Chapter 1

The night my girlfriend became a movie star, she plunged a knife into me seventeen times. I bled out completely.

But then, after killing me, she took her own life.

In her hand, a voice recorder, engraved with "To Julian."

It was filled with the most intense love and longing.

Julian was the idealized crush of her life, the man she’d secretly adored for three years.

He’d died in a car crash before she ever got the chance to confess her feelings.

On the recording, she sobbed, her voice tearing her heart out, "It's all because of you that I lost the love of my life!"

When I opened my eyes again, I watched her rush towards the surging traffic, and I used every ounce of my strength to save *her* "love."

Seeing her clutch him in her arms, like he was the most precious thing in the world, I let out a bitter laugh.

This time, Serena, I set you free.

Just don't you dare regret it.

"Liam, thank you for supporting me all these years. I really appreciate you."

The woman before me smiled, a picture of blooming beauty. But my body went weak, and I could only cling to the tablecloth before crashing heavily to the floor.

Plates and bowls clattered, shattering around me.

My eyes wide with horror, I watched as the beautiful woman slowly drew a sharp knife from her clothes and walked towards me, her face alight with vicious satisfaction.

In my stunned gaze, she stabbed down hard. The blade sank deep into my flesh. The pain was so intense, I wanted to scream.

I wanted to demand, *Why?*

Her heavily made-up face contorted into a grotesque mask.

"It's all because of you that Julian died! Why wasn't it *you* who died instead?!"

"This is what you owe Julian! You deserve to die! Because of you, I never even got the chance to confess to him!"

Pain. So much pain.

But I couldn’t open my mouth. All I could do was stare helplessly, watching her stab me, one knife after another, again and again.

I think, I probably died then.

Killed by a woman. Killed by the girlfriend I’d pampered for seven years.

How pathetic.

After I died, my soul floated in the air, watching Serena madly stab my lifeless body.

My body was riddled with holes, blood flowing endlessly, making the scene a horrific, foul-smelling mess.

She seemed to finally believe I was dead.

With trembling hands, she pulled out an old high school uniform and somehow squeezed herself into it.

The clothes didn't fit her at all, and with her heavy makeup, she looked like a grotesque clown.

As I watched in shock, the next second, a sharp blade plunged through her own heart.

Serena fell slowly to the ground, a smile on her face, murmuring, "Julian, I’ve finally avenged you. Wait for me down there, I'll be right there to find you!"

I watched her bleed out. I watched her take her last breath.

I wondered, *Julian, who is that?*

I floated there for two hours, waiting for Mr. Hayes to arrive and call the police, waiting for the fully armed officers to enter the scene.

Finally, from the depths of my memory, I dug up some long-forgotten past.

Julian was Serena's first love from high school.

He had died seven years ago.

And Serena had only agreed to be with me the month after Julian’s death.

Back then, I thought she had lost her love and desperately needed a relationship to heal herself.

I spent all my energy pleasing her, treating her like a precious porcelain doll, coddling and doting on her.

Throughout our relationship, she never had to lift a finger at home.

I thought, after all my effort, after seven years by her side, even a block of ice would have melted.

But it hadn’t.

A woman’s voice suddenly rang out, crying her heart out.

I snapped back to reality, seeing a police officer pull a voice recorder from Serena's embrace, his hand resting on the play button.

"Liam Davies, you forced me to stay by your side, making me waste seven whole years of my youth!"

"Yes, I killed you. I want you to feel how painful death is, so you understand how much I suffered!

"This was all your fault! If it weren't for you, I would never have lost Julian!"

At the end of the recording, she said, "Liam Davies, I hate you! I want you to go to hell and atone to Julian!"

That recording, the police and I listened to it together five times in that silent room.

The silence in the room was so thick, you could hear a pin drop.

I was stunned, suddenly feeling like my death was utterly worthless.

What did I ever see in that psycho?