Chapter 1
My body lay in the hospital morgue for a full month. Finally, the hospital contacted my colleague, Sarah, who confirmed my identity.
During that entire month, Liam never once inquired. He was too busy honeymooning with Brittany Hayes in the Maldives.
It wasn’t until the hospital issued a final ultimatum—my body was to be cremated—that he reluctantly hurried back.
My corpse, frozen solid in the freezer, was a ghostly, bruised blue, a far cry from my usual appearance.
Liam took one look, then sharply averted his gaze, as if my sightless, frozen form was an insult to his perfect day. Leo hadn’t come. He probably didn’t want to see me.
The staff urged him to sign the papers quickly and verify the body’s identity. Liam scrawled his name and turned to leave, but was stopped again.
He still had to wait for the funeral home to transport the body.
His face was a mask of sheer impatience. Of course, Brittany was already texting him, asking what time he’d be home for dinner.
The morgue lights were cold and stark. As they moved my body, a beam of light caught the ring on my finger, making it sparkle for a fleeting moment.
Liam noticed it. He paused, a slight frown on his face. This was the ring he’d proposed with on graduation day.
Back then, we were just two poor students, worried about making ends meet after graduation.
To propose to me, he worked odd jobs for three straight months just to buy that modest ring that cost him a few hundred bucks.
The diamond was tiny, not very shiny, but it was the best gift I’d received in over twenty years of my life.
The golden hour, a gentle breeze, and the earnest, beautiful promise of a young man: “Eleanor Vance, I love you. The wind today tells me I love you, can you hear it? I know you’re pessimistic about marriage. I know all your ideals and ambitions. But please, give me a chance—a chance to prove that our future will be forever happy and beautiful. Will you marry me?”
Yet, barely a year into our marriage, the arguments began.
He was consumed by his startup, I by my career. He blamed me for not being like other wives, for neglecting our home, for always being busy with work and ignoring him.
He complained I was like a robot, always offering calm, rational solutions when he just needed comfort.
But it was precisely my drive, my focus, my composure that had drawn him in at first.
I kept thinking, just a little more time. Once I finished this project, once I had everything arranged, I’d transform into the ‘qualified wife’ he wanted.
But it was too late.
Brittany Hayes had appeared in his life. She was young, beautiful, and attentive enough to handle his every need. Naive enough to give him the adoring gaze he craved.
Gentle enough not to argue with him after he’d endured a stressful day at work.
Those were qualities I lacked. Maybe I was once young and pretty, too, but youth fades. Our love had withered. Between Liam and me, there was nothing left.
Perhaps that ring brought back memories for Liam. His expression softened with a flicker of patience as he waited for the funeral home’s van to take me away.
He did, in the end, accompany me for this final journey, watching as I was wheeled into the crematorium.
My grave was chosen on a desolate hill north of the city—shadowed, windless, treeless, barren. Just one lonely mound.
I’d told him countless times that I hated feeling trapped, that I wanted to be free like the wind.
If I died, I wished for my ashes to be scattered to the wind, letting me drift one last time across this beautiful world.
But on the day of my funeral, neither Liam nor Leo showed up. They were both with Brittany Hayes, going to the courthouse to finalize their marriage license.
After all, I was dead. My marriage to Liam Caldwell had automatically ended. No one could hold onto the title of ‘Mrs. Caldwell’ anymore.
He doted on her as if she were the most precious jewel, and Leo hovered around her, sweetly trying to win her affection.
She wasn’t like me, always engrossed in work, neglecting her husband’s feelings, lacking in care for her child.