Chapter 1

On the eve of our wedding, Charles suddenly texted me.

“Pick a number from 1 to 365.”

I chose 287.

That was the number of days between the day we met and the day we fell in love.

A second later, he replied.

“Then I won’t speak to you for the next 287 days.”

I didn’t believe him.

Not until our wedding the next day, when I stood there from morning until after midnight.

My feet swelled until they turned purple, but Charles never showed.

I finally told my family about the stupid game.

My mother, Gladys, looked at me with nothing but disappointment.

“Katherine, Charles was just testing you. Why couldn’t you play along?”

My father, Oliver, immediately agreed.

“Charles is a good man, Katherine. Maybe you should think about what you did wrong.”

My younger brother, Mark, shook his head.

“Katherine, you’re pathetic.”

Even my best friend, Lydia, sighed beside me.

“You couldn’t even hold on to a man that good. You’re so stupid.”

Their words made me question everything about myself.

Eventually, I fell into depression.

On the 286th day without Charles, a truck hit me.

I died while I was out looking for him.

When my family came to take my body away, Mark suddenly asked, “Mom, should we tell Charles that Katherine died?”

Gladys’s eyes were swollen red from crying.

But what came out of her mouth chilled me to the bone.

“No.”

“Lydia just got pregnant with Charles’s baby. We can’t let this affect her.”

...

“Tomorrow’s the 287th day.”

Mark looked troubled.

“Charles always keeps his promises. He promised he’d make it up to Katherine when he came back, so he definitely will.”

“What if he asks about her...?”

Gladys silently looked at my body.

Her expression was complicated.

After a while, she said, “Tell him Katherine cheated on him and ran away with another man.”

The words stunned not only Oliver and Mark.

They stunned me too.

“We can’t tell him Katherine’s dead.”

“Charles might look cold, but he’s actually softhearted.”

“Lydia’s baby can’t lose its father before it’s even born.”

I stared at Gladys in disbelief.

There was still obvious grief in her eyes from learning about my death.

Yet every word out of her mouth was about Lydia.

My throat tightened.

I suddenly felt sick.

“It’s the only way,” Mark said.

Hesitation crossed his face, but it disappeared almost instantly.

His voice hardened.

“Katherine’s already dead. She shouldn’t fight Lydia for a husband now.”

Mom and Dad nodded.

“The dead can’t come back.”

“She can do this one last thing for Lydia.”

After that, none of them looked at my body again.

The hearse continued toward the funeral home.

When we passed our house, Gladys suddenly told the driver to stop.

“She was still my daughter.”

With Oliver supporting her, she climbed out.

“I’ll get some of Katherine’s favorite things so she has something with her.”

She had barely stepped out of the house when a familiar voice came from the side.

“Mark, why are you guys coming from—”

I froze and jerked my head up.

Charles glanced at the hearse behind them, and his expression instantly darkened.

“What happened?”

“Why isn’t Katherine with you?”

Gladys clenched her fingers.

Nervousness flashed through her eyes.

Mark immediately stepped forward.

“Charles? What are you doing here?”

“Katherine? She’s fine. She went out somewhere. Who knows where?”

Charles gave a distracted nod.

His eyes never left the hearse.

“Who’s in there?”

Silence fell.

Charles frowned harder.

He took a few steps toward the vehicle.

Gladys grabbed his sleeve.

“Charles, don’t look.”

“It’s our neighbor Nelson’s friend. He came to visit Nelson and got into an accident.”

“Nelson happens to be out of town this weekend, so he asked us to help take the body to the crematorium.”

They spoke to one another so naturally.

Nothing about them seemed like people who hadn’t seen each other in over two hundred days.

Pain stabbed through my chest.

It felt like something had pierced straight into me.

I couldn’t pull it out.

I couldn’t make it disappear.

It hurt like hell.

Charles stood there, clearly not entirely convinced.

He glanced at Oliver and Mark.

Gladys quickly forced a smile.

“I was scared to go alone, so I asked them to come with me.”

Some of the suspicion faded from his face.

Then he asked, “Where’s Katherine? Has she mentioned me at all lately?”

His lips trembled slightly.

Guilt filled his face.

“What happened before was my fault. I’m really sorry.”

“I already booked a hotel. The day after tomorrow, I’m going to give her the wedding she deserves.”

All three of them stiffened.

Gladys stammered, “Katherine... she told us not to say anything.”

Charles paused.

Then he sighed.

“She has every right to be angry with me.”

“Lydia’s been doing a lot better lately. She promised me that having the baby is enough for her and she won’t cause any more trouble.”

“From now on, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to Katherine.”

Gladys’s face grew even worse.

Charles didn’t notice.

After thinking for a moment, he stepped into the hearse under their shocked gazes.

“Katherine isn’t here, so I’ll go with you in her place.”