Chapter 2

The car stopped at an intersection, and suddenly I was pulled back to the funeral home. Vivienne stood where my ashes had disappeared, her head down as she tapped at her phone.

An employee suddenly exclaimed, "Miss Langdon, Mr. Shaw tried to call you just before he passed..."

"What's that got to do with me?" she said without looking up. "Oh, and get that crappy apartment of his listed for sale—it's bad luck."

I stared at her profile, stunned. Sunlight streamed through the window, casting delicate shadows from her eyelashes onto her cheeks, just like three years ago when she helped me blow out my birthday candles.

I didn't understand why she hated me so much.

I didn't want to think about it anymore.

Because I was already dead.

She drove to the bridal shop.

I stared intently at the glass storefront of the bridal shop, my nails digging into my palms without feeling any pain.

Of course, I was just a wandering spirit now.

Vivienne's high heels clicked urgently, just like they did three years ago when she dragged me to the bridal shop.

Except today, she wasn't here to see me.

"Aria, look! This wedding dress has a train!"

Back then, she had been hanging all over my arm as the shop assistant tried to hide her smile while measuring us.I'm tucking the ring I saved up for with my cafeteria meal card into my shirt pocket. The platinum band feels scorching hot in the sunlight.

Now, her twirling in front of the mirror overlaps with that day in my memory.

But Levi's hand is on her waist, and he's wearing the same rose pin I had years ago in his suit pocket!

I rush over to try and pull them apart, but my transparent fingers pass right through the back of Levi's neck, grasping at nothing.

Why?!

Even if I can't stand beside her, what right does this murderer have to be there?

This murderer who killed her mother!

"You look beautiful today. By the way, are we still inviting... him? Will he cause any trouble?"

"I hope he does cause trouble!"

Vivienne suddenly sneers coldly, sending chills down my spine.

She tilts her chin up at the air, "We must invite him to our wedding. He's an important guest too!"

Levi caresses her diamond-ringed finger: "Alright."

"My mom died because of him!" Vivienne's suddenly raised voice startles the store clerk, making her shrink back.

"Where was he the day my mom took her last breath? My mom's final phone call was to him!"

I collapse to the ground, shaking all over.

He's seen me as the enemy ever since her mom passed away, just because her mom never approved of her being with me.But she broke off ties with her family for me. I know she loved me deeply at the time.

However, from that day on, I was no longer her lover, but her enemy...

That year, torrential rains washed out half of the mountain road. In the urgent situation, I couldn't go pick up the phone call.

The glass reflected Levi's triumphant smile.

This imposter clearly knew that he was the one who had switched Mrs. Langdon's medication back then!

She could have been with anyone else, but she just had to be with this nemesis!

I lunged forward with a roar, watching helplessly as my shadow shattered against the mirror's surface.

"The invitations are printed," Levi pulled out a gold-embossed envelope. "You think he'll really come?"

Vivienne suddenly laughed, "What's he playing at now, pretending to be dead? That's his usual act of playing the devoted lover!"

Her lipstick was smeared, like the blood she had coughed up that day when she discovered the medical records.

"I want him to see with his own eyes who I'm wearing this wedding dress for!"

She'll never believe what I say. She won't listen to my explanations, always convinced that I'm the culprit.

But she doesn't stop to think – if I really were the culprit, why haven't the police arrested me after two years?

The store clerk nervously handed over the veil.