Ashes She Never Claimed

"Everyone, pay attention. I've brought out the cremated remains that have exceeded their storage period. Each urn has the corresponding file beside it.

"Register everything according to procedure, then contact the families as soon as possible so the remains can be claimed."

The storage cabinet opened.

A familiar voice reached my ears.

Hot sunlight spilled into the narrow compartment, and my eyes stung so badly that I almost recoiled.

I had been trapped in darkness for too long.

When I finally managed to focus, the first face I saw was the one I had missed more than any other.

My fiancée, Anya Lockridge.

"Anya..."

I tried to say her name.

No sound came out.

Of course not.

I was already dead.

I watched her move around the cremation storage room.

A strange sadness settled over me.

She ran Linden Hill Funeral Home.

How had my ashes sat in one of her own storage cabinets for so long without her ever coming to claim them?

My spirit had been trapped beside this urn for so long that I had stopped counting the days.

Anya picked up the file beside it.

Her brows drew together as she read.

"Cause of death: terminal cancer. Treatment discontinued. Voluntarily donated a kidney to his fiancée before death."

Hope rose inside me.

She would recognize it.

She had to.

The moment she saw the information, she would know these were my ashes.

Instead, Anya tightened her grip on the paper and burst out angrily.

"What kind of woman does this?

"Her fiancé gave his life to save her, and she still left his ashes sitting in a funeral home for three years?

"What kind of shameless person doesn't even come claim him?"

Her outburst left me reeling.

These were my ashes.

The file described what I had done for her.

How could she not understand?

Her coworkers stopped what they were doing and gathered around.

"That's horrible."

"Anya, it's almost like your story, except you're nothing like that woman. You actually fell in love with the man who saved you."

"Exactly. Anya knows how to be grateful."

The tips of Anya's ears turned pink.

"All right, enough teasing. Back to work."

Their words left me even more confused.

The man who saved her?

I had donated my kidney to Anya.

After the operation, my condition collapsed and I never woke up again.

Who else could she possibly be talking about?

Then another voice came from the doorway.

"Anya, are you finished? I came to pick you up."

She turned immediately.

My spirit seemed to turn with her gaze.

"Cyrus, you're here."

Anya smiled and hurried over, throwing herself into his arms.

My mind went blank.

It was Cyrus Halden, the son of my family's former driver.

His father had died in an accident, and my parents had taken pity on him.

Eventually, they adopted him.

A coworker laughed.

"Speak of the devil."

Someone else chimed in.

"Your boyfriend really is dedicated. Three years, rain or shine, and he still comes to pick you up every day."