Chapter 1

Six months after my death, Mom’s leukemia relapsed.

My brother, Liam, came to my apartment, demanding I donate bone marrow to her.

My landlady, Martha, told him, “Chloe’s already dead.”

Liam scoffed, a sneer twisting his lips. “Chloe Kingston, always so dramatic! Always pulling stunts for attention. She’s just rotten to the core, nothing like Serena. You tell her to stop playing games and go donate bone marrow to Mom, or I’ll make her regret it!”

Martha, her hair a wispy white, flared up in anger. She grabbed a broom and chased Liam out.

“I told you, Chloe’s dead! You, her family, killed her!

“Chloe’s been gone for six months now! How exactly are you going to ‘make her regret it’?

“Chloe truly had the worst luck, cursed with a family like yours!”

The realization that I was genuinely dead seemed to hit Liam then. His face turned ashen, and he fled in a panic.

I’d been dead for six months, but I hadn’t moved on.

My soul clung uncontrollably to the Kingston family.

Day after day, I watched the four of them, happy as ever.

Serena Davis and Ryan Thompson were getting married. The date and venue were already booked.

That’s when they finally remembered me.

“Is Chloe still mad? Will she come to my wedding with Ryan?”

“If she doesn’t come, I won’t acknowledge her as my daughter anymore.”

“See? She wasn’t raised by us; she’ll never truly be family.”

“I told you back then, we shouldn’t have brought her back. Just let things be.”

My dad, Robert, my mom, Vivian, and my brother, Liam, sat there, talking about my faults.

I saw Serena’s eyes well up, but a tiny smirk played on her lips.

She’d won. I, the real daughter, had nothing left, not even my life.

The family took turns calling my phone, but it just went straight to voicemail.

It had been six months; my phone battery had died ages ago.

After failing to reach me, they cursed me out collectively, then dismissed me from their thoughts again.

Even if they occasionally remembered me, it was only to add another insult.

Mom went with Serena to try on wedding dresses.

Serena’s eyes landed on a gown displayed in a glass case.

“Mom, look! This dress is so beautiful.”

I looked at the dress too, and for a moment, I was lost in a daze.

Just then, Mom had already called a store assistant over, asking to take the dress out.

“I’m so sorry, but this gown is a custom order.”

Serena loved the dress and kept asking about the client who’d ordered it.

Finally, the assistant checked her records: “It’s Miss Chloe Kingston. She provided the design herself, and our company helped create it.”

Serena immediately covered her mouth, choked up. “Sister still can’t let go of Ryan, can she? Maybe I should just give him back to her.”

Give him back to me?

A bitter laugh escaped my ethereal form.

Ryan and I were childhood sweethearts, once the most envied couple.

But then I was recognized by the Kingstons, and I met Serena.

Everyone loved Serena.

My childhood sweetheart loved her too.

This wedding dress… yes, I designed it for myself.

Once, filled with so much love, I poured my heart into this design.

I thought I’d wear it, that I’d marry Ryan.

But now, that dress was something I could only ever dream of, forever out of reach.