All Chapters of Ashes at the Celebration: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

When I received the news that the kindergarten was on fire, my heart pounded terribly hard. I immediately rushed over.My daughter, Nina Leif, was inside.With trembling hands, I called my husband as many times as I could, yet I was unable to reach him.When I was by the gates of the kindergarten, I was completely baffled.The entire building was engulfed in flames and thick smoke. The air was hard to breathe in and had a charred smell. "My child! My child is still inside!" There were parents of the children yelling and wailing outside the gates."Nina! Nina!" I waded past through the crowd, searching for Nina in every kid who was rescued out of the kindergarten. My voice trembled. Every step I took felt heavy to me.At that moment, I saw Samuel Leif. He was the lieutenant of the city's fire department, and also my husband.I yelled his name in hysterics, shoving people aside to get to him. I grabbed him by his arm. "Honey! Nina! Nina is upstairs in the dance studio!"Samuel looked at

Chapter 2

I knelt in front of Samuel and pleaded, "Samuel, please! I beg you! You need to save Nina! She's really inside! Please!""Shut up!" He kicked me aside and looked at me disgustedly. "Take her away! Don't let her near the fire!"I was dragged away by a few firemen. They ignored my pleas no matter how much I yelled or struggled."Samuel!"Chaos was everywhere, but all I could hear was my heart pounding. As time passed by, children kept being rescued from the fire, but Nina was still nowhere to be found.Two hours later, Samuel came out with a girl in his arms. I immediately recognized her to be Tilly Sharp, Dana's daughter.I rushed over in a panic and grabbed Samuel's arm. My nails dug into him. "Samuel! Where is Nina? Where is our daughter? How could you do this? How could you be so cruel!"He ignored me, showing a hint of annoyance. He lowered his head and gently wiped away the tears on Tilly's face. "Tilly, don't be scared. You're okay now."At this moment, Dana rushed over. When she

Chapter 3

"Nina won't be able to be there."Samuel was infuriated. "Enough of this nonsense! I'm telling you! If it were not for the others wanting to see you, I wouldn't have called you in the first place! You're being ungrateful!"I took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll bring Nina over."Samuel tutted over the phone and said, "I knew you were pretending! Nina is fine! Don't be late and don't embarrass me tonight!"At night, I attended the celebration party for Samuel at the hotel. In the distance, I saw Dana in a tight-fitting red dress. She was sitting next to Samuel.I quietly took my seat. The other firemen who saw me were stunned. Their eyes gleamed with curiosity.Compared to Dana — who was dressed up to the nines — I was in a raggedy t-shirt and my hair was disheveled.When Samuel saw me, he frowned and said in detest, "Why are you dressed up like this? Didn't I tell you it was a party? Can't you put on a little bit of makeup? You're embarrassing me!"I ignored him. I picked up the cutlery on

Chapter 4

I laughed and looked at Dana. "Ah yes, how can I forget about you? "If it weren't for you! Throwing yourself at a married man."If it weren't for you! Nina would never…"It's your—"Before I could finish my sentence, Samuel pulled Dana behind him and swung his hand once more.I wiped away the blood at the corner of my mouth as I stood up. I glared at him with my reddened eyes."Samuel, you really wanted Nina to be here, right?"Without waiting for his response, I opened the bag and placed Nina's urn in front of him.Dana — with Tilly in her arms — was so shocked she immediately stumbled backward.The other firemen looked at each other. It was obvious what I just took out, yet Samuel pretended and asked, "Rachel, what the Hell are you playing at?"With reddened eyes, I said, "Nina is here. She's right here.""Are you doing this on purpose? Are you trying to humiliate me at my celebration party?" Samuel yelled at me as if I was an evil woman.Dana was horrified by the sc

Chapter 5

"Enough of this nonsense!" Samuel held out a protective arm towards Dana and stomped on Nina's ashes. "I'm warning you! Stop this at once! You think some flour will trick me?""Ah—! Move aside!" I slumped to the ground, hitting his leg away. His leg did not move, so bit into it!Samuel grunted and lifted his leg up. "What a psycho."I carefully scooped Nina's ashes back into her urn. Some of the firemen could not bear to watch it. Some of them even bent down and helped me. I shoved them away. "No need to help me. I said there's no need! Just go!"Samuel pulled those firemen up. "I've been with her for a long time. She's always been that way. She's manipulative and vicious. You can't trust her."I stood up slowly and wiped away my tears. I glared at Samuel and said, "Samuel, Nina's funeral will be in two days. My parents will come over too. I hope you can show up for her for the last time." I added, "After the funeral, I'm filing for a divorce."Then, I left without looking back.Samue

Chapter 6

Samuel unfolded the paper with trembling hands.His face turned as pale as snow when he read the content of the paper.It was the notice of Nina's cremation.He fell onto the ground in a daze."Samuel, you killed Nina!" I spat while looking at him coldly."It's not me. I-I… I just…" He suddenly remembered something. He stood up through the pain. "That day… The principal told me that there were only people on the first floor! That was why I…"My father no longer wanted to see his face. He immediately got the guards to kick Samuel out. "You're just a nobody. How dare you do this to Rachel and Nina!"My father instructed one of his subordinates, "Look into the principal's background."We were in the security business. We had connections even in the underworld. Getting a private detective to look into this would be a piece of cake.Soon, they found out all the information about the principal of the kindergarten.When I saw it, my legs almost gave out. I supported myself by holding onto the

Chapter 7

Edith was taken to the police bureau. Soon, Dana and Samuel rushed over too.My mother yelled, "What else do you have to say for yourself!"Dana put herself in front of Edith. She stuttered, "W-What are you saying? J-Just wait for my mother's lawyer to come!"I grabbed Dana by the collar. "Dana, you encouraged your daughter to commit arson! Then, you got your mother to lie to the firemen that there was no one upstairs! You wanted my daughter dead!"Samuel looked at the scene in disbelief. After a while, he came to his senses. "W-what did you just say?"I sneered and played the recording on my phone.Tilly's innocent yet malicious voice rang out. "I only set a small fire. I wanted to see who Uncle Samuel would rescue first…"Dana panicked. She hugged Tilly and shrieked, "Tilly is just a child! How can you believe what comes out of her mouth? D-Don't you dare accuse us of this!"She flung herself in Samuel's arms and sobbed. "Samuel, they must have done something to scare Tilly.

Chapter 8

Within a single night, Samuel was fired from the fire department and lost everything. The career that he was once proud of was taken away.Dana was also fired from her company. The public scorned her and her daughter.They brought it upon themselves. They deserved it.However, this was not enough! I was going to make them all pay!Three days later, Samuel and I proceeded with the divorce. It was not as messy as I expected. He quietly signed the papers and agreed to get a divorce without any compensation. All he took with him was exhaustion and regret.Samuel said to me croakily, "Rachel, I'm so sorry…"I stopped in my tracks. "Samuel, saying sorry will never make up for it. Nina will no longer be coming back."He shut his eyes in pain and shook his head helplessly.Dana brought her daughter along, waiting for him at the entrance. "Samuel, Tilly said she misses you.""Dana, we're not a right fit," Samuel said calmly.Dana looked at him in disbelief. Her face paled. "What do you mean? Sa

Chapter 9

Tilly was in the backseat.When she saw me, she was first stunned. Then, she tried to shout.I immediately said to her, pointing at Samuel and Dana by the riverbank, "Tilly, you see that? Uncle Samuel and your mother are going to be together."Tilly looked at them with widened eyes filled with curiosity.I continued, "Tilly, Uncle Samuel will only love your mother now. He might not love you anymore but he will have more kids with her. By then…""You're lying!" Tilly objected loudly.I touched Tilly's face and said, "If you don't believe me, you should try it out. I wonder, if you and your mother were in danger, who would Uncle Samuel rescue first?"Then, I got out of the car.I could tell that Tilly loved Samuel to the point of perversion. She only wanted Samuel to be her father and only hers.Soon, Tilly got out of the car and walked over to them.Samuel and Dana were so caught up in their own argument that they did not notice Tilly coming up from behind them.Tilly took a

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