“Summer can’t see you anymore.“You should let the past go, Orion. Forget about it,” my mother said bitterly. She wanted to leave with my corpse after that, but Orion grabbed the trolley with an angry expression. “Why?“Why should I let the past go just because you say so? I’ll never forgive Summer. I’ve told you before that I won’t let any of you off the hook. Blame it on Summer!” Then, he glanced at my dead body.“Are you going to a morgue?“Go ahead. Let’s see if anyone takes her in!” My mother started to cry after she heard Orion’s cruel words.“Summer didn’t do anything wrong. She didn’t do anything wrong,” she said and pushed the trolley forward.I turned around to glance at Orion. Right then, the young woman next to him was comforting him. They looked like a match made in heaven, and I felt a terrible emptiness in my heart.My mother brought my corpse to the best funeral parlor in town, but they turned her away. They claimed to have too many corpses, so they did
It was winter, and my corpse was swaying in the cold, strong wind. My mother’s voice had gotten hoarse after all the crying. She felt truly helpless and had no idea what to do.Just then, one of the staff members in the funeral parlor came out. It looked like she could not bear seeing my mother like that. She soon passed her a glass of warm water. “Please don’t be too upset. Do you know Mr. Orion Gray? His father’s a really famous mortician. Being his son, Orion learned the skill too. That’s what I’ve heard, so you could ask him to restore the corpse.” Orion indeed had the skills to do so. He worked as a mortician back when we were together. Orion was extremely good at what he did. He could even restore corpses that were completely disfigured from car accidents. At that time, I was afraid that my mother would not find his career acceptable. So, I hid it from her. It was obvious what the staff was hinting at. They had no other choice but to do as Orion had instructed.
My mother rang the doorbell, and Orion opened the door. My mother stared at him with teary eyes. “Orion, none of the funeral parlors are willing to take my goddaughter.”“I’m aware. I’m responsible for that,” he said knowingly.“I already told you. I’ll only consider letting you off the hook if Summer begs for my forgiveness.”If I could, I would apologize to him. However, I could no longer do that. My mother’s tears streamed down her face. “I’m here to ask you for a favor. Can you please help me restore my goddaughter’s corpse?” Orion sneered. “Is Summer the one who suggested you look for me? Why didn’t she come here herself? Or is she too embarrassed to show up?” My mother lowered her head as she grabbed the trolley handle tightly. “Summer… really can’t come here anymore.” “She’s just too ashamed to face me, isn’t she? Ask her to meet me, and I’ll consider your request!” Orion seemed furious. My mother cried even harder, and I knew she was at her wits’ end.
I got the tattoo with him on our third anniversary. It had his initials and birthday. After we got the tattoo, Orion held my hands with bright eyes. “Summer, no matter what you look like in the future, I’ll be able to recognize you by this tattoo. You won’t be able to run away from me.” I laughed. “What if I remove the tattoo and become disfigured? Would you be able to recognize me, then?” “Of course. Even if I don’t recognize you on the spot, I eventually will. It’s called ‘lovers’ telepathy.’” At this moment, Orion was trembling as he held my right hand. He seemed extremely nervous. He clenched his jaw, and sweat started to form on his forehead. Then, he flipped my hand over and exposed my wrist. My skin was a little darker, so it was hard to tell if there was a tattoo on it. There was also a black knife scar. He instantly let go of my hand and let out a long sigh. “I knew it wasn’t her.” The truth was I had cut the tattoo away. Thankfully, I made that de
I got to know Orion five years ago. At that time, we were both fresh graduates. My father had just passed away, and we sent him to the funeral parlor that Orion was interning at. His father had just passed away too, and he was arguing with the supervisor. “Why won’t you let me work on his restoration? I’m his son!”“I can’t let you do that just because you’re his son. Besides, you won’t be able to do it!” Immediately after, his supervisor left. Orion punched the wall, and his hand started to bleed. I took out a band-aid from my bag and walked over anxiously. “He said that for your own good,” I told him and put the band-aid on his hand. He glared at me in response. “It’s none of your business.”“It is none of my business, but I want you to help me restore my father’s corpse.“Is that alright?” Actually, I only asked him for help because I wanted to distract him from the sadness of losing his father. It seemed like we shared the same fate, so I felt compelled t
I came back to my senses and saw Orion working on my dead body. In the past, I would lie next to him every day. This time, he was personally restoring the body that used to accompany him. He carefully wiped my body, but he paused when he got to my face. He stared at it for a very long time. Eventually, Orion snapped back to reality and shook his head forcefully. “I’m really going insane. It’s not her.” He took off his gloves and left the guest room. Then, he gave my mother a call. “What did she look like? You have to send me a photo so that I can follow it.” My mother began to stutter. “Y-You can just make an educated guess based on her bone structure. I don’t have a photo of her.“Just do your best…“Can you also treat the corpse a little gentler? She suffered too much when she was alive.” Orion seemed to grow impatient, and he hung up on her. He walked back into the guest room and pulled out an old photo of me on his phone. He wanted to compare it with my corp
The next morning, Orion entered the guest room where my body was. Fortunately, it was winter, so my corpse would not decay too fast. In between work, he sent me a text message. [Ask your mother to retrieve the body tomorrow morning. Be prepared to be my maid!]After that, he waited for my reply. But he never received a text message in return. He switched off his phone in slight frustration. Then, he started to work on the corpse again. I was too skinny, so he opened my mouth to stuff some cotton balls inside. However, he seemed to spot something that stunned him. He was a little frantic as he took a dental mirror to take a look. One of my teeth had a cavity, and I would often talk about it with Orion in the past. I wanted to get it fixed, but I never got a chance. After we broke up, I no longer wanted to tend to it. Orion saw the tooth and took a few steps back. “Impossible…” He took out his phone with his trembling hands. There was no new text message wa
Then, he started working on my corpse again. This time, he was moving a lot faster. After most of the recovery work was done, my face still remained darker in shade. But at this point, it obviously looked like me. The tool in Orion’s hand fell onto the ground with a loud thud. He clenched his jaw as if he was suppressing his anxiousness. Soon, he started to comfort himself as he murmured, “It’s her goddaughter, so it’s only normal for them to look alike.” At this moment, I wanted my mother to take me home so that the lie could continue. I had a feeling that the truth was going to be exposed. Just then, someone knocked on the door. It was my mother, and she was holding a white dress. “Sum… My goddaughter doesn’t own a nice dress. Can you let me put this dress on her?” Orion was caught in a daze when he saw the dress. It was the first birthday present that he had given me. I had only worn it once, because I really cherished it. I was afraid of spoiling it, so I
My mother called the police, and they broke into Orion’s house. He was still holding my corpse and putting makeup on me. He kept saying, “Summer, let’s travel together.”“Orion, wake up. Summer’s already dead. You should put her to rest.” My mother sobbed. Orion looked up with tears in his eyes. “Can you let me live out my dreams for a bit longer?”My mother hugged him and patted him on the back. “Time won’t stop moving. You can’t just live in this moment forever. You have to move forward.” She was right; Orion should move forward. Perhaps we could reconcile in heaven. Orion was trembling and crying. Eventually, he carried me into the funeral parlor’s van. After I was cremated, they held a funeral service for me. Orion did not show up for it. “Summer, please help Orion to heal. He hasn’t been eating or drinking,” my mother said.“That poor child.” I was extremely upset, and I went looking for him.Soon, I saw a suicide note on his table. He had written his
Orion cried as he carried my corpse. “Summer’s my wife. I want to spend one last day with her. I’ll send her to your house tonight,” he said to my mother. She did not stop him. She only cried and said, “Sorry, Summer. I told Orion the truth in the end.”However, I did not blame her or anyone else for it. Perhaps Orion was meant to find out. He brought my corpse to a spot that was covered in gardenia trees. However, it was winter, so the flowers had not bloomed. He carefully carried my corpse from the car and placed it on the grass. “Summer, look. They’re your favorite flowers. I planted all of them for you. You once told me that you wanted a lot of gardenias for our wedding. Let’s have our wedding here, alright?”He still remembered the things I liked. “Alright,” I answered him through tears. However, he could not hear me anymore. “Summer, let’s go to the mountains for our honeymoon, alright?“Summer, I bought you a huge mansion and planted a lot of gardenia trees
Orion was sent to the hospital. When he woke up, the first thing he wanted to do was find me. He pulled out the IV and tried to get out of bed. However, the young woman stopped him. “Orion, you’re still sick. Where are you going?”Orion turned around to look at her. “I’m looking for your sister-in-law.” His voice was hoarse.My heart fluttered as I teared up. “Emma, you should look for Mom. I can’t take care of you anymore.”It turned out that they were actually siblings. I suddenly recalled that Orion once told me he came from a broken family. He grew up with his father. He did not tell me where his mother went or if he had any siblings. Emma must have grown up with their mother instead. Orion rushed home in his hospital gown, and my mother was waiting at the entrance. “Orion, have you finished restoring the corpse?” He ignored her and ran into the guest room.I was still lying quietly there, just like the day before. My mother saw me and started crying.
“Summer only aborted the baby because of the tumor.“When you left, she was fighting cancer. She knew that she could not live much longer, so she went home. Then, she begged me and her mother to not tell you the truth. Eventually, she lost the fight.“I feel like you should know how good she was to you.”Florence’s words pierced through Orion’s ears, and his phone fell to the floor. He looked at me, and his tears streamed down uncontrollably. He wanted to speak, but no words were coming out. His tears just fell onto my arm. I was extremely upset, and I wanted to hug him. However, he ended up fainting next to my corpse. The loud thud alerted the young woman, and she rushed in. “Orion, what’s wrong?“Orion, bro, don’t scare me!” she cried and called the ambulance. “Bro”?What was going on?I did not remember Orion having a younger sister.
After I learned that I was pregnant, I kept losing weight regardless of how much I ate. So, I went to get myself checked at the hospital. They discovered that I had a malignant tumor that was pressing against my baby. The doctor said, “You have to abort the baby. Otherwise, both of you will end up dead.”I collapsed onto the floor as I begged the doctor to help me. “Will my baby survive if I die?”“This isn’t a multiple-choice question. You won’t be able to carry this child to term. Even if you do, the child might be born disabled. If you don’t abort the child, you’ll likely die in a month’s time.”Unfortunately, I had no other choice but to abort the child. However, I remained sick because my tumor was malignant. I could only undergo chemotherapy to extend my lifespan.Eventually, the tumor would still claim me. So, I went back and broke up with Orion. I knew him too well. If he knew that I was going to die, he would end his life with me. As such, I purposely told
My mother was carefully tidying the dress in the guest room. When Orion saw me, he was taken aback. Since the dress covered my skinny and discolored body, my corpse bore more of a resemblance to me. “I’ll make a move now. You can continue restoring her corpse, and I’ll retrieve her tomorrow.” After my mother left, Orion chose a wig with long black hair. It was the same hairstyle I had. He took a deep breath and put the wig on my head. “It’s impossible. It’s impossible that Summer’s dead,” Orion said.Then, he took out a beauty kit and started to apply some makeup on me. Once he applied the lipstick, his indifferent eyes turned anxious. The restored corpse looked exactly like me. It was, in fact, me. All my lies disintegrated. With his face turning pale, Orion took a step back and fell onto the ground. “How is this possible?”He dialed my phone number, but no one picked up. Then, he called Florence. “Tell me. Where’s Summer?”Florence remained calm and s
He went to a bar and started drinking profusely. “Summer, you’re so cruel!”It upset me to see him acting this way, but I believed that it was for the best. He would never know that I was already dead. I just wanted him to be fine. While he was drinking, my best friend, Florence River, walked in. She was the only other person who knew what had happened back then. However, she was an impatient woman. I was afraid that she would tell him the truth. They saw each other, and Orion stopped her when she tried to leave. “Where’s Summer?“Is she outside?”After that, he dashed out in an effort to find me. He kept banging on random car doors, like he was insane. “Summer, come out! Stop hiding from me!”However, I was not inside of any of those cars. “Orion, can you stop?!” Florence could not stand the sight and yelled at him. Orion slowly turned around and glared at her. “Tell Summer to come out!”Florence’s eyes became a little teary. “Summer’s already dead
Then, he started working on my corpse again. This time, he was moving a lot faster. After most of the recovery work was done, my face still remained darker in shade. But at this point, it obviously looked like me. The tool in Orion’s hand fell onto the ground with a loud thud. He clenched his jaw as if he was suppressing his anxiousness. Soon, he started to comfort himself as he murmured, “It’s her goddaughter, so it’s only normal for them to look alike.” At this moment, I wanted my mother to take me home so that the lie could continue. I had a feeling that the truth was going to be exposed. Just then, someone knocked on the door. It was my mother, and she was holding a white dress. “Sum… My goddaughter doesn’t own a nice dress. Can you let me put this dress on her?” Orion was caught in a daze when he saw the dress. It was the first birthday present that he had given me. I had only worn it once, because I really cherished it. I was afraid of spoiling it, so I
The next morning, Orion entered the guest room where my body was. Fortunately, it was winter, so my corpse would not decay too fast. In between work, he sent me a text message. [Ask your mother to retrieve the body tomorrow morning. Be prepared to be my maid!]After that, he waited for my reply. But he never received a text message in return. He switched off his phone in slight frustration. Then, he started to work on the corpse again. I was too skinny, so he opened my mouth to stuff some cotton balls inside. However, he seemed to spot something that stunned him. He was a little frantic as he took a dental mirror to take a look. One of my teeth had a cavity, and I would often talk about it with Orion in the past. I wanted to get it fixed, but I never got a chance. After we broke up, I no longer wanted to tend to it. Orion saw the tooth and took a few steps back. “Impossible…” He took out his phone with his trembling hands. There was no new text message wa