Chapter 4

Late that night, the guests had all left.

Justin took Kelly back to our home… No, it was their home now. The manor had once been the home I decorated a little bit at a time.

The beige curtains I had chosen, the potted plants I had tended, the matching slippers I had bought…

Now, everything had changed.

The entryway now held a Westerland-styled rug Kelly liked, and the living room overflowed with her favorite lilies. I had never kept lilies at home before because I was allergic to their pollen.

"Justin, I was so happy tonight," Kelly said as she leaned against Justin's chest and traced circles over it with her finger.

"But... No one has heard from Wendy, and I'm still a little worried. I can't get through to her phone either. Do you think something has happened to her?"

Justin paused while loosening his tie, then gave a cold snort. "What could possibly happen to her? A woman like that is probably hiding in some hotel, planning what to tell the press about me and how to squeeze a fortune out of me in alimony.

"Forget about her. I'll have my lawyer file in court tomorrow directly. Since she refuses to do things the easy way, she can't blame me for being ruthless."

Didn't… Care about our history?

Justin, which one of us had really forgotten everything we once shared?

Over the past three years, I had drunk so much with clients that my stomach bled, all to help you secure that international project.

I had spent half a month at the hospital caring for your sick mother, barely leaving her side.

I had endured your mother's constant criticism and all the public gossip so you could focus on work.

Even after I was diagnosed with cancer, I went through chemotherapy alone and hid it from everyone so I would not distract you.

When my hair started falling out, I bought a wig to hide it.

When I became nothing but skin and bones, I wore loose clothes to cover it up.

In your eyes, all of this simply became proof that I was "scheming and putting on a show".

Justin picked up his phone as though he wanted to make a call, but his finger hovered over the screen for a long time before he finally threw it aside in annoyance.

"Forget her. I'll go take a shower," Justin said as he turned and walked into the bathroom.

As the sound of running water filled the room, Kelly sat on the couch, and her sweet facade vanished at once.

She took out her phone and quickly sent a text: [Done. That stupid woman must be furious after tonight. As long as she loses her temper and causes one more scene, Justin will finally hate and abandon her for good. Then, I'll finally become his wife.]

After sending it, she smiled smugly. She casually picked up a bottle of pills from the coffee table. It was my medicine. They were powerful painkillers I had forgotten to take with me when I left.

"What is this?" Curious, Kelly twisted off the cap and spilled out a white pill. Then, she sniffed it. "Vitamins? How weak must she be if she needs so many vitamins?"

She tossed the bottle into the trash in disgust, and the bottle landed with a clatter.

The medicine I had depended on to survive now lay among banana peels and scraps of paper.

I floated beside the trash can and stared at the bottle.

I wanted to pick it up.

The doctor had gone through great trouble prescribing it, and one pill could numb my pain for four hours. I did not feel pain anymore, but I still could not bear to throw it away.

That medicine had been my lifeline.

I reached for it once, twice, three times… yet I still could not grab anything. I sat on the floor and stared at the bottle, my mind drifting.

Just then, Justin finished his shower and saw Kelly tidying things up. "What is it?"

"I saw a few things here... They seemed to belong to Wendy, so I thought I'd put them away. That way, you wouldn't get upset when you see them."

Kelly was holding a photo album… It was a wedding album of mine and Justin's.

In the photographs, I wore a white wedding dress and smiled radiantly. Justin had a composed expression, but even he could not hide the love in his eyes.

Justin looked dumbfounded for a moment when he saw the album. Then, he walked over and snatched it from her hands.

I thought he was going to keep it.

Instead, he walked straight to the fireplace, and with a flick of his wrist, the album fell right into the flames.

The flames instantly consumed me and my radiant smile in the photographs.

"Let the fire take it all," Justin said with a voice as cold as ice. "I must've been blind to think she was innocent and kind. Keeping these things would only remind me how stupid I was."

Light from the flames flickered on his face.

Meanwhile, I watched myself in the photographs slowly turn to ash in the flames. The last trace of love in my heart burned away with the album as the flames consumed it all.

Justin… You had burned more than the photographs. You had also burned away the decade I had spent loving you.

Let it burn.

Let it all burn.

Then, when I could finally leave, I could leave without regrets or anything holding me back.

-

The next morning, I was woken by urgent ringtones from someone's phone.

Ghosts did not need sleep, but I still closed my eyes to rest out of habit.

Justin woke in a rage and answered the call. "Who is this?! Do you have a death wish calling me this early?!"

I did not know what the person on the other end said, but it was enough to make Justin's expression change instantly.

His anger gave way to shock before his face turned pale. The phone slipped from his hand and hit the floor hard.

"Justin, what happened?" Kelly woke up startled and sat up, still groggy.

Justin ignored her, as though his soul had left his body. He turned stiffly and stared at the white world beyond the tall windows.

After a long silence, he spoke in a hoarse voice. "The police said... They found a woman's body... In the hotel's garden. From her build and clothes... They suspect it's… Wendy…"