t. It was a symbol of his father’s entrusting everything to him. This way he can be free of all earthly reasons and follow his wife like how he always wanted.
He stood up as his father started to walk towards the door. “Will I be seeing you again, father?”
His father stood frozen, his eyes on the door. He didn’t know how to answer. His queen has been waiting for him for five years now.
Every day has been worse than hell for him. Not being with his beloved wife and knowing she was waiting for him. He couldn’t stay far from her any longer.
“Dad, thank you for waiting until today,” Jiro said, his words clear. He knew what was about to happen.
His father nodded, “I promised your mom that I will. I have fulfilled that promise now. You have grown to be a fine man your mother can be proud of.”
“When you see mom again, will you please tell her I love her,” Jiro looked at his father as the latter stepped out of the room.
“I will for sure, find and tell her that,” Dominus looked at his son, his eyes filled with love and affection for his and his wife’s only child.
“You take care, son,” Jiro walked and hugged his father tightly. He knew he will never see him alive again.
But he couldn’t stop him. He was certain he wouldn’t listen. And he didn’t want to see his father suffer any longer. So he let go and watched his father walk away.
——-
Dominus arrived at the beach house, he smiled happily as if he was a prisoner finally freed from the cell. He walked inside the house and unpacked his clothes.
The clothes were new, never before worn. He got out a perfume as well, her favorite scent, of course.
He hurriedly took a quick shower and changed his clothes. Wearing his new shirt and the perfume she loves.
He opened a small velvet box and smiled. Inside it is the padparadscha ring he gifted her before.
He placed it in his pocket and greeted the caretaker who smiled seeing his boss so happy. After so many years he thought his boss finally learned to let go.
He asked for his sailboat to be set up, and for the fuel to be filled. The caretaker commented on how it’s only half of the usual fuel he used in the past.
Dominus smiled and assured him it will suffice. There is a storm, the caretaker commented further. Maybe the boss would like to wait until tomorrow to sail.
Dominus assured him he will be fine and that he knew what he was doing. Before he left, he handed the caretaker a bag saying it is his family’s gift for his loyal service.
The caretaker thanked him and went on his way, still worried about his boss’s seemingly unwise choices. He prayed for his boss’s journey and bade him farewell.
When he reached the house and opened the bag, he saw for himself bundles of cash. That’s when he knew. His boss will not be coming back.
———
Dominus set sail happily, even when the wind tossed his boat around he still continued to go farther from the shore. He looked at the fading signs of the shore as he continued even farther.
When he has reached the middle of the ocean, where no one can be sure to bother him. He saw her.
She was smiling at him, calling him so gently with her soft voice. “Dominus, my knight. Did you come for me?”
“Yes, it is I. I came for you, my queen,” his heart felt so many emotions that it physically hurt. Like his heart was being ripped to shreds every moment she stayed so far from his reach.
She walked closer to him. She was standing in the middle of the sea as she stretched her hands to him.
“Can I come with you now, my queen? I have done what you asked of me,” he told her, his voice pleading, his whole being begging her to say yes.
“My love, come now. We have waited long enough,” the girl nodded and smiled.
Her auburn hair being blown by the wind framed her face so perfectly. And her blue eyes that matched the sea called to him.
Hearing her words, without any hesitation. He jumped, he didn’t swim and let himself sink further as he reached out for his beloved.
The girl is in his arms now. He claimed her lips with such hunger even as they continued to sink farther.
The water that entered his nostrils and the waves that pulled him down, made water seep through his lungs making breathing difficult.
He caressed her cheek gently even as he felt himself being choked by the water around him. He smiled at seeing her again. He knew she waited.
His queen smiled at him, and pressed a soft kiss on his cheek before his body fell lifeless on the ocean floor.
——
Two days after, they found his body. Bloated by the sea water and soft to the touch. His body was as pale as a ghost as the authorities retrieved it.
“The man looks like he was smiling before he died,” one of the rescue personnel noted.
They noticed he was clenching his palm, they forced it open, and in the middle of his clenched fist is a ring with stone the color of sunset.
“It must be expensive. Why was he holding it in the middle of the sea?” the other said, admiring the rare gem as it changed from pink to red to orange as the sunlight reflected on it.
“You know the ultra-rich. They are a weird bunch. They only care about their material possessions until the very end,” his friend commented as they sealed the ring.
Both were enamored by its brilliance but too afraid to steal from the ex-CEO of the Saito corporation. They will have to turn over this gem to his son later.
The son refused to join the rescue operations and waited patiently in the beach house. He has already dressed in black as if he knew what he was to expect.
They boarded the rescue boat upon reaching the shore and showed his son the body of his father. To their amazement, he did not cry.
An ambulance was waiting for them, he explained as several people took the body and boarded it in the ambulance. There were even people from the morgue waiting for the rescue team.
They would have thought he orchestrated his father’s death if not for the fact he was miles away from the beach when that happened.
When they handed him the gemstone ring, he took it out of the sealed plastic and held it tenderly in his hand.
“It’s my mom’s, the padparadscha,” he explained as they looked in awe at the descendant’s only heir.
He handed money to the rescuers as he went inside the house. Leaving the two to talk about the problems of the rich and famous and how they have no love even for family members.
Jiro reached the house and took the ring, wrapping it in his father’s necktie and placing it inside a chest filled with their personal things.
He traced his fingers on the chest box and let out a smile. “Thank you for waiting until now, father. Find mom and be happy together. Tell her I love her so.”
The gracious son bowed his head as the sun kissed the sea. The laughter of eternal lovers graced the beach as the knight carried the queen in his arms, spinning her while she laughed.
An image of the knight and queen running free on the endless stretch of white sand can be seen in the background, disappearing just as fast as the waves came crashing against the shore.