The day Dad brought my ashes home, Mom, who had claimed for years to be suffering from severe postpartum depression, suddenly told the truth.

"Actually, I made the illness up.

"We were never short on money, either. My company took off years ago. You never had to work six jobs a day until you nearly collapsed."

Dad froze, then looked up at her in disbelief.

Mom went on nonchalantly as if she were discussing nothing important.

"And that day on the highway, it wasn't because my depression flared up and I lost control, leaving Caleb at the rest stop by himself.

"He was spoiled by you. He actually dared to talk back to Adrian, so I left him there on purpose to teach him a lesson."

Dad's eyes grew redder and redder. After a long moment, he forced one question through his locked throat.

"Why?"

Mom gave a light laugh. At the red light, she reached over and touched his earlobe, as if she were talking about a tiny, harmless joke.

"Because you kept using my love for you as an excuse to bully Adrian. It was just a small punishment.

"Now the punishment is over. Daniel, you really have suffered these past six years. I'll make it up to you from now on.

"What about Caleb? Children recover quickly. He should be better by now, right? Why didn't he come home with you?"

Dad looked at her through tears.

Two seconds later, he suddenly laughed. With trembling fingers, he patted the urn in his arms.

"He's here."

The car was silent.

Only two sets of breathing remained, one heavy, one shallow.

Mom froze. "What do you mean?"

Dad's voice was very soft. By the end, it shook with tears. "Exactly what you think it means. Caleb is dead.

"The medical examiner said he was struck by a freight truck and died at the scene. What's inside this box is his ashes."

Mom's expression changed.

I drifted toward her and reached out, wanting to touch her hair the way she used to comfort me.

But the next second, I heard her snap angrily, "Enough!

"Daniel, it was wrong of me to lie to you for six years, but you don't need to make up something like this to get back at me!

"There aren't many cars at a highway rest stop, and traffic moves slowly there. How could Caleb possibly have died on the spot? If you're going to lie, at least use your brain!"

I floated around her anxiously, trying to tell her Dad was not lying. It was true.

The driver of the freight truck never saw me. The wheels rolled over my little body.

I did not even have time to feel much pain. Everything went black, and when I opened my eyes again, I had already become a ghost floating beside Dad.

But no matter how hard I tried to speak, Mom could not hear me.

Maybe Dad had remembered the condition I was in when I died, because his face turned white as paper.

Mom glanced at him, sighed, and softened her tone a little. "I'm sorry, Daniel. Don't blame me.

"I didn't mean to punish you for so long, but I didn't expect you to be that foolish. I deliberately left you so many clues, and you still never saw through it.

"Like the time Caleb was sick. I left him home alone and almost let the fever damage his brain. You thought my depression had flared up and I had gone out to clear my head, and you even worried about me.

"The truth is, Adrian's dog was sick. I went with him to the vet."

I suddenly went still and stared at Mom.

That had happened last month.

My fever had made my whole body ache. I thought I was going to die and wanted Mom to take me to the hospital, but I searched the whole house and could not find her.

In the end, I could only force myself to call Dad while he was still at work.

When Dad rushed home, he carried me to a small clinic.

As I lay there on an IV, he pressed his cold cheek to my forehead and said through tears, "Caleb, don't blame Mom.

"Mom is sick. She can't control it."

I believed him.

But now Mom said it was all fake.

My eyes began to burn too. Mom blurred in my vision.

Dad's throat seemed blocked by something invisible.

After a long silence, he finally found his voice and asked, trembling, "Meredith, how can you be this cruel? Caleb is your child!"

Mom raised an eyebrow. "He still had you, didn't he?

"Daniel, I know you and Caleb suffered a lot these past three years. Don't worry. From now on, I'll truly make it up to both of you."

I shook my head a little.

Mom, there is no 'from now on.' Caleb is already dead.

But even if I were still alive, she probably would not really make anything up to me.

She did not like Caleb.

I understood that the moment the truck crushed me and I desperately reached toward the direction she had driven away, while she never once looked back.

In her heart, Caleb mattered less than Adrian's dog.

Maybe it was because I had become a ghost, but I suddenly felt so cold that I shivered.

I carefully curled myself into Dad's arms.

His back was perfectly straight. His embrace was warm, but his voice was as cold as my transparent body.

He said, "Meredith.

"I want a divorce."

Mom slammed on the brakes. The tires screamed against the pavement.

I flew straight out of the car.

Dad's forehead crashed hard into the dashboard.

I rushed back, wanting to blow gently on the red mark on his forehead, but then Mom's phone rang.

I leaned over to look. The caller was Adrian.

Mom frowned at Dad, then answered. Adrian's soft voice came through.

"Meredith, I miss you so much. I miss the baby in your belly too."

I froze for a moment, and Dad turned to look at her at the same time.

Mom did not notice at all. Her expression turned unusually gentle as she spoke. "Don't be silly. Be good.

"I'll be back soon."

After hanging up, she coldly told Dad to get out. "Stop making a scene, Daniel. You're an adult. Don't throw childish tantrums.

"That's enough. We'll talk when I get back.

"I'll send you the address. Take a cab to the villa yourself. I've already had your things moved there. Pack them up, but don't touch the primary bedroom. I'm pregnant with Adrian's child, and he needs to stay in the primary bedroom to take care of me."

Dad clutched my urn so tightly that his fingers went white.

I knew what hurt him most: I had only just died, and Mom already had another child.

I sighed and reached out to touch his red eyes, but my transparent fingers passed through him.

He choked out, "Meredith, Caleb just... had an accident. Do you even care about him at all?"

Mom's frown deepened. "I didn't do it on purpose.

"Last time Adrian was drugged by someone at a bar by accident, and we... Daniel, be reasonable.

"Adrian is an orphan. This baby is the only blood family he has in the world. You're a father too. You can't expect me to get rid of his child, can you?"

She sighed. "As for Caleb, he's still little. He doesn't understand anything.

"I'll make it up to him. Hasn't he always wanted that robot action figure? When he comes back from the hospital, I'll buy it for him."

My eyes dimmed as I lowered my head.

But Mom, I will never be able to play with the action figure you buy.

She urged Dad out of the car.

Mom's car drove past us. She never looked back, just like the day I was hit.

Dad pressed my urn tightly to his chest. It sounded like he was talking to me, and also to himself.

"Baby, your mom wasn't always like this..."

I floated over and hugged him, nodding softly.

I knew.

Mom used to love us very much.

Many old clothes at home had been sewn by her own hands.

When I was very little, she would come home at night with Dad's favorite irises.

She would also lift me high over her head and proudly tell the neighbors that I was her brightest little treasure.

But that was a long time ago.

Dad's phone rang. It was a man we did not know.

"Come over tonight. We usually don't hire men your age, but we had someone drop out at the private lounge.

"I heard things are hard for you, so we'll make an exception this time."

"Yes, yes, thank you so much for helping me."

Dad hung up with endless gratitude and smiled for the first time in days.

He touched my cold urn and whispered, "Good boy, Caleb.

"After tonight, Dad will have enough money to buy you a burial plot."

Time was tight.

Dad could only put me into his backpack and take me to the place they called a private lounge.

But the moment he stepped into the room, I saw Mom in the center of the crowd, with Adrian's arm wrapped around her waist.

The air froze for a second.

Dad reacted first. He lowered his eyes stiffly, walked over, and knelt down to pour drinks for them.

Mom's face turned iron gray. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him up roughly. "What are you doing here?

"Daniel, I told you our family isn't short on money anymore. Why are you still coming out to entertain clients for cash? Why are you degrading yourself like this?"

I clearly saw humiliation flash through Dad's eyes.

He pressed his lips together, then calmly said, "Then give me two thousand dollars. I still need two thousand to buy Caleb a grave."

He made it sound so real.

Mom stared at him, half shocked and half uncertain.

Adrian's eyes shifted. He covered his lips and laughed. "Buy what grave?

"Daniel, you're not about to say Caleb is already dead, are you? Come on. I just saw him at the hospital earlier."

Mom believed him. Anger made the veins at her temples bulge. "Daniel!

"Caleb is your son. How can you curse him like that?"

Dad's lips moved. He probably wanted to explain, but in the end, he said nothing.

He knelt down again and silently poured drinks for them.

Smack!

Mom knocked the bottle out of his hand. It smashed to the floor, and shards flew up, cutting Dad's ankle.

She seemed so angry that she laughed instead. "Fine!

"Since you insist on being so pathetic, since you insist on earning this dirty money, I'll help you.

"Get down and bark like a dog. Crawl around the coffee table. One thousand per lap."

Adrian smiled and egged her on from the side. "Daniel seems desperate for money. He must have run into real trouble.

"How about this? Crawl two laps, and I'll add another thousand."

Dad's body trembled violently. His fingers gripped the strap of the backpack.

I knew he wanted to swing the bag at their heads, curse them out, and walk away.

But then he thought of me, still not buried.

So his legs slowly bent, and he got down on his hands and knees, truly crawling around the coffee table like a dog.

Mom's friends roared with laughter.

"Hahaha, I can't believe there are men this pathetic in the world!"

"Meredith, how could a man like this ever deserve you? You might as well divorce him and marry Adrian."

Adrian gave Dad a smug smile and winked.

Someone stepped on Dad's fingers. Bright red blood spread across the floor, and pain drained the color from his face.

"No, don't bully Dad like that!"

I rushed forward, wanting to push them away, but I could not touch any of them.

I could only kneel down too, kowtowing to Mom over and over. "Mom, Mom, save Dad! Please, Caleb is begging you!"

But Mom only watched Dad with complicated eyes. I did not know what she was thinking. She never spoke.

Suddenly, Adrian noticed something and raised an eyebrow. "Why is Daniel still carrying a bag?

"How can he look like a dog with a bag on? Take it off."

Dad instinctively protected the bag and shook his head wildly. "No! You can't! Don't touch my Caleb!"

But it was useless. The bag was soon snatched away and handed to Adrian.

Adrian pulled out my urn. When he saw Dad's pupils tremble and Dad lunged to grab it back, he smiled brightly.

Then he tossed the urn once in his hand and threw it out the window.

Outside the window was the river. How was that any different from scattering me into nothing?

I instinctively tried to catch the urn, but the next second, I heard it hit the water.

"Caleb!"

Dad screamed. At last, he broke free and rushed forward, shoving Adrian aside before trying to jump after it.

"Dad!"

Thankfully, Mom reacted quickly and grabbed him. Her face was ugly as she shouted, "Are you insane, Daniel?"

Dad's legs went so weak he could barely stand. He finally broke down and sobbed, "That was Caleb!

"Meredith, that was our Caleb!"