Forcing Me To Behave With A Fake Daughter

Yarden Stone had been cheating on me for three years, yet he had hidden the other woman so well that I could never catch him. Once, I found a lace choker in the back seat of his car. It still held someone’s body warmth. More than once, I had noticed fresh bite marks behind his ear. Every time, I would lose my mind. I would tear the house apart and demand to know who the woman was. Yarden would always frown wearily. “Lily, how long are you going to keep suspecting me of cheating? If you’re going to accuse me, then at least find the woman you claim I’m seeing.” I started following him around twenty-four hours a day. I even called all our friends and relatives and had them wait outside hotels and apartment buildings to catch him in the act. But every time we broke down a door, we found Yarden sitting on the couch in perfectly neat clothes. He always said, “Are you going to search this place?” When we left, my mom took my hand and sighed. “Lily, trust is the most important thing in a marriage. You cause a scene every day. What do you think that does to Yarden’s reputation?” Even my best friend tried to talk some sense into me. “You’re under too much stress. Maybe it’s all in your head.” But I remembered the lipstick that was still on Yarden Stone’s lips. He had not wiped it off completely. The color was so bright that it almost hurt my eyes. Chapter 1 One day, a young girl stopped me. “Mom, I’m your daughter from twenty years in the future. Please stop suspecting Dad! There has never been another woman! “If you keep this up, Dad will die because of your suspicions three months from now! You’ll regret it for the rest of your life!” I stood frozen in place. My face went deathly pale. The girl could barely get the words out through her tears. “Dad loves you so much! On the day he died, you were still angry with him because you smelled another woman’s perfume on him. “He drove 185 miles to buy your favorite raspberry cake because he wanted to make it up to you! He got caught in a pileup on the highway. “Dad held on to that cake until his very last moment…” She looked up at me through tear-filled eyes. “I came back here because I don’t want the tragedy to happen again. Mom, can’t you and Dad just be happy together?” I forced myself to calm down and studied her face carefully. Her eyes and features really did look so much like mine when I was young. Even the tiny mole right in the middle of her nose was exactly like Yarden’s. From that day on, I really did change. When Yarden came home late, I stopped asking questions. When I saw fresh scratches on his back, I no longer smashed things or broke down in tears like I used to. Yarden was gentle with me too. Before he left for work, he paused at the door, smiled, kissed me on my forehead, and said softly, “Wait for me.” He always came home with a bouquet of white roses that still had dewdrops on them. But the doubts never went away. They stayed stuck in my throat. I could neither swallow them nor spit them out. All I could do was tell myself over and over that I was imagining things. I convinced myself that we should not keep hurting each other like this. Then, during dinner, Yarden suddenly put down his spoon and looked at me calmly. “Lily, you’ve been different lately. What happened?” I put down my spoon and told him the truth. “I met our daughter from twenty years in the future. She said my suspicions would get you killed.” Yarden froze for a moment. His first reaction was not to ask how he would die but to walk around the table and crouch beside me. He caressed my pale cheek and gently rubbed the corner of my eye with his thumb. “You must’ve been terrified when you heard that, weren’t you? “You don’t have to feel guilty. We’ll work through this together. We can change what happens in the future.” At that moment, the pain in my chest was almost too much to bear. I nodded through my tears. His tenderness almost made me believe I had really been too sensitive all along. Then, Quiana Stone moved into our home. She knew everything about me. She knew I drank my coffee without sugar. She knew I liked to put a soft pillow behind my back when I read. It was as if she had really lived with me for twenty years. One day, I was carrying a plate of fruit when I heard Quiana burst out laughing in the living room. “She’s such an idiot! She actually believed that whole story about me being her daughter from the future! Does she think she’s the heroine of some cheesy romance novel? “This is perfect! I don’t have to hide anymore. You put me right under her nose, and she can’t even suspect a thing. She has to watch us be affectionate with each other.” There was a hint of mockery in Yarden’s voice. “Blame her for going too far. She’s too perceptive. She left me no choice.” He paused, and his voice grew more serious. “Play your part. Lily must never find out. “She’s different from everyone else. She was the only one who stayed with me in that tiny rental when I had nothing and stayed by my side for three whole days after someone broke my leg. I will only have her as my wife. “I’ll send you details about Lily’s daily habits every day. Memorize them.” I stood there, frozen in place. I felt numb. This time, I did not rush out and start screaming like I used to. I quietly went back to the kitchen. At the sink, I ran the cold water over my hands. The water was too cold, but it could not match the chill I felt in my heart. They had no idea why I had believed Quiana’s story about her traveling back from the future. It was because I had come from another world myself, and I had a system bound to me. According to the system, Yarden really would die in three months. Three days ago, the system had asked me if I wanted to return to my original world. I hesitated because I wanted to stay and save him. But as I stared at my blurry reflection in the kitchen window, I said softly to the system, “I’ve made my decision. I want to go back to my real home.” Chapter 2 The system asked me, “Are you sure? The countdown to your return is seven days. This body will gradually grow weaker and die on the seventh day.” I looked at the two of them as they chatted happily in the living room and said so softly that only I could hear myself, “I’m sure.” As I leaned against the wall, I suddenly remembered what happened seven years ago. Back then, Yarden had just gone bankrupt. Someone had broken his leg and left him in an alley in a heavy downpour. Everyone avoided him. Even his parents had publicly cut ties with him. I was the only one who carried him back to that run-down rental with the leaky roof because my system had given me a mission to “save the male lead.” I remembered how badly the fever had affected him. He was barely conscious and kept saying that he was in pain. I spent night after night wiping him down with rubbing alcohol and feeding him water. The first thing he saw when he woke up was my face. His eyes were so bloodshot that they looked like they might ooze blood. His fingers trembled as they caught the edge of my clothes. He looked so helpless when he whispered, “Lily, don’t leave me.” Later, when he made his comeback, he held me in his arms and said softly, “Lily, you’re the only one I’ll ever love.” Back then, the affection in his eyes was so intense that it made my heart race. I truly believed I was special to him. But later, I understood that I was only slightly more deserving of his sympathy than everyone else. I was never truly one of a kind to him. With a bitter smile, I picked up the plate of fruit and walked out. The living room was empty. I could hear faint laughter and chatter from upstairs. I followed the sound to the master bedroom. The moment I pushed open the door, I froze. Quiana was wearing my wedding dress. I had locked away that old wedding dress in my closet. Yarden stood behind her and slowly tied the laces at the back of the dress. They were standing very close. His chin rested against the side of her neck, and their breaths mingled. I clenched my fists until my nails dug into my palms. In this lifetime, I had worn a wedding dress for Yarden twice. The first time was in that rundown rental with the leaky roof. We were too poor to afford a wedding dress back then. Yarden saved up for six months to buy the fabric. Then, he sewed the dress himself. His right leg was still in a cast, so he sat on a stool and stayed up countless nights to finish it. Whenever I woke up in the middle of the night, I would see him with his head down, his fingers covered in tiny bloody pricks from the needle. He had not noticed me. Under the dim yellow light, he simply smoothed out the wrinkles in the skirt again and again. Later, we had the lavish wedding we had always dreamed of. I wore a custom-made wedding dress with 100,000 tiny diamonds sewn into it. It was worth a fortune. The most precious dress to me was always that old one with its crooked stitches. Yet, he had let another woman wear it. Crash! The fruit plate slipped from my hands and crashed to the floor. Bright red raspberries scattered across the floor like drops of blood. Only then did Yarden notice me. He instinctively rushed over and grabbed my wrist. He checked my hand from top to bottom. “Did you cut yourself on any of the broken pieces?” His worried frown looked completely genuine. But at that moment, his concern only made the pain in my chest even harder to bear. The next second, he looked at my pale face, let go of my wrist, and his voice turned cold. “Are you overthinking things again? Quiana was just curious. She wanted to know what it felt like to be a bride.” Quiana walked over to me. She hooked her arm around mine and said in a sweet, childish voice, “Mom, you promised me you’d give me this wedding dress in the future. You said I could wear it and continue with the happiness it brought you!” The provocative look in her eyes made me feel sick. So, this was how she could use the excuse of being my “daughter” who had traveled from the future. Yarden frowned, but he did not interfere. He seemed curious about my reaction. I chuckled and pulled my hand free. “Of course! You can have it.” Yarden froze for a moment. His face darkened. “Lily, you know how much effort I put into making that wedding dress. Are you just going to give it away?” I met his eyes with a gentle yet distant smile. “You were the one who told me not to be so sensitive and overthink things. If I can’t even give this to my own daughter, wouldn’t I be petty?” Yarden was at a loss for words. Then, he sneered and said, “Fine.” He grabbed Quiana by the wrist and slammed the dressing room door shut. Quiana’s sweet, breathy cries came from inside right after. I looked up. Through the gap in the door, I saw Yarden pin Quiana against the mirror. He kissed her with all the anger he had. I felt bitter and sad. He was the one who had put my wedding dress on another woman because he wanted to provoke me. Yet, when I said I did not want it anymore, he got angry. What was he really angry about? Was he angry because I did not care about the effort he had put into making it? Or was he angry because I had finally stopped acting hysterical like he expected me to? I smiled bitterly, turned around calmly, and walked over to the desk. I took my diary out of the drawer and wrote the first line of my final letter. There was bumping and falling inside the dressing room. The noise was loud. They were probably getting quite carried away. I tightened my grip on the pen until my knuckles turned white, but I never once looked up. Two hours later, the dressing room door finally opened. Yarden helped Quiana out. Her legs were so weak that she could barely stand. She leaned against him, and there were tearful traces around the corners of her eyes. Yarden looked at me as if nothing had happened. “Quiana was curious about what our wedding was like. I showed her what we did back then. It took a little while to explain the whole thing.” I quietly closed my diary. My stomach churned. The only part of our wedding they had probably revisited was the intimate night. I lowered my eyes and took the beaded bracelet off my wrist. I held it out to Quiana. Her face was still flushed. I smiled and said, “Since you like my things so much, you can have this too.” Yarden’s eyes fell on the beaded bracelet, and his eyes widened. He rushed over, snatched the bracelet from my hand, and glared at me with bloodshot eyes. “How dare you give this to someone else?! “Lily, you know what this is! I almost died to get this for you back then!” Chapter 3 I looked into Yarden’s bloodshot eyes and could not help but find the whole thing absurd. Four years ago, the system had given me a chance to go back to my home world. I had just gotten a promotion in my original world. My family was well-off, and my parents were both healthy. I chose to go back. After that, my body began to grow weaker and weaker. The doctors ran every test they could, but they could not figure out what was wrong. The man who could command the business world begged renowned specialists from all over the world to save me. Every night, he held my frail hand and cried. He could not even sleep. Whenever he woke up, the first thing he did was press his ear against my chest to make sure my heart was still beating. I was torn. Over the years, I had truly fallen in love with Yarden. But my family in my original world mattered just as much to me. Then, when he had nowhere else to turn, he went to a remote mountain chapel that was famous for its miracles. He drove through the night and spent hours on his knees inside the chapel to pray for me. He lit candles one after another and begged God to spare my life. He stayed there until dawn. He refused to leave even when his knees were sore, and his voice had gone hoarse. Before he left, an old priest gave him a simple beaded bracelet that had been blessed at the chapel. He brought it home and slipped it onto my wrist. “Lily, please wake up. Please get better…” My heart softened. I asked the system if I could postpone my return, and the system had agreed. As I looked at the beads that were stained with his tears, I found the whole thing ironic. All those years, I had tormented myself for abandoning my family in the original world. Yet less than a year after I chose to stay, Yarden cheated on me. That was why I had broken down and had acted paranoid. I thought my choice had been a complete joke. I looked at Yarden and said hoarsely, “You gave it to me, so it’s mine. I can do whatever I want with it, can’t I?” Yarden froze. His face immediately darkened. I held the beaded bracelet out to Quiana again. “Don’t you like my things? Go ahead. Take it.” Quiana glanced at Yarden’s thunderous expression and shrank back. “Forget it… How could I take something that means so much to both of you?” I laughed. There was a mocking edge to my voice. “Once the love’s gone, meaningful things just end up becoming worthless objects.” Yarden finally lost his patience. He snatched the bracelet from my hand and gave it a hard yank. The cord snapped, and the rosewood beads scattered across the floor. He stared at me coldly. “If you don’t care about it anymore, then you shouldn’t get to keep it.” He grabbed Quiana and stormed out, then slammed the door behind them. It felt as if someone had carved a hole straight through my heart. I crouched down and picked up the beads. Tears streamed down my face. I picked up every bead that had tears on it and carefully put them back into the box. Then, I took the farewell letter I had just written and tucked it inside. I found the butler, Martin Tyler, and said softly, “Give this to him in seven days.” Once I had done all that, exhaustion overpowered me. I collapsed onto the bed. I drifted in and out of sleep when the bedroom door opened. Someone sat down beside me. I thought I was dreaming. Out of habit, I reached for the familiar arm and held on to it. Half asleep, I said, “You’re home so late…” I moved closer to him. “Yarden, I don’t feel very well…” The next second, he violently yanked his arm away. Yarden snorted and said, “Why are you pretending to be so weak?!” I woke up to find his furious face right in front of me. “Lily, haven’t you caused enough trouble? Just because Quiana wore your wedding dress, you started imagining things again. Now, you think I’m cheating on you and having an affair with her! “You paid people to harass her online. You called her a homewrecker. You even paid thugs to drag her into an alley! What more do you want?!” He leaned closer to me, and his voice trembled in rage. “When I got there, she was barely dressed. If I hadn’t stopped them in time, who knows what you would’ve done? Can’t you even tolerate your own daughter?! “Lily, do you have any idea how far you’ve gone this time?” Chapter 4 Yarden gripped my wrist so tightly that it felt like he would crush my bones. I sucked in a breath from the pain. “I was in my room all day. I never left, not even once. If you don’t believe me, ask the butler.” A cold smile tugged at the corner of Yarden’s lips. His eyes shone with disgust. “I don’t need to ask! Lily, what haven’t you done over the years? “You put a wiretap on my phone and hired women to flirt with me just to test me. As long as you’re willing to pay, is there really anyone in this world who wouldn’t do whatever you wanted?” I looked into his eyes. He did not even try to hide his disgust. My heart ached, and all I felt was bitter irony. Had I really spent all these years fighting like a madwoman for no reason? Had I not done that because he was actually cheating on me all this time? “If you don’t believe me, then there’s nothing else I can say. What are you going to do then?” Yarden stared at my stubborn, pale face. Then, he chuckled. He leaned closer. “Honey, do you really think that just because I feel indebted to you for saving my life, and because I love you, I’ll never hurt you? “Is that why you thought you could get away with anything?” The coldness in his eyes frightened me. I finally felt a wave of fear and asked in a trembling voice, “What are you going to do?” He did not answer. He simply waved his hand, and the bodyguards immediately pushed the door open. “You humiliated Quiana, so you should know what that kind of pain feels like. That’s only fair, isn’t it?” I grabbed the hem of my clothes so tightly that my nails nearly dug into my palms. “I didn’t do it! I told you, I don’t care anymore!” “You’re lying!” he said. The disappointment in his voice was impossible to miss. Yarden reached out and gently touched my face. “Lily, I don’t want things to be this way either. But you never learn. “No matter how angry you are, you should never drag a young woman’s reputation into this. Besides, she’s your daughter from the future.” I looked at his face that was so close to mine and suddenly found the whole thing absurd. “Yarden, you believe her lies instead of me. “You’re so stupid. You’ll regret this!” His face immediately darkened, and he sneered. “You’re hopeless.” Before he could say anything else, I heard a loud rip. My thin clothes tore open. The bodyguards pinned my shoulders down. I could not fight back at all. They dragged me out of the room. Yarden looked down at me on the floor. His voice came from above me. “When they found Quiana, her wrist was dislocated, and two of her fingers were broken.” He paused. “Lily, I thought once you found out she was our daughter from the future, and realized that your suspicions could get me killed, you’d change. But you’re so petty. You can’t stand anyone else. You can’t even tolerate her. “If you apologize to Quiana and promise that you’ll never accuse me of cheating again, we can go back to the way things were. I won’t punish you.” I lay there on the floor and thought the whole thing was ridiculous. How could things ever go back to the way they were after he had betrayed me and our love was over? I pushed myself up and raised my head with difficulty. “I’m not apologizing to her.” The last bit of warmth in Yarden’s eyes disappeared completely. He closed his eyes for a moment. “Lily, I gave you a chance. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about what happens next.” He turned and walked away. One of the bodyguards walked toward me without a word. He raised the baseball bat in his hand. “Sorry, ma’am.” I closed my eyes in despair. Back when we had just started dating, someone touched me inappropriately on a crowded bus. Yarden’s eyes went red with anger. He rushed over without a second thought and fought the man. He punched him repeatedly and nearly beat the man to death. In the end, Yarden was arrested and spent some time in jail for assault. When he got out, he simply smiled, ruffled my hair, and said, “Lily, don’t worry. No one will ever hurt you again.” But today, he was the one who had ordered these men to hurt me. Crack! A searing pain exploded through my left arm. I heard the unmistakable crack of bone, and I passed out from the pain. When I woke up, my left arm was in a thick cast and strapped against my chest. The young nurse saw that I was awake and let out a sigh of relief. “Ma’am, you’re awake! You’re about fifteen weeks pregnant. You need strict bed rest.” Chapter 5 I stared blankly at the ceiling as tears slipped from the corners of my eyes. A baby? In a world where even I was about to disappear, who would care about this little life that had come at such an unfortunate time? I touched my belly. “Please make an appointment for me to have an abortion. I don’t want this baby.” “How dare you?!” Yarden strode into the room. Anger simmered in his eyes, but he tried to keep it under control. “Lily, there’s a limit to how far you can take this!” When he saw how pale I looked, his tone softened. He took my cold fingers in his hand. “We spent three years trying to have a baby. It took you so long to finally get pregnant. Why don’t you want it?” His words made my throat burn. I could not help but laugh bitterly. Three years… It had taken three whole years. I took every fertility supplement the doctors recommended because I wanted to have his baby. Some of them were so bitter that I could barely swallow them. I had gone through round after round of fertility treatments and so many injections that my lower abdomen was covered with tiny needle marks. Some were old, and some were new. We had wanted this baby so badly. I used to think that if I ever had to return to my original world because of the system, Yarden would be devastated. It comforted me to think that at least he would have a child who shared his blood. The child could stay with him in my place and keep him from doing anything foolish after I was gone. If it were a girl who looked like me, that would be even better. That was why tears really did fill my eyes when Quiana appeared. She looked so much like me, and she claimed to be my daughter from twenty years in the future. But in the end, I realized that Yarden probably thought I was no longer young, vibrant, and full of life. So, he found a copy of me and used the excuse of a “daughter from the future” to silence every doubt I had. I closed my eyes. I was completely exhausted. “Fine! I won’t go through with it. I’ll keep the baby.” Yarden thought I had finally given in. He reached out and gently rubbed the top of my head. His phone kept ringing in his pocket. He paused for a moment, then said softly, “Be good and get some rest. Take good care of yourself and the baby. I’ll come see you whenever I have time.” I smiled and nodded. My eyes crinkled gently as I smiled, just as they had whenever he comforted me in the past. But the moment the hospital room door closed, the smile disappeared from my face. I quietly rested my hand on my belly. My fingers were cold. I would let Yarden look forward to this baby for a few more days. I was going to die, so what chance did this baby have anyway? Over the next few days, Yarden came to see me only once. When he saw me packing up my things, he froze for a moment. “What are you doing?” I gave him a small smile. “Nothing. I’m just sorting out my assets. I want to leave them to our daughter.” He paused, then pulled me into his arms. “Why the rush? Once she’s born, we can slowly make plans for her future.” I sighed. “There won’t be enough time.” His phone rang again. He did not hear me and hurried out of the room. After that, Yarden never came back. Whenever his assistant called, he always gave me the same excuse. “Mrs. Stone, Mr. Stone’s busy with work.” Meanwhile, Yarden’s love life made the entertainment headlines every day. [Stone Corp CEO Spotted With Mystery Young Woman! Private Date at Universal Studios Lasts Ten Hours, Woman Smiles Happily in His Arms] [Billionaire CEO’s Private Getaway Exposed! He Takes a Beautiful Woman to a Private Island. A Helicopter Ride Shows Off His Lavish Lifestyle] I read those sensational headlines and smiled bitterly. There were only two days left. I had grown incredibly weak, and my once-full cheeks had become hollow. My cheekbones jutted out, and my eyes sank deep into their sockets. My limbs had grown so skinny that they looked as if they could snap at any moment. The nurses were afraid to touch me too hard whenever they came in to change my dressings. I no longer had the strength to hate anyone. The hospital room door suddenly flung open. Several men stormed in. They did not say a word. They grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. “Mrs. Stone, Mr. Stone wants us to take you to a party,” said one of them eventually. They shoved me into a car and locked the doors. I had no idea how much time passed before the car finally stopped in front of a luxurious hotel. They dragged me out of the car. The lobby was brightly lit. Balloons, ribbons, and huge neon letters that said “Happy Birthday” were everywhere. The lights hurt my eyes. Several black cars pulled up behind us one after another. A group of unfamiliar men with menacing looks got out. My heart sank. Something was clearly wrong. If Yarden wanted to make Quiana happy, he would never send this many men to escort me to a party. I asked in a hoarse voice, “What exactly are you planning to do?” Chapter 6 No one answered me. They dragged me toward the lobby, and I stumbled along behind them. In the middle of the lobby, Yarden had his arm around Quiana as they danced the opening number. They were so close that they looked like a perfect couple. Her skirt swept through the air as they turned. The scene was beautiful enough to hurt. The moment they saw me, the music stopped. The entire room erupted in whispers. “Is that Mrs. Stone? I heard she’s completely lost it. Is she here to catch him cheating again?” “Shh… keep your voice down. Look at Mr. Stone’s face…” Yarden had looked irritated at first. Then, his eyes fell on my painfully thin figure, and he froze. “Lily, you already know who Quiana is. What are you trying to do this time?” He frowned. “Have you not been taking care of yourself lately? How did you get this thin?” I smiled. I wanted to laugh, but only a bitter little sound came out. Before I could say anything, the men behind me rushed into the room with clubs in their hands. “Mrs. Stone gave us the order. Anyone who leaves her to spend time with another woman is going to pay!” The room descended into chaos. One of the men raised his club and struck Quiana in the stomach. The next second, she cried out in pain, and blood stained her clothes. I froze. The panic in Yarden’s eyes when he first saw me disappeared the moment he saw the blood. He turned to look at me. For the first time, his eyes held nothing but hatred. “You’re insane! If anything happens to Quiana, you and I will be enemies for the rest of our lives.” In seven years of marriage, I had stayed by his side as he went from having nothing to becoming one of the most powerful men in the business world. In the end, after everything I had done for him, he called me insane. It was fine with me if he wanted to be enemies for life. I was going to die soon anyway. This would all end with me. I offered a bitter laugh. “If I told you that these men aren’t acting on my orders, you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway, would you?” Yarden ignored me completely. He shouted at his bodyguards and ordered them to restrain the men. Then, he rushed over to Quiana and picked her up. His voice shook when he called for a doctor. As he carried her past me, he gave me a cold look. “Hold her down. Make her kneel. She can only get up after Quiana comes out of surgery.” Before he finished speaking, a bodyguard kicked me in the back of my knee. My legs gave out, and I dropped hard onto my knees. Gasps and whispers spread through the room. Some people mocked me, and others looked at me with pity. Those voices felt like needles against my heart. My heart had already gone numb. I straightened my back, and I neither cried nor begged. I simply watched Yarden carry Quiana into the elevator. The doors closed behind them. There was no one left in the lobby except me. Seven hours passed from midday until the sky outside turned completely dark. My knees had gone completely numb. When one of the bodyguards finally received a call, he said coldly, “Get up.” I tried to move, but my legs had gone completely numb. I stumbled forward and nearly fell. I had to brace myself with my arms before I could slowly get back on my feet. Before I could leave the lobby, the bodyguards rushed over. They dragged me all the way down to the basement. I was exhausted, so I slid down the wall and sat on the floor. I did not know how much time had passed when someone suddenly threw a bucket of ice-cold water over me. Quiana stood in front of me. She raised my chin with the tip of her shoe. “Lily, you knew I was lying all along, didn’t you? “I was never pregnant. I paid off a few doctors and prepared everything in advance.” She clapped her hands. Several people in white coats walked in. “Hey, what do you think would happen if I told Yarden you saw me as a rival because you were afraid your daughter would steal his love? “That you were so jealous you actually tried to get rid of his child? Would he think you’d completely lost your mind and hate you forever?” I barely had the strength to lift my eyes. It was the last day. The system’s countdown was almost over, and I would be gone soon. A cold surgical instrument cut into my belly. There was no anesthesia. I could feel the pain all too vividly. My body was already too weak to endure such torture. My vision began to blur, and the room seemed to sway around me. The doctors’ panicked voices rang in my ears. “Her blood pressure’s dropping! Her heart has stopped! Start CPR!” “How’s this possible? It was just a routine C-section. How could she die?!” Quiana’s voice rang out. She panicked. I could no longer feel anything. My spirit felt strangely light as it drifted away. I took one last look at my body. My body lay broken and lifeless on the floor, with a large pool of dark red blood beneath me. The sight was horrifying. Finally, it was over. It was the seventh day. The farewell letter I had written to Yarden should have finally reached him.