Chapter 2

Noelle carefully dressed Richard's wound. "That damn guy! Seriously, you're not going to do anything about it?"

Richard took her hand and gave it a light peck. "It's fine. Just treat it like I got bitten by a dog."

Noelle still pouted, her other small hand tracing circles on Richard's chest. "The 'Isabel' he was talking about—she's your…?"

Richard's expression shifted for a moment. After a long pause he gave a soft, one-word. "Yes."

Noelle said, annoyed, "That's not fair. It's been three years. Why are you still expected to stick around?"

I shivered all over. I hadn't expected Richard to tell another girl about me.

"Once we sell this place, we'll move somewhere else," Richard said.

Noelle hugged Richard happily. "Yes! I want to live on the east side. The gardens over there are so pretty. When we have a baby, we can walk there."

Richard smiled and rubbed her nose. "Already planning for a baby?"

Noelle flushed instantly and muttered under her breath, "Is that not allowed?"

"Of course it is." Richard nodded.

I wanted to turn away so I wouldn't have to watch them sketch out a future together.

But I couldn't. I lowered my eyes, and then my pocket vibrated. I pulled out a phone.

On the first day I became a ghost, I discovered a phone in my pocket. That was the only thing that stayed with me.

I opened the message. It was from Richard. Yes, the person on the other end of this phone was Richard. Eighteen-year-old Richard.

A year ago, I finally figured out this phone could connect to twelve years in the past.

Richard: [ I told Joshua that the guy who will marry you is me, and he actually punched me. It hurt so much. ]

After confirming again and again that there was a twelve-year gap, eighteen-year-old Richard started pestering me about the present.

He'd ask who I ended up marrying, whether Richard had a good career, what kind of job he had.

I was afraid of making him sad, so I didn't tell him I was dead.

I only told him that he did propose to me in the end, and I said yes.

I looked away. Beneath me, Richard held Noelle as if she were a fragile treasure.

At this point, there was no need to keep consoling eighteen-year-old Richard.

Even if he would be sad for a while, Richard would ultimately find his own sweet ending.

But the name Joshua in that message still stirred a ripple in me.

Joshua and I had grown up with Richard since middle school.

Richard was careless and free, always unrestrained. He barely did well in school, and he didn't care. All that mattered was whether I went to watch him play basketball.

Joshua had always been the academic star, quiet and reserved, an icy handsome face that made people hesitate.

Back then, I couldn't understand what someone like Joshua—the little elite—was doing hanging out with us low-level trash.

Richard confessed to me countless times. Every time I put school first and refused.

He didn't mind. He just smiled and took it, then tried again later.

On Joshua's birthday, I dragged Richard up to his room in the middle of the night to celebrate.

Joshua's room was on the second floor. It was late and we didn't dare use the front door for fear of waking the adults. We climbed up using the drainpipe.

I was the first to climb through the window. Joshua, already woken by the noise, helplessly steadied me and went to pull Richard up from below.

It was my first time in his room and everything felt new. I glanced around and almost immediately saw a photo tucked beneath the glass on his desk.

It was a side profile of me laughing as I talked. On the other side, it should have been Richard, but he'd been cropped out.

My startled look met Joshua's dark eyes. His steadiness made me panic.

Before Richard noticed, I grabbed a book and covered my photo on impulse.

I had no idea when Joshua had taken that picture or what it meant.

Maybe he just thought it was a nice shot and got it developed. It had to be that.

I was terrified. I worried the three of us' friendships might crack, so I forced myself to swallow the turmoil inside.

The little cake got squashed while we climbed the drainpipe and didn't look right anymore.

But Joshua's expression stayed calm; he didn't mind.

I dug through my pockets for a candle and couldn't find one. I looked at Richard.

Richard glanced out the window. "They're downstairs."