BACK TO MY FATHER'S FUNERAL

Rose's POV

I staggered back a bit. A stranger came running up to me and held me up. "Are you okay?" he asked. I didn't know who he was, but I knew I had seen him before. Of course I did.

In my past life, this was exactly how it happened too. I staggered backwards and was caught by a stranger.

"Ehem..." Richard cleared his throat. "I will take it from here," he told the strange man. As the man reluctantly let me go, I nodded to the man in appreciation.

Richard held me from behind. "You don't look too well, I should take you to your room. The doctor has prescribed some drugs for you, to help you with the depression."

We walked off, heading to my room up the stairs. This was exactly how I got sick last time. I was given medicine for my depression and slowly I was being drugged every day, and in three years I had totally lost everything. By this time back then, I didn't know Richard was cheating with my friend or that he had eyes on my dad's wealth.

I was so blind and foolish. At the very least, with the incident of me falling on the floor while Richard ran to my friend first, I should have suspected something.

We got to my room and he opened the door for me. I was welcomed by the smell of cedarwood and roses. My room was just as it was then. Same bedsheet, same design, everything was the same. I quietly sat on my bed as my eyes scanned through the room. Indeed, I once had a beautiful life. I couldn't believe that in the near future I would be locked and abandoned in a basement. If I really went back in time, I need to change my fate.

Richard hurried to my desk and picked up the medicine bottle. If people saw him now, they would think he was a caring husband. He handed me a glass of water and the medicine.

"My darling... please swallow this medicine. It would help you rest, I will take care of—"

"Everything, you mean," I cut in, my voice rising an octave. I glared at him. I wish I could rip off that lying, darn tongue at that very instant.

"How... do you know I was going to say that?" He let out a dry laugh. "Okay... I want to see you take it." He stood rooted there. For a moment, I forgot the kind of careful enemies I had.

"Can I get my phone?" I asked.

"Oh, it's at the hall downstairs. Let me quickly go get it," he said, bursting through the door and running down the stairs like a perfect little messenger. No wonder I couldn't suspect him, he was always so humble. Humbly scheming against me.

I tossed the medicine quickly under my pillow and lay on my bed, covering myself with my white duvet. He got back to the room, but this time he wasn't alone. His mother came with him. She quietly stood just inches from me, her eyes searching my entire body as if looking for a fault.

"Rich kids... you people are always so soft. If you had grown up eating what my son ate, you wouldn't feel so weak on your dad's burial. What can make you strong is giving me a grandchild. You aren't barren, right? It's almost a year now since you married," she complained, her eyes unable to hide her hatred for me.

That was Richard's mum. It was my father's funeral, but all she could think of was to insult me.

She continued. "I don't blame you, my child," Richard's mother said, her voice dripping with fake pity. She stretched out her wrinkled hand to touch my face and I forced myself not to flinch. I just looked at her. This time, it was necessary that I observed the situation clearly. How they had dealt with me with those back-handed comments I never understood.

"You know...," she spoke softly, her eyes traveling down to the black silk of my dress. "Your mother was never here for you. What happened? She ran off, right? I honestly forgot what happened." She turned over to look at Richard.

"Yeah... no... mama," Richard stuttered, looking a bit nervous. "She didn't run off. She died."

"Oh... I am so sorry. How unfortunate you have always been," she smiled at me, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. She began caressing my hair with her filthy hands, then suddenly pulled back, wiping her palm on her own dress as if she had just touched something rotten.

"Richie," she turned to her son, her lip curling in disgust. "Make sure she washes up properly before she comes back down. Death has a way of clinging to people like her. I don't want that orphan energy rubbing off on anyone. Rich people always seem to have this death curse." She looked at me, her eyes sweeping over the jewelry I was wearing.

Everything she had on, from the perm of her hair to her toes, was all bought by me. The proverb of "people bite the hand that feeds them" was honestly true. Immediately, as she turned her back to leave, Katherine broke in.

"Mummy!" she yelled in excitement, running off to Richard's mother to hug her. For reasons I didn't know then, Katherine was very close to his mother. She did everything right for his mum, and one time in the past, I heard his mum wishing Katherine was her daughter-in-law instead.

They both hugged each other. "I hope you weren't giving my other half a hard time," Katherine said.

"Oh, my dear... you are always so kind to your friend. Everyone should have a friend like you." Katherine giggled, nodding her head slightly lower to Richard's mum.

"Hahaha..." I couldn't hold it in anymore. I chuckled. They all turned to look at me.

"Rose, you aren't going crazy, are you? Why did you laugh?"

I kept silent. I scrambled off my bed immediately, snatched my phone from Richard's hand, and walked past them toward the door. I gripped the doorknob as they all looked at me, frozen.

I halted and turned to them. "I wish Katherine was your daughter-in-law, too," I smiled and stepped out, slamming the door behind me.

This time around, there is no time for me to lay on my bed depressed. In the past, I couldn't even stay for my dad's funeral, but since I was given a second chance, I would oversee this burial myself.