Chapter 4

Ana was lost in thought for a long time as she stared at the fireworks fade into dying embers.

It was only when a night breeze blew past and sent a shiver down her spine that she was finally reeled back to reality.

After pulling her coat tighter around herself, she turned and headed back toward the house.

The house was very quiet that night. The only sound came from the kitchen, where Noah was cooking.

The subtle scent of ginger hung in the air.

At the same time, the choppy sounds of conversations spilled out of his phone.

Celeste spoke tenderly, “Noah, thank you so much for making ginger tea for me even though it’s late. When you come up, I’ll give you a kiss!”

Noah smiled and jested humorously, “Just a kiss?”

Celeste let out a sustained “mm” for a moment before answering in a flirtatious voice, “Alright, then two kisses! My lips are already swollen from kissing you earlier. They’re going to break if we don’t stop! You’re a kissing monster!”

Even though she was just upstairs on the second floor, they still felt the need to call each other and go on and on, acting all lovey-dovey.

It was as if they were joined at the hip and could not bear being separated even for a single second.

Just as Ana was about to walk away, Noah emerged from the kitchen carrying a cup of ginger tea.

The moment he saw her, he did a double take.

“You must be cold after staying outside for so long. Here, have a cup of this.”

With that, he handed her the cup before turning back to the kitchen to make another serving.

The entire while, he continued to offer a series of advice while remaining completely oblivious to the way Ana’s eyes were beginning to swell with tears.

“Girls tend to be more delicate, so you have to take care of yourself, alright? Don’t be like Celeste. She’s always underwater for her mermaid show but still loves to indulge in cold drinks!

“Celeste may have me looking after her, but you’re on your own, so you have even more reason to be prudent and look after yourself.”

Then, Noah turned around with another freshly made cup of ginger tea in hand and smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m going to find you a boyfriend soon enough and he’ll take care of you!”

Outside, there was a round of footsteps. It was the housemaids who were walking back to the house after they were done clearing away the fireworks.

Their gossip could be overheard through the window.

“I haven’t had to work till this late in ages since Mr. Wilder disappeared.”

“I know! He was always planning surprises for Miss Avery back then, filling the courtyard with wisteria, floating thousands of river lanterns on the water. The cleanup always took ages, but at least the pay was good.”

One of them lowered her voice and said, “I feel kind of bad for Miss Avery. She spent months searching for him and now that he’s back, not only has he forgotten about her, but he even brought another woman back home! Wouldn’t you find that insulting?

“And here I was, thinking that Mr. Wilder was committed to her. I guess all men are the same.”

Ana looked away, blinking back the tears that stung her eyes. After she recovered a little, she responded to Noah with a faint nod. “Okay.”

At the same time, she knew that she would be a burden to any man given the current condition of her body.

Noah, on the other hand, seemed completely unbothered. After bidding Ana goodnight, he proceeded up the stairs.

It was impossible to tell whether he had overheard the housemaids’ conversation.

While Ana was pondering it, her hand holding the cup of tea was suddenly struck by a wave of numbness. Within seconds, she lost feeling in her hand entirely.

The cup slipped from her grip and dropped to the floor, breaking into smithereens with a terrible crash.

Just like that, she was done trying to guess if Noah had overheard the housemaids’ gossip, and started to clean up the mess instead.

It suddenly occurred to her that her symptoms had manifested a lot sooner than she thought. She simply never realized it in her past life.

She did not tell anyone about the incident of breaking the cup and kept it to herself for days.

Whenever Ana felt like she was going to be overwhelmed by emotions, she would force herself to sleep. Her dreams were the only place where she could escape from her thoughts.

Unfortunately, over the next few days, the constant hammering from the courtyard kept her awake at night.

When she stood by the window to watch, a contract worker said, “When Miss Paisley said she liked lotus flowers, Mr. Wilder instructed us to take down the swing and build a lotus pond instead. We’re expecting them to bloom by next summer.”

Ana pressed her lips together and watched as the frame of the swing, which was once covered in long branches of wisteria, was dismantled and turned into a pile of scrap wood.

It reminded her of the pictures that had been burned and reduced to ashes the other night.

Every year, during her birthday, Noah made it a ritual to wake Ana up by gently cupping her chin with his hands. As soon as she opened her eyes, he would lead her to the swing to take pictures.

In these pictures, beautiful sprouts of purple wisteria leaves would hang overhead to frame their smiling faces.

She would always be reflected in the center of his eyes.

He would declare boldly and proudly, “Once we’ve taken twenty of these pictures, you’re going to marry me!”

The wisteria tree was looking more vibrant than ever and approaching full bloom. They were just one picture short of his cited goal.

Now, Noah had forgotten about it entirely. For Ana, she could not bring herself to tell him that summer was the season where the wisteria tree would reach full bloom.

When the lotus seeds had been planted, Celeste suddenly intercepted Ana in the courtyard.

She flaunted the ring she wore on her ring finger, then boasted with her chin held high, “Noah found some sketches for this ring in his room and said it was designed for his future wife. After that, he spent several nights crafting the ring before proposing to me.”

Then, she wagged the ring in Ana’s face. “Look, isn't this beautiful?”

The motifs of the design were a bird and a fish. They were motifs that Ana used to love.

She nodded and complimented Celeste earnestly, “It’s wonderful. It looks great on you.”

Celeste’s expression suddenly darkened as she stated bluntly, “I don’t like it. I’m sure we both know who this design was meant for.”

As she said so, she fixed a sharp look on Ana. “You keep telling me that you don’t have feelings for him, but I think his past affection for you is a ticking time bomb that will go off eventually. I don’t feel good about this.”

Ana asked bluntly, “Alright, what are you trying to say?”

“What I’m trying to say is…”

Without warning, she suddenly threw herself into the murky, stagnant water of the lotus pond!