Asher was about to explain, but Adeline shouted, “Cora, you
deserve
this illness. Even in death, won’t you fulfill your duty to the living?”
Asher slapped Adeline, trying to roughly drag her away. Adeline clung tightly to my wheelchair.
“Cora, look at what you’ve done to my brother. He doesn’t go to the company or come home; he just stays at the hospital every day,” Adeline shouted back at me.
“Cora, I won’t frame you anymore or bully you. Please, stop tormenting my brother.”
Adeline’s voice grew distant, the world finally quieting down.
Ly
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know Adeline would come to bother you, Asher apologized when he returned.
Asher slapped Adeline, trying to forcefully pull her away, but Adeline clung tightly to my wheelchair.
“Cora, look at what you’ve done to my brother. He doesn’t go work, doesn’t come home, he just stays at the hospital every day,” Adeline shouted back at me.
“Cora, I won’t falsely accuse you anymore. I won’t bully you anymore. you, please stop tormenting my brother.”
Adeline’s voice faded away, and finally, there was silence.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know Adeline would come to bother you, Asher apologized when he returned.
I actually knew Asher came every day; I could see his shadow through the hospital’s glass. But what good is his remorse now?
I can feel the end is near. I can’t eat anything anymore, and not even IV drips help. My arms are covered with needle marks from the infusions, and I’ve become even more emaciated.
I think it’s time to put my affairs in order.
The only person I trust now is Jasper.
instructed Jasper that after I die, he should sell my foster parents‘ house and bury me next to my biological parents. The proceeds should be donated to cancer patients. I want my corneas donated too, so I can see the world one last time.
I thought about it and realized I have no descendants, no relatives, and nothing to say in a final farewell.
The day I died, the sun was shining bright. It was a rare sunny day in Sunnyvale, with no chill in the air. Such weather is uncommon here.
I didn’t make it through the year; the cancer cells spread too fast.
く
I asked Jasper to call Asher. Jasper hesitated for a moment, then quickly agreed.
“Cora…” Asher saw me on the hospital bed and wanted to reach out to touch me, but he didn’t dare. I smiled and said to him:
“Brother, I want some ice cream.”
Tears fell uncontrollably from Asher’s eyes when he heard the word “brother.” He quickly said, “Okay, wait for me. I’ll go get it for you.”
Asher left in a hurry. I think this time he won’t let me down.
But Jasper knew I wouldn’t eat it. I just wanted Asher to experience what it’s like to wait for someone who will never come back for ice cream.
Asher is the one I could never forgive. He lost me when I was four, then abandoned me again at seventeen. Now, at twenty–one, I’m finally going to leave him behind.
Chapter 9 – Asher’s Point of View
I’m Asher. I have a sister named Adeline, a fake sister. I also have a true sister named Hazel Beckett.
When Hazel was four, I left her at an amusement park when I was nine.
Everyone thought it was an accident, but no one knew that even at that young age, I harbored dark thoughts.
Iresented my four–year–old sister’s birth. Her arrival took away
my parents‘ love.
My parents would always say:
“Asher, let your sister have it; she’s still young.”
“Asher, don’t take your sister’s cake.”
“Asher, protect your sister. Don’t make her cry.”
Sister! Sister!
Nine–year–old me couldn’t understand why I needed a sister. Her birth meant I was no longer the only cherished one at home.
So, when my parents went to a wedding, I left four–year–old Hazel at the amusement park.
I told Hazei, “Sister, I’m going to buy you ice cream. Don’t move.”
Then! hid and ate ice cream, watching Hazel stand there, not daring to move, from dawn till dusk. I found it extremely boring.
I returned home, crying and telling my parents I couldn’t find my sister. I said I just took
At first, my parents were frantic, questioning me and calling the police to search for
a
nap and then couldn’t find her.
my
sister.
My mom held my sister’s clothes every day, her eyes swollen from crying.
Mom didn’t hold me anymore. Even when I scored full marks, she ignored me.
I started to be afraid. I feared that mom would never pay attention to me again.
So, when dad asked if I wanted to go to the orphanage with him to adopt a sister, I agreed without hesitation,
I told myself that I would never lose another sister. I would protect her.
When Adeline came to our house, I had doubts. I asked my dad:
“Dad, why isn’t she my sister anymore?”
Dad said she was my sister and told me to protect her. I believed it and truly did, protecting her with all I had for the next 13 years.
D
12:16 PM
When Hazel stood in the living room, I couldn’t end anymore that I didn’t remember what I did back then.
I was scared, afraid that my parents would find out the proud child they had was the real culprit who lost their daughter.
So I helped Adeline bully Hazel. My parents forgot to change Hazel’s name and registration back, and I never mentioned it. I thought if I did this, maybe in my heart, my sister would always be Adeline. I wouldn’t have done anything wrong.
But why did Hazel have to die?
Every day at the hospital, I watched her wither away, growing more frail. I was terrified.
The day she died, she told me, “Brother, I want ice cream.”
I knew she didn’t want it. Since she returned to the Beckett family, she seemed to hate white. Her room, her clothes, even her daily items had no trace of white.
I knew Hazel didn’t want ice cream, but I bought it anyway.
In the hospital room, as the doctors and nurses announced her time of death, I slid down to the floor outside, eating the ice cream bit by bit.
When Hazel was four. I used ice cream to trick her and lost her. Curs
When Hazel was twenty–one, she used ice cream to lose me.
Chapter 10 – Jasper’s Perspective
The girl next door, with her ponytail and crescent–moon smile, was found by her wealthy parents and taken back.
The last time I saw her that year, she opened the door of a Maybach, waved at me with a smile, and asked me to take good care of Mr. Liu.
“Jasper, please take good care of my dad. Mom’s gone, and I’m worried he’ll have an accident alone.” Cora was reluctant. “Jasper, I’ll visit often, remember to text me.”
But in the spring of the second year after Cora returned to the Beckett family, Mr. Liu died in an accident.
It was because Mr. Liu received a call from Adeline, saying Cora was being punished by Mr. and Mrs. Beckett, kneeling outside.
Mr. Liu rushed to see his daughter and was hit by a truck on a rainy day.
“Don’t contact Cora anymore. Look at yourself, do you deserve it?” Asher found me once, his disdainful gaze making me feel small.
“No matter what, Cora is still a Beckett. Don’t remind her of this kind of life,” Asher said, leaving a card and walking away.
I picked up the card after some hesitation. I needed to buy Mr. Liu a cemetery plot.
After graduating college, my fear of socializing led me to work
in
cemetery sales.
I didn’t expect my first client to be Cora.
Once white and radiant, Cora had become thin as a rail. She joked with me, “Jasper, am I your first client to choose their own plot?”
I went with her to see Mr. Liu’s grave, which someone had defaced with insults written in animal blood.
Cora cried, apologizing to Mr. and Mrs. Liu, while desperately scrubbing with her sleeves.
I hauled a bucket of water, scrubbing hard too.
In my heart, I told Cora, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you lived like this. If I had known, I wouldn’t have disappeared. I’m really sorry.”
I stayed with Cora through three rounds of chemotherapy, from summer to winter.
But by the next spring, she still didn’t make it through the year.
Once white and radiant, Cora had become thin as a rail. She joked with me, “Jasper, am I your first client to choose their own plot?”
I went with her to see Mr. Liu’s grave, which someone had defaced with insults written in animal blood.
Cora cried, apologizing to Mr. and Mrs. Liu, while desperately scrubbing with her sleeyes.
I hauled a bucket of water, scrubbing hard too.
In my heart, I told Cora, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you lived like this. If I had known, I wouldn’t have disappeared. I’m really sorry.”
I stayed with Cora through three rounds of chemotherapy, from summer to winter.
But by the next spring, she still didn’t make it through the year.
Before she died, she told me, “Jasper, in my next life, I want to live in the south with my parents. Sunnyvale is too cold.”
I took Cora’s ashes to a small town in the south, stayed for a month, then returned to bury her.
! think she wanted to see the southern flowers.
