He Found Me After I Died

I had been trapped in this place for more than four years.

After my body was completely cremated, my spirit drifted here.

The reapers said my attachment to the living world was too strong. They couldn't take me away or set me free, so they told me to wait.

I stayed beneath this magnolia tree day after day, year after year, until Noah Whitmore came here.

This was where we first met, and we hadn't seen each other in five years.

I vaguely remembered our first meeting. He wore an ill-fitting suit to attend a college seminar.

I was posing for photos beneath the magnolia tree with my best friend, Linda Rivers, while wearing a dress.

I never expected to be harassed, and I certainly never expected him to step in.

He chased the thug away. His skin was scraped raw in several places, yet he blushed when he looked at me.

"I only helped because I happened to see someone in trouble. I should get going."

I gathered up my skirt and ran after him, reaching out to stop him. "Hey, could I have your contact information? I'll buy you dinner sometime."

He stood there grinning sheepishly until my puzzled look reminded him to take out his phone and offer me his number.

By the time he reached the seminar, he was already late. He ran there with a limp in his ill-fitting leather shoes.

That was when I fell for him and slowly grew closer to him.

Now, his expensive suit fit him perfectly. The leather of his shoes looked exceptional, and he had grown much more mature.

I wanted to hold his hand, but someone interrupted me.

"Mr. Whitmore, we should leave, or your fiancee will start calling again."

His assistant looked somewhat anxious.

I pulled my hand back, catching the key word—fiancee.

So, in the five years since we parted, he had found someone new.

My heart clenched for a moment, then quickly settled.

I had tried to desensitize myself to this possibility countless times. It wasn't a big deal. I simply hadn't been prepared for it.

His fiancee must be gentle and wonderful, right? At least she couldn't be any worse than me.

Before I could collect myself, his presence pulled my spirit along, and I followed him into the car.

He seemed listless throughout the journey, and I could see the deep exhaustion in his eyes.

[Noah, if you're tired, get some sleep.]

When I was in the hospital, my mother always urged me to rest like that.

Now, it was my turn to urge him.

Noah slowly closed his eyes as if he sensed something, and he actually fell asleep.

His lips moved as though he was calling my name.

"Belle... Belle..."

[Yes, I'm here.]

Noah's assistant stared at him in surprise. The sleep study report in his briefcase was still warm from his fingertips.

[The patient suffers from severe sleep disturbances. A preion has been issued, and medication is required.]

When we reached the parking spot at home, even the assistant couldn't bring himself to wake Noah.

I pouted as I watched Noah beside me, studying every line of his face. My transparent fingertips traced his features again and again, as if I had returned to the days when I slept beside him as his wife.

The car door suddenly opened.

The woman standing outside swept her sharp gaze across the car, as though warning the invisible third party inside.

I froze for a moment when I saw her face.

She was Linda, my best friend.

Why was it her?

She shook Noah awake, her voice filled with resentment.

"How could you fall asleep in broad daylight? Are you really that tired? Did you go see Belle behind my back?"

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose and blurted out, "She cheated on me so shamelessly back then. Why would you suspect that I went to see her?"

My body went rigid.

I was shameless.

That was right. After being bound to this place for so long, I had forgotten the most important thing.

I was the one who abandoned Noah and drove him overseas.

I was the one who had the least right to miss him.

Back then, he had knelt before me and begged me again and again.

"Belle, you were only trying to make me angry, right? Let's pretend none of this ever happened and start over. Please?"

I pushed him away and embraced another man, delivering the cruelest words I had ever spoken.

"You have no money, and you can't give me anything! You're only begging because you're pathetic!

"Now I want a divorce! Don't you understand?"

He stared at me in despair.

After mumbling for a long while, he finally managed to say one word.

"Fine."

Him resenting me and no longer missing me—wasn't that exactly what I had wanted?

So why did I regret it now?