Chapter 60 Chapter 60. Zephyr Asks for “Honey”
When Zephyr pushed into her, Zoria frowned. Reflexive tears blurred her vision. Her situation at that moment was both pitiful and humiliating.
“Zoria… it’s been so long since I heard you call me honey.”
At the peak, Zephyr suddenly blurted that out. Amid the chaos in her mind, a flicker of clarity surfaced, and Zoria turned her head to look at him.
“Call me honey, okay?”
Zoria clenched her teeth and stayed silent. Looking into Zephyr’s lust-filled eyes, she suddenly felt icy all over. Enduring the pain, she forced out in a hoarse voice, “Honey…”
Zephyr was still dissatisfied and pressed further. “Call me my mate.”
Zoria’s thoughts drifted far away. She remembered the day she officially became mates with Zephyr, how she had once trembled as she softly called him “my mate.”
How had Zephyr replied back then?
Ah—she remembered now.
He had been drunk, and with a cold laugh, he had thrown a sentence at her face. “You’re not worthy of calling me that.”
Zoria’s gaze settled on Zephyr’s handsome face, cold as ice. She spat out each word clearly. “You’re not worthy.”
Zephyr went mad, tormenting Zoria until she was barely alive. Zoria did not resist. Her body was already weak, and after enduring Zephyr’s abuse for a while, her consciousness gradually faded.
…
When she groggily came to, she realized everything around her was swaying. She thought she was still on the bed, but when she opened her eyes, she saw she was in a car.
“You’re awake?” Zephyr held Zoria in his arms, toying with her slender fingers as if she were nothing more than a plaything.
“Where are we going?” Zoria’s voice was so hoarse it was nearly soundless, her throat feeling torn apart from the forced cries earlier.
Zephyr replied, “Didn’t you want to see your father? I’m taking you there now.”
Zoria regained a bit of clarity. As long as she could see her father one last time, there would be nothing left for him to threaten her with.
The expression on Zoria’s face was unreadable to Zephyr. Seeing her exhaustion, he did not press her with further questions.
The rain had lasted for three days straight. The car was only halfway there when the downpour suddenly crashed down. It was May, yet the rain poured as if the sky had split open—thunder rolling without pause, raindrops slamming violently against the windows, as though they meant to shatter the glass.
By the time the car reached the cemetery, the rain finally eased. The driver got out first, opened an umbrella, and walked over to Zephyr. Zephyr took the umbrella with one hand, while the other reached out to grasp Zoria’s icy fingers.
The moment she stepped out of the car, Zoria looked off into the distance. The gloomy rain blanketed the entire cemetery, mirroring her state of mind perfectly.
Kieran had been buried yesterday. A single glance across the cemetery was enough to tell which grave was his—the cleanest one, the newest one.
Amid the forest of gravestones, Zoria spotted her father’s grave at once. She shook off Zephyr’s hand and staggered toward Kieran’s headstone.
Zephyr followed behind, holding the umbrella over her, but Zoria felt nothing. She turned around, her gaze icy as it locked onto his face.
"I want to talk to my father alone."
Her eyes left no room for refusal. Zephyr extended the umbrella toward her. Instead, Zoria took a step back, then rushed straight into the rain, heading toward the grave.
Zephyr stayed where he was, gripping the umbrella handle so tightly his knuckles turned white. The driver walked up beside him, glancing at Zoria’s unsteady figure swaying in the rain.
"Boss, should we stop her?"
Zephyr replied indifferently, "Let her be."
Zoria’s clothes were completely soaked, clinging tightly to her body and outlining her frail frame. Her face had already been pale, and the rain drained it of even more color. She looked even more unsteady in the downpour. Several times, Zephyr thought she might fall—but she stubbornly kept moving forward.
Zoria wiped the rainwater from her face. Finally, she stood before Kieran’s grave. The headstone bore a photograph of him from his days as mayor—his smile bright, his eyes sharp, his expression full of life.
"Daddy, please forgive your unfilial daughter."
Her trembling voice had barely fallen silent when her knees suddenly gave way. Zoria dropped heavily to the ground, bowing down.
"Daddy… I promise you, I’ll live well. I’ll live for you too."
The cold stone numbed her forehead until she could no longer feel the pain. Zoria slammed her head down again and again. Blood seeped from her skin, only to be washed away instantly by the rain.
She lifted her head, her gaze steady as it met Kieran’s eyes in the photograph. She murmured, "Daddy, I won’t kill myself. I won’t let Zephyr bully us anymore. I’ll protect myself, and I’ll live on—strong."
After saying that, she struggled to her feet.
"Zoria."
At the moment she was about to turn around, she thought she heard her father calling her from behind. Her heart trembled, a wave of grief she couldn’t put into words surging from deep within. She turned back, pressed her lips together softly, and looked at the headstone one last time. Her eyes burned, tears threatening to fall.
She knew that in this world, there would never again be a male who loved her and cared for her the way her father had.
There are things in life that, once they happen, can never be undone. No matter how much you regret them, it’s useless.
Zephyr was probably the calamity Zoria would never escape for the rest of her life.
"Got a cigarette?" Zephyr stared at Zoria’s thin figure kneeling in the rain, irritation churning in his chest.
"Yeah, yeah." The driver dug into his pocket and pulled out a pack.
Zephyr took it, flipped it open, and put one between his lips. The driver lit it for him.
Zephyr took a drag and asked casually, "Do you think I treat Zoria well?"
The question stunned the driver. He looked at Zoria’s fragile silhouette kneeling in the rain and thought to himself that he truly couldn’t see how Zephyr had ever been good to her. But did he dare say that out loud?