Chapter 4

Kenneth left Sonny behind at the funeral, and Mom used that as an excuse to push him onto me. I didn't want to take him, but he cried and clung to me, insisting that he wanted to go with me.

Soon, everyone started guilt-tripping me and said I should take him in since he had nowhere to go. In the end, I had no choice but to bring him home.

Sonny certainly knew who would treat him well. But I learned from the painful experience in my past life that no matter how much I sacrificed myself for him, all I would get in return was a thankless ingrate.

Upon reaching home, I put Sonny in the guest room.

That night, I fell into a deep sleep. When I stirred in the middle of the night, I caught a steely glint through my half-opened eyes. It startled me so much that I jolted awake.

Under the moonlight, I saw a small figure holding a kitchen knife and brandishing it. A chill went down my spine.

When I realized it was Sonny, I let out the breath I'd been holding in relief. Then, I sat up and turned on the lamp, asking him why he wasn't asleep at this hour.

But he just smiled and asked me back, "Aunt Stella, do you want to steal my daddy?"

I was puzzled as to why a seven-year-old would ask something like that. But upon remembering how things ended in my last life, I wanted nothing to do with this family anymore. I shook my head and sent Sonny back to bed.

As I thought about his words, my hand trembled as I locked my bedroom door.

He had said, "It was so hard for Mommy to run away. Do you want to be my new mommy now, Aunt Stella?"

This meant Sonny knew everything. In his eyes, all I had done in my previous life had been nothing but a foolish and one-sided self-sacrifice.

I closed my eyes and forced myself not to think.

The next time I opened them, it was the morning of the cremation. Mom was standing beside the cart and crying loudly.

Because of the ludicrous scene yesterday, the people attending kept silent. Upon realizing that no one was buying into her act, Mom gradually stopped crying. She dabbed at her eyes and asked the staff to wheel the cart away.

I reached out to stop them and said, "Wait, Mom. Let me see Winona one last time."

Mom glared and demanded to know what I was playing at now.

With a choked sob, I said, "Winona and I were twins. I have a feeling that… she's back."

"What nonsense are you spouting now, you stupid brat?" Mom scolded.

She raised her hand to slap me again, but Kenneth grabbed her wrist. As he looked down at her with a menacing smirk, she wimped out and smiled awkwardly in an obsequious way.

With him stepping forward, our relatives and friends joined in and urged her to let me have a look.

So, I yanked the white sheet off the body. A face caked in powder came into view. The makeup was so heavy that the body lying there was completely unrecognizable.

"This isn't Winona at all!" I exclaimed.