hapter 9
On Colette’s last day on earth, she woke up and saw James and Sophie ready to leave home. Colette called out to James when he and Sophie were at the door, “Uncle James, I know you’re busy, but could you come home for dinner with me? Let’s have dinner; just the two of us.”
Colette wanted to bid farewell to James. Her eyes were filled with hope and longing. However, James mistook her request as another love confession. He nearly turned her down when
with my
friends today, Sophie patted him on the hand and generously said, “Well, I’ll meet up then. It’s been a while since we met anyway. You’re much older than Colette, and you shouldn’t hold a grudge against her.”
Under Sophie’s persuasion, James agreed to dinner with Colette. Colette got what she wanted, yet she felt bitter.
She watched as the couple entered the car and left. Then, she entered the villa, feeling bitter.
Sometimes, people would burn the belongings of the dead. On her last day, she gathered her belongings and set fire to them, so that James did not have to worry about how to dispose of
them.
James left a trace everywhere in her room. He bought all her daily essentials and her clothes
for her.
* He wasn’t always a caring and thoughtful man. Most of the time, he left Colette’s daily
activities in the care of the nanny and his assistant. It all changed when he noticed the nanny ignored Colette’s dietary needs, and his assistant was too busy juggling both demands at the company and back home.
As a result, no one noticed Colette developed a fever from the cold. If James hadn’t come home that day and found her in a feverish state, she might have suffered permanent damage, like what the doctor suggested.
Ever since that incident, James had taken Colette’s matters into his hands.
Colette snapped out of her reverie. She stared wistfully at her belongings, now reduced to ashes. From now on, she would no longer exist in this world.
She cleaned up the villa, only leaving that sealed closet in her bedroom untouched. She
wondered if James would feel sad if he found her body in the closet.
Without her around, no one would criticize James again. She bet he would be glad.
After Colette tidied up the villa, she put all her effort into her last dinner with James. She rarely cooked. In the past, James always brought her out for dinner or made dinner for her.
She volunteered to learn cooking so she could make meals for him, but he banned her from trying after she got scalded by hot oil.
Chapter 8
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home, but he remained silent. He walked past her without taking a look while holding Sophie’s
hand.
She briskly walked to the front and stopped him. She teared up when she pleaded, “Can you please trust me one more time? You used to… trust me unconditionally.”
Colette’s teary voice stopped him in his tracks. He was her only remaining relative in this world, and he provided her with everything. When something happened, he would believe in her words without a doubt.
She once asked him about it. Why did he trust her unconditionally, even when the whole world accused her of lying? He explained, “Lettie, I raised you. I can’t vouch for people’s character, but I have confidence in you.”
Now, James stood before her in silence. Finally, he pushed her away. “Get away!”
Although he did not shove her very hard, she stumbled onto the floor. Panic was written across his face as he helped her up. Her skin felt unusually cold to the touch.
“Why does your skin feel so cold?” He sounded worried, especially when Colette failed to give an answer. He took her hand and realized she had no pulse.
James was about to interrogate Colette in detail when Sophie cut him off. She said to Colette, Colette, you shouldn’t fake having an illness even if you’re jealous of James spending time with me.”
James‘ worry turned into anger. “Not only did you push Sophie into the pool, you’re faking illness to get my sympathy! I’ll only forgive you if you apologize to Sophie!”
The clock ticked away as sadness filled Colette’s chest. She didn’t want to waste her limited time on arguments. Looking pallid, she relented, “Fine. I’ll apologize.”
Rising from her seat, she mumbled an apology to Sophie in tears. She looked up at James again in despair. “Uncle James, can you forgive me now?”
Her forgiveness did not make him feel better, as she seemed to be on the verge of tears as if someone had bullied her.
He stood in front of her with a scowl. Moments later, he hissed, “This had better not happen again!“.
KIRT
Still, she secretly learned cooking, hoping to give him a surprise one day, but the robbery happened before she could put her skills to use.
Thankfully, the hot oil could no longer injure her skin.
It took her about five hours to prepare a feast. She waited by the dining table for a long time and reheated the dishes a few times, but James did not come home. He did not respond to her texts and calls as well.
After one of the calls got cut off, Colette stared blankly at her phone. Suddenly, she received a push notification on Instagram. Sophie had posted a photo.
That gave Colette a sense of foreboding. She couldn’t help but tap into the notification and saw the photo of two plane tickets. Sophie wrote in the caption, “Perhaps this is love; a man dropping everything and flying with you to Sunderton to enjoy the winter after you casually mentioned it.”
Colette paled after reading the caption. Fingers shaking, she scrolled to James‘ contact and called him. This time, he finally picked up. She confronted him, “Are you at Sunderton with Sophie? But you promised to-
She was cut off by Sophie. Sophie taunted, “Colette Anderson, did you really think James would go home to dinner with you? Stop being delusional. You need to pack your bags and leave his villa right now!”
- Then, Sophie hung up without waiting for Colette’s reply. Colette sat in silence while listening to the disconnected tone. When the clock struck midnight, she tossed all the food into the waste bin.
The Grim Reaper’s voice boomed from above. “Colette Anderson, the seven days are up. Did you regret striking this deal with me?”
His eerie voice reverberated through the villa. When all was silent, she flashed a bitter smile and replied in a despairing tone, “It’s not perfect, but I don’t regret my decision.” She wandered to the calendar and tore away the last page. “Take me now.”
Right after that, she watched as her body grew transparent. She extended her hands and watched her as her soul dissipated from her fingers, followed by her hands, legs, and body.
Finally, she became thin air. Before she vanished, she smiled into the distance and muttered, Goodbye, Uncle James.
11
They would never meet again.
