Echoes Of The Hearts

chapter 3

Ava could feel her insides burning out, she started gasping and suddenly opened her eyes.

She glanced at her surroundings, it was creepy, and silent. A huge fire burned violently in an oven, and Ava realized what was happening, she was about to be cremated. The last thing she remembered was lying on the hospital bed, begging for a second chance while her soul gently escaped her body.

Her eyes popped open, and blood pumped fiercely through her veins.

“I am still alive.” She muttered to herself in surprise. Suddenly, the only door in the room flung open, causing her to hurriedly jumped off the bed she laid on.

“Who are you?” She asked the old woman who had just entered the room. The old woman stood in shock, with her mouth wide apart. She ran her fingers across her face, and blinked rapidly.

“You…I was about to cremate you, why are you back alive?” The old woman asked in bewilderment. Despite having over forty years of experience in cremating bodies, it was her first time experiencing a dead person coming back to life.

Ava's heart beat rapidly against her chest, her eyeballs dashed sideways, and she instantly rushed to the woman.

“Please keep this a secret, I have this…” she searched through her body, and took out a golden ring, grateful it had not melted due to the immense heat in the room.

She snuck the ring into the woman's hand and smiled at her.

“Please keep this a secret, and pretend that you've actually cremated me. Thanks.” She patted the woman's hand, grabbed her belongings that the woman had removed from her and rushed out of the room.

“Your baby…” the woman said, causing Ava to halt in her steps. She slowly turned to the woman, her brows furrowed in curious.

“I am sorry you lost it.” The woman continue, tightening her grip around the golden ring.

Hot tears welled around Ava's eyes, chilly wave crept across her spine, and her shoulders slumped.

“I was…pregnant?” She asked, her voice breaking in agony. The old woman sighed and nodded at her.

The tears poured down her cheeks with no restriction, she bit her lower lips, tightening her grip and ran out of the cremation room.

“I will let both of you pay for all that you made me pass through.” She muttered, clenching her fists tightly.

The sore gazes people threw at her hinted her that something was wrong. She looked at herself in her phone's camera, she looked so disheveled, and creases of black lines formed around her face.

Sighing, she ran to a nearby restroom, and started cleaning herself up. Suddenly, a tall, handsome guy, accompanied with two muscular men walked inside.

A surge of fear swept across Ava's body, the cold expression the men wore made her shiver. She managed to steal a glance at the notice on the wall, only to realize that she had entered the male's section.

“Oh God! I am sorry.” She mumbled between bated breath, and sluggishly walked out of the room. She scratched the back of her neck, avoiding eye contact as she walked away, unintentionally hitting her head against one of the men's chest. His muscular chest, his rhythmic heartbeat, and the warmth that emanated out of his body fluttered Ava's stomach.

“Sorry,” she apologized and walked out. She let out a sigh as soon as she got outside. The next thing on her list was to go back to her doting father who had traveled back to Singapore. She needed to catch the next flight to Singapore as quickly as she can.

After going through the normal processes, she sat in the plane, grimacing on her life with Peter in the past three years. Peter was her love since college days, she had forsaken her father, left her identity behind and decided to marry Peter. Yet, all that she got was betrayal, a divorce paper snucked at her face, and an almost-cremated body.

The plane finally took off, taking her to a new phase of life, while she vowed to come back for revenge against those that had hurt her.

“New York city, I will be back!”

Hours passed, and the plane made it's landing in the Singaporean airport. Ava smiled. The thought of her running to her father's hands sent butterflies to her stomach.

She boarded a Uber and went straight to her dad's residence.

As she alighted from the car, she was shocked to see white clothes being tied around the house, and she could see a huge number of people trooping in and out.

She frowned, shaking her head frantically as different thoughts clashed in her mind.

She ran straight to the living room, only to find her stepmother, and stepsister sitting with swollen eyes.

“Where's father?” She asked immediately.

Lilian, her stepmother gave her a snarl and hissed.

“Where is he?” Ava yelled again, her heart rate doubling than normal. Lilian stood up in a fury and stuck her fingers into Ava's eyes.

“Who do you think you are? Your father is dead and you are now nothing in the family. He used to be your greatest supporter, I wonder what you can do since he is no more.” The words screeched through Ava's ears that she staggered in her steps and crashed to the floor. Tears gushed down her cheeks like an overflowing dam. She placed her hand on her chest, shaking her head as she refused to believe what she just heard.

Just then, her father's younger brother walked in. He had a cold appearance and was always in a disagreement with Ava's father when he was alive.

“Your dad died in an airplane crash while returning back to Singapore. I am sorry, but I hope you know what that means? I am now the president of AirDroid group of companies since he had no son to pass his wealth to.” He paused, wearing a smirk on his face. He bent beside Ava and placed a paper right on her face.

“That's the family register, based on my decision, your name has been erased from the family's register. You are nothing but a loser now, who forsook her family just to marry a commoner. I hope you are satisfied with it, you should have been banished since if not for your dad’s protection.” Paul said to her.

Ava glanced at the register, and for the first time stared at her uncle, Paul. She had wanted to ask him questions at first, but something else caught her attention. He did not seem to be sad at all, but was rather fascinated about her father's assets that he had finally laid his filthy hands on.

Ava began to grow suspicious that her father's death might not be natural, and that everyone in the room except her might know a thing about her father's death.

She gritted her teeth, and tightened her fists, vowing to make a thorough investigation into her father's death, and take back all that belonged to her.

“I will be back for revenge!”