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After I Died, My Whole Family Regretted It
Novelix
Completed
My husband had an affair with my best friend, and they even had a child. My entire family kept it a secret from me.
Chapters (3)
第1章
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.”
第2章
My body lay inside the hearse beneath a white sheet.
Charles sat close to me.
All he had to do was lift the sheet, and he would see the face the truck had crushed beyond recognition.
Charles stared at the sheet for a long time.
Every time he moved even slightly, the other three watched him.
They were terrified he would lift it and recognize me.
Suspicion flashed across Charles’s face again.
Then, while no one was prepared, he suddenly yanked the sheet back.
“Ugh—”
After only one second, he snapped his gaze away.
He covered his mouth, his face twisting.
Gladys gave a strained smile and carefully pulled the sheet back into place.
“The truck ran over the body. The face was destroyed.”
Charles stiffened.
Then, without saying anything, he shifted farther away.
I stared painfully at my own body.
The memory of being crushed beneath the truck came rushing back.
My entire soul began to tremble.
It hurt.
Everything hurt.
Even my soul hurt.
And yet, when I was dying, the only thought in my head had been that I still hadn’t seen Charles one last time.
But now, looking at the four people in front of me, I suddenly felt exhausted.
“Charles, how’s Lydia been lately?” Gladys asked.
“Is she still throwing up a lot?”
Gladys pulled Charles over to another seat.
“She’s always been fragile. You need to take good care of her.”
Charles nodded.
“She’s been much better these last couple of days. She can finally keep food down.”
“Last night, Lydia said she missed all of you. She was wondering when you’d come visit.”
As he spoke, he took out his phone.
He opened his photo gallery.
It was filled with pictures of Lydia.
There were photos of her sitting at the dining table eating.
There were photos of her asleep in bed.
I stared at every one of them.
Almost like I was torturing myself.
Then I caught sight of a handwritten note.
It carefully recorded how many times Lydia had gone to the bathroom that day.
Whether she needed to drink more water the next day.
Or less.
The longer they talked, the happier they became.
It was as though they had forgotten they were sitting inside a hearse.
As though they had forgotten my body was lying right beside them.
My vision blurred.
Countless memories flashed before my eyes.
Every one of them looked almost the same.
I would wake from nightmares sobbing so hard my body cramped.
Charles’s name would spill from my lips again and again.
Gladys would break open my locked bedroom door.
Her wrist swollen, limping badly, she would rush to my side and pull me tightly into her arms.
“Katherine, I’m here.”
“Mom will always be here.”
She told me that even if Charles disappeared forever, my family would always be my safe harbor.
I would cry and tell her no.
I would insist that I had to find Charles.
And she would agree without hesitation.
Even in the middle of the night, she would drag Oliver and Mark out of bed to help me search.
But in the end, all of it had been a lie.
Grief.
Pain.
Confusion.
Every emotion tore through me at once.
And at that moment, the tears I had held back for so long finally poured out.
They struck my heart.
So hot they felt like they were burning holes through it.
Another video of Lydia appeared.
She was whining sweetly.
“When is Gladys coming?”
“I miss her.”
The last trace of grief in Gladys’s eyes vanished.
She took the phone from Charles.
She scrolled through Lydia’s pictures one by one, her gaze full of affection.
“Charles.”
She suddenly looked anxious.
“How is Lydia feeling today?”
“If we go see her, will we interrupt her rest?”
Charles smiled, his voice indulgent.
“Mom, Lydia would be thrilled to see you.”
“How could you possibly bother her?”
The moment he finished, Gladys called toward the driver.
“Pull over up ahead.”
Oliver instinctively straightened his clothes.
Mark was already looking up what they should buy to bring Lydia.
The only one who hesitated was Charles.
“Mom, what about the body...?”
Gladys froze.
Without even looking up from his phone, Mark said, “Charles, forget about that.”
“We don’t even know the dead person. We’ll just pay the driver extra to take the body to the funeral home.”
“That’ll be enough to help Nelson out.”
I had gone numb.
I couldn’t even cry anymore.
Mark sent the driver another five hundred dollars.
Then he hurried out of the hearse.
Charles casually shut the door behind him.
Bang.
The sound seemed to make my heart ache.
I watched their backs disappear.
And swallowed the bitterness in my throat.
第3章
I had no choice but to follow them.
Charles made one phone call.
Ten minutes later, a car arrived to pick them up.
It turned around right in front of me.
Then headed back the way we had come.
I followed.
My breathing became more and more ragged.
The car returned to our neighborhood.
They drove right past my house like they had done it countless times before.
Then stopped at the house directly behind mine.
My already-still heart seemed to stop all over again.
Then plummet.
They had been living right behind my house.
Less than a five-minute walk away.
Yet I had spent 286 days trapped in misery because I couldn’t find Charles.
I had even died because of it.
Holding back the pain, I followed them inside.
The home Charles shared with Lydia was warm and inviting.
The walls were painted cream.
Lilies were embroidered on the silk curtains.
Lydia’s favorite flowers.
Looking at them, I suddenly remembered my own room.
The paint on my walls was scarred and uneven.
I had no idea how many times I had carved into it with a utility knife.
Threads had been pulled from my curtains too.
Marks left from all the times I had curled up in the corner and clutched them in my fists.
There used to always be fresh tulips on my windowsill.
Charles replaced them regularly.
After he left, the flowers died.
The soil dried out.
And when liquid finally soaked into that soil again, it wasn’t water.
It was the medicine I couldn’t force myself to swallow.
My gaze shifted to the living room.
A huge family portrait hung on the wall.
There was an empty space between Charles and Lydia.
Gladys noticed it too.
“Why did you leave a spot open?”
Lydia smiled shyly and touched her stomach.
“It’s for the baby.”
“After tomorrow...”
Her eyes lowered.
The happiness around her suddenly vanished, replaced by sadness.
“After Charles and Katherine get married, this picture can at least be something for me and the baby to remember him by.”
Mark answered without thinking.
“That won’t happen.”
“Katherine doesn’t have a chance anymore.”
The entire room fell silent.
Charles’s voice turned cold.
“Mark, what the hell are you talking about?”
Mark realized he had said too much.
He looked desperately at Gladys.
She hesitated for less than a second.
Then Lydia’s eyes turned red.
Gladys immediately comforted her.
“Don’t cry. It’s not good for you.”
Then she looked at Charles.
“Charles, Mark wasn’t talking nonsense.”
“You should cancel the wedding the day after tomorrow.”
Charles shot to his feet.
“Mom! What the hell happened?”
Lydia began sobbing harder.
Gladys didn’t hesitate.
“Katherine cheated on you. She already ran away with another man.”
After thinking for a moment, Mark added, “She left with him only a few days after you disappeared.”
Oliver’s expression darkened too.
He patted Charles on the shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Charles.”
“Katherine was the one who wronged you.”
“We tried to talk her out of it, but she’s an adult. We couldn’t physically stop her.”
Charles stood frozen.
His feet seemed nailed to the floor.
Lydia wrapped her arm around his and called his name worriedly.
He didn’t hear her.
When Gladys saw his reaction, she didn’t even think twice.
She dropped another bomb.
“Charles, you should just stay with Lydia from now on.”
“A while ago, I heard a neighbor mention seeing Katherine in the maternity ward.”
“She probably... already has a baby of her own.”
Charles’s eyes turned bloodshot.
He stumbled backward and collapsed onto the couch.
A long time passed before he finally looked up.
His voice was hoarse.
“Mom, I understand.”
“You’re Lydia’s adoptive mother. We’ll still be family.”
Three days later, Charles held a banquet at a hotel.
He wore a perfectly tailored suit.
But the exhaustion on his face was impossible to hide.
He invited more than a thousand people.
Close friends.
Relatives.
Casual acquaintances.
Anyone who had ever had the slightest connection to me was there.
He walked onto the stage.
His gaze was dark.
“My former wife, Ms. Katherine, cheated on me while I was away for work.”
“I’m announcing today that from this moment forward, Katherine and I have nothing to do with each other.”
Even after he finished, the whispers below the stage didn’t stop.
I floated above the crowd.
Guests came and went.
Some looked disgusted.
Some cursed me.
Only one person looked different.
She seemed shocked.
Confusion filled her eyes.
