Six months after my death, Mom’s leukemia relapsed. My brother, Liam, came to my apartment, demanding I donate bone marrow to her. My landlady, Martha, told him, “Chloe’s already dead.” Liam scoffed, a sneer twisting his lips. “Chloe Kingston, always so dramatic! Always pulling stunts for attention. She’s just rotten to the core, nothing like Serena. You tell her to stop playing games and go donate bone marrow to Mom, or I’ll make her regret it!” Martha, her hair a wispy white, flared up in anger. She grabbed a broom and chased Liam out. “I told you, Chloe’s dead! You, her family, killed her! “Chloe’s been gone for six months now! How exactly are you going to ‘make her regret it’? “Chloe truly had the worst luck, cursed with a family like yours!” The realization that I was genuinely dead seemed to hit Liam then. His face turned ashen, and he fled in a panic. I’d been dead for six months, but I hadn’t moved on. My soul clung uncontrollably to the Kingston family. Day after day, I watched the four of them, happy as ever. Serena Davis and Ryan Thompson were getting married. The date and venue were already booked. That’s when they finally remembered me. “Is Chloe still mad? Will she come to my wedding with Ryan?” “If she doesn’t come, I won’t acknowledge her as my daughter anymore.” “See? She wasn’t raised by us; she’ll never truly be family.” “I told you back then, we shouldn’t have brought her back. Just let things be.” My dad, Robert, my mom, Vivian, and my brother, Liam, sat there, talking about my faults. I saw Serena’s eyes well up, but a tiny smirk played on her lips. She’d won. I, the real daughter, had nothing left, not even my life. The family took turns calling my phone, but it just went straight to voicemail. It had been six months; my phone battery had died ages ago. After failing to reach me, they cursed me out collectively, then dismissed me from their thoughts again. Even if they occasionally remembered me, it was only to add another insult. Mom went with Serena to try on wedding dresses. Serena’s eyes landed on a gown displayed in a glass case. “Mom, look! This dress is so beautiful.” I looked at the dress too, and for a moment, I was lost in a daze. Just then, Mom had already called a store assistant over, asking to take the dress out. “I’m so sorry, but this gown is a custom order.” Serena loved the dress and kept asking about the client who’d ordered it. Finally, the assistant checked her records: “It’s Miss Chloe Kingston. She provided the design herself, and our company helped create it.” Serena immediately covered her mouth, choked up. “Sister still can’t let go of Ryan, can she? Maybe I should just give him back to her.” Give him back to me? A bitter laugh escaped my ethereal form. Ryan and I were childhood sweethearts, once the most envied couple. But then I was recognized by the Kingstons, and I met Serena. Everyone loved Serena. My childhood sweetheart loved her too. This wedding dress… yes, I designed it for myself. Once, filled with so much love, I poured my heart into this design. I thought I’d wear it, that I’d marry Ryan. But now, that dress was something I could only ever dream of, forever out of reach.
Serena Davis always got what she wanted. “Mom decided,” Vivian declared. “This dress is yours, a wedding gift from her.” Serena feigned modesty. “Won’t Chloe be upset?” “What’s there for her to be upset about? Matters of the heart can’t be forced. It’s her own fault for being ill-tempered and malicious. Ryan not liking her is her just deserts. What does it have to do with you? She always used to bully you; giving you a wedding dress is the least she could do.” Serena happily slipped into the gown, twirling joyfully in front of the mirror. Mom watched Serena with a look of profound satisfaction. That was a look I could only ever wish for, never attain. For Serena, Mom was always hands-on, meticulous about every detail. She said she wanted her precious daughter’s big day to be perfect in every way. As for me, after being stolen as a baby, I was simply an extra person, a nuisance. I watched Mom, day and night, altering Serena’s wedding dress. Serena was a bit heavier than me, and she refused to pick another dress. Mom, who loved her daughter more than life itself, disregarded her own health, insisting on altering the gown personally. My mom, Vivian, was a highly sought-after fashion designer in the industry. Serena, year-round, pretty much wore only clothes designed by Mom. I never had that privilege. Later, I became a designer myself, designing my own clothes. No one loved me, so I learned to love myself. The night the wedding dress was finished, Mom collapsed. She was rushed to the hospital, and her condition was critical. “The patient’s leukemia has relapsed.”
Dad swayed, nearly losing his balance. “How can this be? Wasn’t she recovering well before?” “Has the patient experienced any unusual symptoms recently?” “Well, our daughter is getting married, so my wife has been busy running around. Maybe she’s just tired. Recently, she even pulled two all-nighters to alter the wedding dress for our daughter.” “Foolish! Is she trying to die? Her body just recovered; how could it withstand such strain?” “Then, Doctor, what do we do now? Please, you have to save my mother.” Serena’s eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at the doctor. The doctor’s expression turned grim. “We need to prepare for a second bone marrow transplant.” “Then quickly call Chloe Kingston to come here!” Immediately, they all remembered me again, frantically calling my phone. “Hello, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable…” Listening to the automated voice on the phone, their faces all darkened. Serena cried, “Sister must still be mad at me. I’ll go beg her. As long as she’s willing to save Mom, I’ll leave Ryan, I’ll leave the Kingston family.” “That b*tch, Chloe Kingston! Mom’s critically ill, and she still won’t answer the phone! She’s truly a malicious b*tch!” I watched Liam. My brother, with whom I shared blood, thought of me as a b*tch. Dad, Robert, sneered. “She thinks she’s got us cornered, waiting for us to beg her.” “I don’t want her bone marrow anymore, that unfilial daughter. Since she doesn’t care if I live or die, I’ll pretend I never had a daughter like her.” Mom, upon waking from her coma, also joined in, expressing her disgust and condemning me. Liam angrily punched the wall. “I’ll go find her.”
I followed Liam to the apartment where I had lived before I died. *Bang! Bang! Bang!* Liam pounded on the door, his face etched with disgust and impatience. He hammered on the door for a long time, but no one answered. Just as he was about to leave, Martha, my landlady, came out. The old lady lived right across the hall; she must have heard the commotion. “Where’s Chloe Kingston?” Liam demanded. Martha paused. “Chloe? Such a sweet girl. What a pity she had such bad luck and died so young.” “Died? How could that be! “Old lady, you’re quite a joker.” Liam burst out laughing, completely disbelieving. Yes, in his eyes, I was a menace. And a menace, they say, lives a thousand years. How could I possibly die so easily? But this time, I truly was dead. “Who would joke about something like that?! Chloe really is dead.” Liam continued to scoff. “Chloe Kingston, always so dramatic! Always pulling stunts for attention. I’m her brother; I know exactly what kind of person she is. “She’s just rotten to the core, nothing like Serena. You tell her to stop playing games and go donate bone marrow to Mom, or I’ll make her regret it!” Martha, her hair a wispy white, flared up in anger. She grabbed a broom and chased Liam out. “I told you, Chloe’s dead! You, her family, killed her! “Chloe’s been gone for six months now! How exactly are you going to ‘make her regret it’? “Chloe truly had the worst luck, cursed with a family like yours!” Liam, who had been dodging, froze. “You’re not joking? Chloe Kingston is really dead? How… how can that be?” “Get out! Get out! You heartless monster!” Liam fled in a panic.
I followed Liam into his car. Liam lit a cigarette, and through the swirling smoke, I saw his face was dark with troubled thoughts. Knowing I was dead, did a tiny bit of sadness touch him? In the flickering light of the cigarette, Liam’s phone rang. He glanced down at it. The contact name read: “Serena Darling.” Huh. Serena was “Serena Darling.” And me? Oh, I was the “bane of their existence.” That was the note the entire family had for me in their phones, surprisingly consistent. Liam answered the call. Serena’s voice, slightly choked and hoarse, came through. “Brother, what did Sister say? Is she still angry? Please don’t argue with her. I’ll go apologize to her myself. Sister is stubborn. After donating bone marrow last time, she said she’d never acknowledge us again, that even if she died outside, it would be none of our business. I’m scared Sister might do something foolish.” At her words, Liam’s dark brows instantly smoothed out. “Heh! Chloe Kingston is quite impressive now, even faking her own death!” I froze right there. My brother thought I was faking my death. No investigation, no verification. Yes, they simply didn’t care about me. Always their own subjective assumptions. “Then what do we do? Mom’s body can’t wait.” “I don’t believe it. There has to be another suitable donor besides Chloe Kingston.” Yes, I was always the one who shouldn’t exist.
When Liam returned, he exaggerated my “faking my death” story, adding his own nasty twists. The whole family instantly launched into a tirade against me. “Just as I thought, an ungrateful wretch, only thinking of herself.” “How could I have given birth to such a heartless creature?” “Sister is still angry with me. I’ll go apologize, I’ll make amends.” The tirade reached its peak amidst Serena’s sobbing. They comforted Serena, while using even more vicious words to curse me. Ryan half-embraced Serena, gently patting her back to soothe her. “Serena, it’s not your fault. Kindness isn’t a reason for Chloe Kingston to bully you. A malicious person like her is destined to be disliked by everyone.” Serena quietly sobbed in Ryan’s arms. But then, I remembered some things from the past. Years ago, after Serena’s mother stole me, she dumped me in a trash can. I was picked up by human traffickers, who sold me to a couple who had been childless for years. Less than a year after adopting me, that couple had a set of boy-girl twins. After that, my once ordinary life turned into a living hell. At just three years old, I had to start learning to do chores. I also had to take care of my younger brother and sister. If anything went wrong, my father’s heavy hand was waiting for me. Simple things like eating enough and having warm clothes were luxuries for me. In those bitter days, Ryan was one of the few sources of light in my life. He would secretly slip me a protein bar on the way to school. He would tend to my wounds after my father hit me. We got into college together, and naturally, we became a couple. I dreamed of spending my whole life with him, but then he got together with Serena. “I shouldn’t have pitied her back then; she’s just a heartless, ungrateful monster.” Ryan’s harsh words pulled me back to the present. So, being with me was out of pity? When I used to tutor Ryan, he once praised me: “Chloe, you’re truly the most wonderful girl in the world.” After we both started college, there was an opportunity to study abroad for three months. The school had me in mind for it. But Ryan really wanted to go. He hugged me, begging me to give him the opportunity. When I nodded, he happily spun me around. “Chloe, don’t worry. All this hard work is so I can give you a better life in the future. I want you to walk down the aisle to me in style.” Ryan discarded his promises like trash. Only I clung to them, refusing to let go. Even when what I held in my hand had rotted away, I clutched it like a lifeline. But Ryan had long forgotten.
Dad and Liam pulled every string they had, trying to find another suitable bone marrow donor for Mom. But a suitable donor wasn’t easy to find. In just half a month, the doctor delivered an ultimatum. A suitable donor had to be found as soon as possible. Otherwise, Mom would be in grave danger. So, they started calling me again. Still no answer. They exchanged glances, realizing that besides calling me, they had no other way to reach me. Dad cleared his throat. “Do any of you have any of Chloe Kingston’s friends’ or classmates’ numbers?” All their gazes fell on Ryan. Ryan pulled out his phone and called a few classmates and friends he remembered I was close to. “Chloe Kingston? I haven’t heard from her in almost a year.” Liam’s face darkened. “That Chloe Kingston is such a freak. She doesn’t even have any close friends or classmates. Who knows where she’s hiding, completely inconsiderate. She deserves to be disliked.” A bitter taste filled my mouth. If I could, I wouldn’t want to be here either. I didn’t want to be disliked. I wanted everyone to adore me, just like Serena.
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “297298”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic
Leave a Reply