Dressed in a black dress, Tessa sat in the backseat of the car, hugging the urn. Her eyes were puffy from crying continuously.
She was still not able to completely digest the situation. No mother could do it.
The news of Alan's death hit her like a train the previous day morning.
When she got a call from the police station saying that Alan had injured the policemen accompanying him and escaped from custody on the way to the court for the hearing, she promised full cooperation in catching him.
Little did she expect that in an hour's time, she would get another call from the same police station, telling her to head to the hospital to collect her son's body as he was hit by a heavy-duty truck and died on the spot.
The car was completely silent. None of the occupants of the car knew how to console Tessa for her loss.
Jane sat next to her, trying to process everything. So many things had happened in the past few days that she was completely lost.
Ann and Seth were in a similar situation. Even though knew more than Jane did, they were still shocked by the news of Alan's death.
In another car, Oreo was driving Alan's three kids along with his maternal grandparents and boyfriend.
The toddler was fast asleep in the baby seat. The two little girls, who were too young to understand what death was, were staring enthusiastically at the views outside the window. Their father never allowed them to go on road trips like this one. They were very eager to see everything.
The car was going to the Samut Prakan to scatter Alan's ashes at the auspicious place at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River at Paknam.
The old couple in the car was nearly holding it. Even though Alan was their least like grandchild, the blood ties still made it difficult for them not to feel bad for his demise. Both Yacht and Oreo were really worried about them.
In the third car, Boun sat in the passenger seat with an expressionless face. His eyes were blank. He had been like that ever since he heard the news of his brother's death. Nobody knew what he was thinking.
Prem internally sighed seeing Boun in this condition. The older was like a lifeless puppet now. He had to feed him food forcefully as the latter hadn't even touched water since he got the news.
He wished that Boun would just cry and let it out instead of holding it within himself. He knew that the older was somehow blaming himself for everything. But there was nothing he could do if Boun was not willing to be comforted.
The party of three cars stopped at the spot from which they had to take ferries to do the scattering.
It was Oreo and Yacht who took the twins with them on a ferry to scatter their father's ash while the rest of them waited on shore.
Tessa wanted to join them but Ann didn't let her as she knew that for a mother, there was no bigger sorrow than having to scatter her own child's ashes.
Ann hugged Tessa as she cried loudly, slumping to the floor. The latter was mumbling incoherently in the embrace.
She was completely broken. She did get back one son but lost another forever.
It was believed that scattering the ashes in the river would help the safe transfer of the soul to the good land where there is only peace and happiness like a river that is eternally cool.
Prem felt his phone vibrate inside his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was Merlin who was calling him.
Merlin had been locked inside a room as soon as she got back home. They were mad that she didn't tell them about the way Alan treated her or discuss it with them before coming to a decision to get a divorce.
They blamed her for completely humiliating them in front of the crowd and made them look like they were people who didn't care about their daughter's well-being.
But the truth was that she had often told her parents that she was being beaten up by Alan and every single time they would pacify her saying that it is normal for a wife to get beaten by her husband and that she had to put up with it for her children's sake.
Merlin was a hundred per cent sure that her parents wouldn't have let her file the divorce petition. Now they agreed only because Alan was in jail.
When she was informed about Alan's death, she wanted to rush over immediately. No matter what happened between them, he was still the man she used to love. She wanted to see him one last time.
But she got caught by her family just as she was out of the house and was kept under house arrest. She wasn't even allowed to look for her children.
Prem quietly slipped away from the crowd to attend the call. "Swadee, Phi." He spoke softly.
"Prem! Prem, are the ceremonies over? C- Can I see him for once?" Merlin's broken voice was heard from the other side.
"I am sorry, phi." Prem answered "His body has been cremated already. Now Lyra and Leah are scattering his ashes in the river."
Merlin's wailing could be heard from the other side. She had secretly stolen the phone of one of the maids in her house. She was really worried and had no other way to contact the outside world.
"Prem... How is the kids? How are they holding up?" She tried to compose herself.
"They are doing fine, phi." Prem saw Boun looking around. He instantly knew that the older was looking for him. Before he could come up with an excuse to hang up, loud noises were heard from the other side.
Merlin's father had caught her using the phone snatched it back from her hung up the call.
Once the call was hung up, Prem went back to Boun's side.
"The close relatives please come forward to do the rest of the ceremonies." The monk said looking at the crowd in front of him.
Tessa, Oreo, Boun, Ann, the old couple and the two little girls went forward. Prem and Yacht stayed back taking care of the sleeping toddler.
Saen wasn't present in the ceremony as he had been admitted to the hospital for having collapsed after hearing the news of Alan's demise.
No one was aware of the drug that was injected into him or about his deteriorating physical condition. Everyone believed that he had collapsed because he loved and cared for Alan so much.
Even though Prem did find it weird that someone like Saen would care so much about anyone other than himself, he kept it to himself. The time and place to express such a doubt wasn't right.