His voice trembled. His forehead slowly lowered, resting against the metal railing of the table edge.

"You are the type of person who carries everything alone. Carrying illness alone, facing death alone, not even telling me at the very end—Mina, how can you be so cruel?"

There was a long silence.

He lifted his head, his eyes reddened, but no tears fell.

When he reached the door, he stopped. He didn't look back, but his voice was laced with a hoarseness.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't by your side when you needed someone the most."

Caleb stayed in the mortuary for the entire day.

When he walked out of the mortuary, the sky was already dark.

There were over a dozen missed calls on his phone, all from Shen Shuyi.

Caleb called back. The moment the call connected, he said in a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry, I won't be able to make it to the engagement banquet. Let's cancel it."

Shen Shuyi paused. "What do you mean? My family is waiting for you right now..."

"She died."

Caleb interrupted her, his voice trembling and tight. "Mina wasn't not loving me—she had stomach cancer. She died..."

There was no sound from the other end.

After a long while, Shen Shuyi said, "My condolences."

Then she hung up.

He personally oversaw the entire process of Mina's cremation.

He also personally placed the urn into the storage unit.

Then, he reached out, took the urn out from the shelf, and held it in his arms.

He rested his chin on top of the box, closed his eyes, and a single tear slid from the corner of his eye, landing on the lid.

"Wait for me."

I felt as if I were submerged in a very, very deep body of water.

Then, I heard someone calling my name, over and over again.

I opened my eyes.

The sunlight was so sharp that I wanted to raise my hand to shield my eyes, and then I discovered that I was standing in front of a tombstone.

The Tomb of Mina.

Chapter 9

I looked down at myself; the sunlight passed right through my body, and there was no shadow on the ground.

A bouquet of jasmine was placed before the tombstone.

I crouched down and reached out to touch it, but my fingertips passed through the petals; I felt nothing at all.

So, this is what it’s like to be dead.

I wasn't afraid.

I had been preparing for this for more than half a year.

Footsteps approached from not far away.

Caleb walked over, wearing that dark blue uniform, and stood still before the tombstone.

"That pot at the flower shop didn't survive," he said. "I bought a new one, and I'll plant it for you here later."

I crouched right beside the tombstone, looking up at his face.

He couldn't see me. He just stood there for a moment, then turned and walked away.

A force pushed from behind, wrapping around me and dragging me forward.

Like a fallen leaf, I had no choice but to follow in his footsteps.

After a few failed attempts to break free, I gave up.

I stayed by his side, watching him work, and couldn't help but float next to him to grumble.

"Caleb, you're a very incompetent fiancé. You finish your work and then go inquire about your ex-girlfriend, but when it comes to your current fiancée, how come you don't even know how to send a text?"

Toward evening, Shen Shuyi arrived.

I was floating near the ceiling of the hallway and saw her first.

I thought:

Here we go. The fiancée has arrived. Caleb, good luck to you.

I waited for Shen Shuyi to lose her temper.

She walked straight into the office and stood before Caleb.

"I heard you’ve been here all day."

He nodded: "Yes, her funeral arrangements were just finished."

Shen Shuyi was silent for a few seconds, her voice much softer than I expected: "I’ve already taken care of the engagement cancellation. You don't need to worry."

I drifted in the corner, stunned.

Their engagement was cancelled? Was it because of me?

Caleb’s voice was low and hoarse: "Thank you. I’m sorry for letting you down this time."

Shen Shuyi shook her head: "We only got engaged to make things work between us anyway; there's nothing to apologize for."

So, there were no feelings between them?

I sighed.

Even though I was already dead, why did I still feel this heavy ache in my chest?

That tightness blocked my throat; I could neither swallow it nor spit it out.

Shen Shuyi sat down across from him, her voice softening: "What do you plan to do next?"

Caleb’s fingers curled slightly, but he said nothing.

I drifted beside them, my nose stinging.

He was using the clumsiest methods to try to make me turn back, while I retreated a step every time.

But what could I do?

A person about to die—what right did I have to let him turn back?

Shen Shuyi sat for a while longer, said a few words like "my condolences" and "take care," then got up and left.

As she was leaving, she looked back at him from the doorway, opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing and closed the door.

Only Caleb was left in the office.

And me—an invisible me.

He sat in the chair like that, staring at the desk, not moving at all.

The light outside the window turned from bright to dark, and shadows shifted from short to long, yet he never changed his posture.

Old Zhou came in once, asking if he was getting off work; he said he’d stay a while longer.

Old Zhou didn't ask further and left.

He sat in a daze by himself for a long time.

When the sky was completely dark, he stood up and asked Old Zhou for a few days off.

Old Zhou looked at him and nodded.

Caleb’s home was in an alley in the old town.

I floated behind him through the security door. In the living room, his mother, Auntie Chen, was sitting on the sofa; seeing him enter, she put down her knitting.

"You're back?" Her voice was tight.

Caleb changed his shoes and gave a grunt of acknowledgment.

"About that... Mina matter," Auntie Chen’s voice lowered, "I heard it from Old Zhou’s wife. Stomach cancer... terminal?"

Caleb didn't speak.

"The poor child. Both parents gone early, grandmother gone too, left all alone... how did she end up with such an illness."

I thought Caleb would get angry or demand to know why she had gone to find me and say those things back then.

But he said nothing.

He put on his slippers and walked past Auntie Chen, his voice flat: "I’m going to my room."

The door closed.

I followed him inside.

Then, I stopped.

In the corner of the room sat several cardboard boxes printed with the flower shop’s logo.

They were my things.

My clothes, my books—all folded neatly by him.

He had moved my belongings into his own room.

I turned and saw a small iron box on the nightstand.

The lid wasn't closed tight, revealing a piece of red material.

I leaned in to look.

It was a red string, braided into three strands, its color faded to a dull, dark ochre—exactly the same as the one I had given my grandmother.

He said he had thrown it away a long time ago.

I stared at that red string, and my eyes suddenly grew hot.

"Liar," I whispered.

He couldn't hear me.

He sat by the bed, head down, and pulled open the drawer, reaching into the very back to pull out an old photograph.

It was one we had taken long ago; I was smiling with my eyes curled into crescents, and he was standing behind me with a very faint curve to his lips.

He flipped the photo over.

On the back were two lines of text.

My handwriting:

Mina and Caleb to be together forever.

Below it, he had written:

Never to be separated.

He kept his head down, his thumb stroking my face in the photo.

"Mina," he whispered, his voice very low, "you’re a liar."

My tears fell again.

I floated right in front of him, less than an arm's length away.

I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I couldn't do anything.

I opened my mouth and whispered: "Forever is too far away. Caleb, you should just forget me and start a new life."

Chapter 10

He just sat there, stroking the photo over and over, unable to stop.

I floated in front of him, reached out my hand, and it passed through his shoulder again.

Crying had no sound; tears left no traces.

When the sky began to brighten, he finally put down the photo.

He carefully put the photo back in the drawer, stood up, and left the room.

He entered the bathroom, and the faucet ran for a long time.