Chapter 4

Leo's mouth jerked upon hearing this. His eyes became so bloodshot it looked like they would bleed.

“Are you trying to get on my nerves by pulling a prank like this? Is one slap not good enough for you? I can give you a couple more slaps if you want! Listen up, I’ll give you a divorce if that’s what you want! Even if Dianne came begging this time, I am still going to divorce you no matter what!”

I couldn't stand it anymore and shouted back at him, “Sure! I’d love to get divorced! And for the record, Dianne won’t have to waste her energy pleading with you anymore! Thanks to your complete neglect, she died of kidney failure! If you won’t believe me, go ahead and ask at the hospital. They will tell you that everything I just said is true!”

Leo narrowed the look in his eyes and fixed a prolonged look on me.

After a few seconds, he reached for his phone with trembling hands.

Before he could even make the call, Rosette ended up calling him. He immediately picked up as if that was the exact thing he had been waiting for.

Rosette’s voice came through the other end of the phone and she sounded like she had been crying.

“Leo, I think I caught a cold. I feel awful, I’m not going to die, am I? Would you stay by my side?”

“Alright, I’ll be there right away, don’t overthink it, alright? The doctor says you will recover just fine.”

Then, he hung up before glaring at me. “I'm not going to believe anything you say. We will settle what happens with Dianne after her birthday.”

With that, he turned around and slammed the door shut.

I thought about Dianne’s eighteenth birthday party that I had been preparing for the last three months. The thought that she would never get to join the party made me shed tears again.

It was a party that she had been particularly excited about. It was supposed to be held at a beautiful field right next to a lake, and the theme of the party was fashioned after one of her favorite castles in a fairy tale.

I wanted to give her everything she wanted. How could I not?

Since she was fond of the color pink, I reached for a pink ribbon I had prepared in my bag and tied a beautiful knot around the lid of the urn.

I looked forward to her birthday celebration tomorrow.

As night fell, I lay in bed and thought about her beautiful, radiant smile. I ended up staring at the ceiling until dawn.

Just like the countless nights before, Leo did not come home. I was not affected by it since I had grown completely numb to it by this point.

Around dawn, I got up and put on some light makeup to mask the heavy circles under my eyes that had formed because of all the accumulated stress over the past few days.

I knew my daughter was watching me from above. I was sure it would hurt her to see her mother in such a ruined and haggard state.

The staff who helped organize the birthday party had shown up in their coordinated outfits as well.

Soon, a row of pink flower baskets was brought out to decorate the passage leading to the castle. Colorful balloons decorated the tables filled with fresh fruits and desserts. A red carpet was laid out to lead the way to the castle.

My daughter had requested to not invite any of our relatives and friends. Instead, she had invited her classmates.

I held the urn containing her ashes and paraded down the walkway toward the castle. The entire time, I sensed bizarre stares from her classmates.

Then, I turned around and announced my daughter's death to them with an apologetic smile.

It was supposed to be a merry occasion, but the announcement took the wind out of the room in an instant. A heavy and oppressing silence fell over them.

“That’s impossible. Dianne just texted me a few days ago telling me how happy she was that the dress she had made was completed! She was talking about how excited she was to wear it today and celebrate her birthday!”

The girl who was completely floored by the announcement was Helena Brown, Dianne’s best friend.

Her classmates all echoed the same sentiment. They were all in disbelief that Dianne had passed away.

“Aunt Clarice, Dianne has always been eccentric and it’s just like her to pull such a weird prank on us. Alright, she got us good. Tell her to cut it out and come out!”

I held onto the urn tightly and tilted my head to the sky to try to hold back sadness. Despite that, tears continued to stream from my eyes. “My darling daughter will never grow up…”

“Yes, she will never grow up because you keep spoiling her! You’re the reason she always wants things her way!”