After resting for a few days, I contacted a recycler I knew to sell all of my clothes, handbags, and jewelry.

“Mrs. Stone, Mr. Stone really loves you. The new clothing lines of the season just arrived yesterday, and you’re already clearing them out of your closet?”

As I listened to her, I smiled.

I casually swiped to Monette’s Instagram and saw her newest post.

She had just posted it this morning. It showed the newest handbag of the season.

After I sent the recycler out, I asked Susan Yegler, my best friend, to check out a place.

I brought her to the suburbs and parked the car in front of a graveyard.

Susan stared at me in surprise.

I did not explain and just dragged her in.

The graveyard was on a mountain, and it even had a river. It was the first pick for many rich families as their final resting place.

The staff gave us an enthusiastic introduction to the place. After looking around, I picked a spot I liked and paid the deposit.

My parents passed away a few years ago, and I had no siblings.

Since no one was going to visit me after I died, I wanted to pick a good place for myself.

Over the years, Zach had earned a lot of money.

However, I pitied him since he had to work so hard. Hence, I never had the heart to spend the money he gave me. I always helped him save up.

As the end of my life drew nearer, I finally came around. At last, I was willing to spend his money, though it was in such a manner.

Seriously, pitying a man would just bring misfortune to one’s life.

The staff then asked me for the name of the grave owner.

“It’s for me.”

After that, I wrote my name on the form.

As everyone stared at me in shock and pity, I dragged Susan out of the graveyard.

The moment we got into the car, she started demanding answers. “What’s going on, Ninian?! Why are you picking a grave for yourself?!”

Susan was worried and scared.

She was terrified of losing me.

I could not help but think of Zach.

If he had been the one who came with me today, would he be scared too?

“Ninian!” Susan interrupted my thoughts.

“I have pancreatic cancer. The doctor says I have a month left.”

I looked outside and said it so calmly that it was as if I was talking about the weather.

I had thought about coming here alone, but I would be too pitiful if I had to face this terrifying time alone.

Besides, I needed Susan to help me take care of my funeral.

When I saw Susan tear up, I found myself feeling a little happy.

Look at that. I still had someone who cared about me.

However, my stomach twisted in pain immediately after. The dense, continuous waves of pain made me break out in cold sweat.

Susan wanted to bring me to the hospital, but I begged her to bring me back home instead.

Honestly, I was scared of being alone in the cold hospital.

I did not want to be trapped on a narrow bed either.

To prevent Susan from worrying, I tried my best to stay awake. But in the end, I still fainted from the pain.

In my daze, I heard Susan make a call. “Zach, you piece of trash! Come here right now!”

When Zach got home, Susan had already left.

I sat alone on the couch with a cup of warm water in my hands.

It had just been a few days, and I had already lost a lot of weight. My clothes, which once suited me, hung off my frame loosely.

Cancer was really torture.

“What are you trying to pull this time? Give it a rest already. Don’t you know that I’m busy?” Zach scowled.

I had nothing to say to that. The door swung open again, and Monette came in this time with a bag of fruit.

Before I could ask any questions, she said, “Mrs. Stone, I asked to come here. I heard that you fainted while I was out shopping with Mr. Stone. That’s why I decided to check on you too.”

So, he was actually just busy shopping with his mistress.

I scoffed.

“What’s with that attitude?!” Zach scowled further. “Ninian, when did you start becoming so rude and low-class?!”

“And your ‘class’ teaches you to cheat on your wife?” I glared at him coldly.

Zach fell silent.

“Don’t be mad, Mrs. Stone. It’s my fault. Don’t blame Mr. Stone,” Monette said in a choked-up voice, but I could see that smug look on her face. “If you don’t like me, I can just leave.”

In the next second, Zach roared, “I’m leaving with you! With that unreasonable woman around, this isn’t my home anymore!”

As I watched how exasperated he was, I remembered the first day we moved to this place.

He held my hand as we visited every part of the house.

At that time, we sat next to each other on the couch, and he said that home was wherever I was.

However, he said that I was no longer worthy of becoming his home.

I held my cup tightly and looked down as I tried my hardest not to cry.

Zach wanted to leave with Monette.

Suddenly, his phone rang. After a few seconds of hesitation, he went to the balcony.

Once she saw that Zach had walked far away, Monette relaxed as well.

She looked toward the vase on the table. “It’s lilies? I thought you liked daisies.”

I frowned. How did she know?

“Do you really think this is my first time here?” Monette chuckled and looked around. “I know your couch, kitchen, study, and even your bed more than you think I do.”

I felt a chill run down my spine, and I froze.

I had picked every single piece of furniture in the house carefully. But right then, they disgusted me so much that I wanted to puke.

“By the way, have you changed the chair in the study? It’s not very comfy—”

I could no longer bear listening to her and slapped her.

Monette’s face swelled up quickly.

She just chuckled, but in the next second, she started crying.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Stone. I won’t do it again.”

Immediately after, someone shoved me away. “Ninian, have you lost your mind?!”

Zach shielded Monette.

I opened my mouth, but I found myself unable to say anything.

Tears had finally blurred my vision, and I found that I could not connect this Zach with his eighteen-year-old self anymore.

Zach no longer spared me another glance. While holding Monette’s shoulder, he led her out.

“Zach, if I’m about to die, will you still treat me this way?”

He did not turn around. “If you’ll stop throwing these tantrums once you die, just die.”

I instantly lost all my strength and collapsed on the floor dejectedly.

Heh.

So, he wanted me dead so badly?

After that day, Zach never came back home.

I did not care about it either. I just made a checklist for my funeral.

I took a portrait of myself to put on my gravestone and bought the clothes I would be wearing in my coffin.

After a few days, the owner of the photography studio asked me to retrieve my photo.

When I saw my photo, I felt a well of complicated emotions.

Just as I was about to go back home, I spotted Zach and Monette in the corner.

“Why are you here? Were you following me?”

I did not want to argue with him anymore.

My stomach was hurting, and I just wanted to leave the place as soon as possible.

“Mr. Stone, it looks like Mrs. Stone was here to take photos.”

As Monette spoke, she tried to grab my photo, but I took a quick step backward.

“She doesn’t want us to see it.” Monette sounded sad, but she was implying something else. “Why are you being so mysterious? You’re making us think that you’re hiding a secret.”

Zach’s expression changed, and he looked at the photo.

“What exactly is it?”

The pain increased. I did not want to talk to them anymore, but Zach grabbed my wrist.

When he looked at me, his eyes were filled with disgust and suspicion.

However, I would no longer be hurt by those eyes.

“It’s nothing. It’s none of your business.”

I broke out of his grip, but Zach grabbed the side of the photo.

While we were fighting for it, the photo fell on the floor, and my portrait was revealed before everyone’s eyes.

“Why is it in black and white?”

Monette feigned surprise, but I saw her smiling.

I accepted my fate as I looked at the photo on the floor.

They still saw it in the end.

Would Zach regret how he treated me during my final days?

“Is this what you’ve been hiding?” I heard his cold and calm voice.

Zach’s expression was dark. I saw no traces of pain or regret on him.

“Are you serious this time?”

This man pitied me when I would so much as cough in the past. But he was currently thinking that I was fooling around with death.

The sadder fact was this: I had actually held out a shred of hope for him earlier.

I smiled. “Can’t I? I want to see you regret your actions.”

“Then, die.”

He shoved me and walked forward.

I could no longer stand and collapsed on the floor.

The passersby cried out in surprise, and Monette hurriedly helped me up.

She grabbed my arm and whispered into my ear, “See that? Even if you die, it’s useless. He no longer loves you.”

I used my final bit of strength to break away from her.

Zach saw this and called out to Monette coldly, “Ignore her. This is one of her old tricks. If she likes acting so much, let her.”

I went back home with the help of the strangers around me.

After taking a painkiller, the pain in my stomach went away bit by bit.

Feeling physically and emotionally exhausted, I lay down on the couch and covered my ears. In my ears, all I could hear was Zach telling me to die.

I remembered one winter in the past when I was sick.

The situation was so dire that the doctor made several announcements that I was in critical condition.

We had no money back then, so Zach went to his friends and family to ask for money. He was regarded with scorn, and they even insulted him.

I pitied him and did not want to become a burden. So, I stubbornly refused to take any medicine and refused to accept treatment as well.

Zach then knelt beside my bed and held my hand as he cried, “Please, Ninian. Take your medicine, okay?”

Fast forward to the present, and Zach wanted me dead more than anyone else.

I looked at the calendar on the wall. There were only a few days left until my one month was up.

Fortunately, he was about to have his wish.

I went through my days just like that, and my health deteriorated.

I became more lethargic, and the frequency of pain flares grew.

Susan wanted me to stay with her, but I did not want to.

I just wanted to be alone and live through my final days quietly.

Monette refused to let me have my peace, though.

She would often send me messages.

Sometimes, they were pictures of her and Zach out traveling. Sometimes, they were selfies taken in front of a mirror in a luxurious hotel. Sometimes, they were pictures of Zach’s sleeping face.

However, even when I saw those intimate photos, I felt nothing. That was until Monette sent me a special picture one day.

It was a picture of the old house I had with Zach.

Just as I wanted to ask her what it meant, Monette sent me another message.

[A present.]

I immediately panicked and called Zach, but no one answered.

In my unease, I pulled myself together and grabbed a cab to my old house.

That was our first house after we moved out of the basement.

While we lived there, we watched the company grow and had many beautiful memories together.

That was why I never found the heart to sell it, even after Zach gave me a better house. It was because this house contained memories unique to us.

Of course, I was the only one who remembered them.

Nevertheless, I wanted to keep the house because I still wanted to preserve those memories.

I rushed over, only to find that the door was open. A few construction workers were moving in and out, and the house was a mess.

I broke down and yelled at the construction workers to stop, but they ignored me.

Out of my wits, I called Zach again and again.

After calling him more than a dozen times, he finally answered, “Yeah, I’m renovating the house. Monette wants to move in.”

When Zach reached the old house, it was already almost 1 p.m.

The construction workers had already left, and I had waited for him for five hours.

However, that was not important.

“Why are you renovating the place? You know just how important this place is to me…” I demanded in a quivering voice.

Zach knew just how many beautiful memories the place contained and how much it mattered to me. He knew that I would always come here to remember and lick my wounds whenever I argued with him while waiting for him.

He knew all this, but he still did this because Monette wanted it.

Zach said nothing, and then, I heard high heels clicking against the floor.

It was Monette.

“Mrs. Stone, don’t blame Mr. Stone. It’s my fault. Things have been pretty busy at the company lately, and I wanted to rent a place close by.

“Mr. Stone then said that he has a house. While it’s a little old, it could be renovated.

“I didn’t know that it was so important to you. Please calm down. I’ll have the construction workers restore it to how it originally looked,” Monette apologized timidly.

She then stepped inside.

“Oh, no… The place is already wrecked.” She sighed, but she was smiling.

She did this on purpose.

I clenched my fists, but Zach stood in front of me.

“It’s just a worn-down house, and you’re trying to hit her again?!”

“A worn-down house? To you, both the house and I are worn down, aren’t we?”

Zach then dragged Monette behind him. “Monette wants the place for something serious. Stop throwing a tantrum.

“If you like this location, I’ll buy a new one for you.”

“I don’t want it.” I glared at him through my tears. “I just want this place.”

Zach scowled. “Stop being so unreasonable, Ninian.”

“Don’t blame Mrs. Stone for this, Mr. Stone. It’s my fault.” Monette held his hand. “Should I compensate you?”

“Using what?!” I yelled at her. “This is my house! Get out!”

I shoved her. Monette lost her footing and stumbled backward a few steps. She crashed into a corner of the wall and got hurt.

She frowned, and Zach immediately held her hand tightly.

“Ninian, you’ve really lost your mind!

“You want this place? You can forget about it!

“I bought this house! I can do whatever I want with it!

“And don’t forget just who is providing for you right now!”