Chapter 2

At dawn, the kitchen was already filled with the smell of butter and vanilla.

When I came downstairs, a full spread was laid out on the long table.

Garlic butter baked crab claws. Clam chowder. Cilantro beef tacos. And a plate of lemon-marinated shrimp.

Steam curled up with the scent of cream.

But I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. My throat tightened.

I was allergic to shellfish. One bite would send me to the ER.

Cilantro tasted like soap in my mouth.

My mother had remembered these things for eighteen years.

But today, she sat at the table in her apron, cracking open crab claws one by one, picking out the snow-white meat, arranging it neatly in a small pink bowl.

"Chloe loved these since she was little."

"And don't skimp on the cilantro in the tacos. She said without cilantro, there's no soul."

"I need to practice her favorites ahead of time. I don't want her to frown at her first meal home."

I sat at the table for a long time, staring at the plates, not daring to look up.

"Mom, do you remember I'm allergic to shellfish?"

The wooden spoon clinked against the pot.

"Vivian, we've come this far. Are you really going to cling to every little thing?"

"Once your sister is back, we have so much to make up to her."

"It's just one meal. Is it really worth this?"

I nodded. I put down my fork and said I was full.

Back upstairs, I closed my door softly.

In the afternoon, Damian came.

The moment he walked in, he noticed. His fingertip brushed my lower lip, and his brow furrowed.

"Your lips have no color at all."

I clutched the hem of my shirt. I stood very close to him, my voice so low it almost dissolved into the air.

"Damian, will you take me to the beach?"

"I'm going to leave soon. I want to see the ocean one last time."

He froze. "Leave? Leave for where?"

Before I could finish, he was already shaking his head.

"Chloe's coming back any day now. Whatever you want to do, it can wait."

"Vivian, don't make things harder for your parents right now."

But I didn't have a later.

Soon, I would disappear from this world completely.

I opened my mouth to say something.

The ringtone exploded without warning.

The caller ID read:

Chloe.

The moment I answered, I heard a voice I'd only ever heard in old videos.

"Tell Mom to cancel the wish!"

"Please, don't make me come back!"

Chloe's voice was tearful, begging.

I grabbed the phone and ran downstairs, holding the screen up to my mother's eyes.

"Mom! Listen! It's her! It's sister's voice!"

The spoon slipped from my mother's hand and clattered to the floor.

"Chloe..."

She snatched the phone.

The call wasn't over yet. But the wild joy on her face cooled inch by inch.

The next second, a slap came down on my face.

My ear rang. My cheek burned.

"Vivian, how can you be this selfish?"

"To keep the wish for yourself, you'd even fake a dead person's voice?"

My father grabbed the phone and hung up.

"She's already died once."

"Are you trying to kill her a second time?"

I turned to Damian with the last shred of hope I had.

"You heard all of it. I didn't fake it."

"That was Chloe calling."

But Damian clenched his fists and stared at me, word by word.

"Whatever wish you want, we'll grant it."

"Vivian, there's a long road ahead. Don't test people with lies anymore. Okay?"

I looked at them. My lips moved.

In the end, I didn't say a single word. I turned and went back upstairs.