Chapter 1

After I died, my soul did not vanish. The waves carried it back to shore.

I drifted behind Adrian and watched him guide Vivian along, protecting her with every step.

Vivian was badly shaken, her face drained of all color.

"Adrian, that was terrifying..."

"It's all right, it's all right. Deep breaths, Vivi. You're safe now."

Adrian patted her back again and again in slow, soothing strokes.

Vivian let out a whimper and threw herself into his arms.

Her ankle had been cut on the sharp rocks along the shore, leaving a thin line of blood.

Adrian crouched to examine the cut, his brow furrowed.

"There are all kinds of bacteria on those rocks. The cut could easily get infected. I won't feel right until a doctor has seen it."

He scooped her up in a hurry.

"Wait, Adrian, Sophie isn't back yet!" Vivian took the opening and slid her arms around his neck.

"You almost died in that opening!" Adrian's mouth twisted as his brows drew together. "After something like that, she's still in the mood to keep snorkeling, and you're worried about her?"

Vivian thought back to what had happened underwater, and her nerve wavered.

"Down there just now, I think I might have pushed Sophie by accident. Is she... is she going to be all right?"

Adrian snorted.

"What could possibly happen to her? She's a professional instructor. Nobody knows these conditions better than she does.

"You're a beginner heading into deeper water, and she didn't stop you once. She let it happen just to punish you.

"Sophie has always been petty like this. She throws a fit and gets jealous over nothing.

"You're too kind. You keep making excuses for her."

Adrian stroked her head to comfort her.

Hearing that, my heart kept sinking.

He tossed my clothes out of the car window without a second look.

"All right. She has her clothes. Let's get to a doctor. Your cut can't wait."

Adrian hit the accelerator and the car tore away.

He did not know I was not sulking somewhere in the water. I was dead in the depths.

The phone that had been thrown out the window lit up and rang for a long time.

Adrian drove straight to the hospital.

He watched closely as the doctor cleaned and dressed Vivian's cut, repeatedly asking what she should avoid and what warning signs to watch for.

He picked her up naturally, handling her as though she were a fragile piece of porcelain.

Watching them, I remembered fracturing my lower leg in a car accident a year earlier. Adrian had refused even to help me stand.

"Stop pretending. You broke your right leg. The left one still works, does it not?"

Now Vivian only had a minor scrape on her ankle, yet he could not be careful enough.

A nurse passing by teased them.

"You two make such a lovely couple."

Vivian flushed a little and rested her face contentedly against his shoulder.

"I'm the one he's engaged to!" I shouted at the nurse.

No one around us reacted. No one could hear a ghost scream.

"Should we go back and look for her?"

Vivian bit her lip and held on to him tighter.

"No. She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She's not going to get lost.

"If she wants to sulk, we don't have to indulge it."

They drove to the restaurant I had booked and sat at the chef's table I had chosen.

The white roses on the table stood in a crystal vase, glowing softly under the warm lights.

I had stayed up after work researching and arranging every detail, from the snorkeling spot to the dinner menu.

And now the person sitting there wasn't me.

It was Vivian.

I had died saving his first love.

He had no idea. He was spending Valentine's Day with Vivian while my body lay in the sea.

I curled up in the shadows, and the light of my soul dimmed further.

His heart belonged to her.

No matter how much I did, I was never more than a smear he wanted gone.