Chapter 4

It was hard to get an Uber in the wealthy gated community.

I walked slowly. The nearest bus stop was a thirty-minute walk away.

Fortunately, the cemetery coordinator drove down to pick me up. By the time Chloe drove along the road looking for me, I was already gone.

I sat in the cemetery office, flipping through the catalog. There were only a few premium plots left, so it wasn't a hard choice.

My mother had never been able to let go of my dad, so she had kept his urn at home all these years.

Now, I could finally bury them together.

I was afraid my mom was still mad at me. But my dad had a great temper; whenever I made a mistake as a kid, he would always smile and plead with my mom for me.

I pressed my cheek against the cold ceramic urn, whispering to my dad:

"You always spoiled me the most. Please visit me in my dreams. And help me convince Mom not to be mad at me anymore."

"Just let me see her in a dream. I miss her so much."

In that small grave lay the two people who used to bring me soup when I was sick.

In the past, my parents would talk endlessly on the phone while I listened. Now, I was the one talking outside the headstone while they slept in the cold earth.

I shoveled the dirt in myself.

When the soil finally covered the urns, the emotional wall I had built up completely shattered.

I collapsed onto my knees. There was no warmth left to touch, only the freezing stone of the monument.

I shivered from the cold.

My tears fell like a sudden summer storm, pouring down as my heart broke. My agonizing sobs echoed through the empty cemetery.

It was dark by the time I staggered out of the gates.

I didn't want to go home.

Because I didn't have a home anymore.

With an early flight ahead of me, I went straight to the airport.

Meanwhile, outside my old family apartment, Chloe was leaning against her car. She watched the orange tip of her cigarette glow and fade in the dark. She had lost count of how many she had smoked.

Since leaving the villa, I had vanished.

My phone was off, and my Snapchats went unread.

She realized, with a sudden pang of dread, that I didn't really have any friends.

The only mutual contacts we shared on Instagram were the editors and PR managers who helped her cover up her scandals.

It was deeply ironic.

Anxiety clawed at her chest, and she kept smoking to dull the pain.

Chloe was slowly beginning to realize she had made a mistake.

She shouldn't have let Tristan take the ring off the floor.

Even before that, she shouldn't have tossed the ring at my feet so casually.

A proposal shouldn't have been like that. It should have had flowers, fireworks, a bent knee, and a promise of forever.

With my reserved personality, I probably would have blushed, held out my hand, let her slide the ring on, and closed my eyes to kiss her.

Chloe laughed softly at the thought.

A secret hope bloomed in her chest.

She thought of my mother, Sarah, in the hospital.

I was stubborn, but I was a devoted son. I would never abandon my mother.

Especially with the transplant coming up. I couldn't possibly disappear now.

Chloe stubbed out her cigarette, opened her car door, and drove toward the hospital as the morning sun began to rise.

At the airport, the PA system crackled to life:

【Attention all passengers, Flight BA226 to London is now boarding at Gate 2.】

Under the blue sky, the plane took off.

I sat in my seat and closed my eyes, ready to face a brand-new life.

At the hospital, Chloe pushed open the door to the VIP suite, her smile freezing instantly.

The room was completely empty. There was no sign of life.

Panic instantly gripped her.

She rushed to the bed. The sheets were clean and freshly changed.

The bathroom was empty. The glass vase where I put fresh flowers every day was gone.

Even the patient information card at the foot of the bed had been removed.

Chloe felt dizzy with fear.

Forgetting all her pride, she ran down the hospital corridor, grabbing a passing nurse by the arm.

"Where is the patient from VIP Room 3? Was she transferred?"

"Where did she go?!"

The nurse looked at Chloe, thoroughly confused.

"Ms. Montgomery, didn't Logan tell you?"

"The patient passed away. It happened two days ago."