Chapter 1

On the anniversary of my father's death, Mom and I went to pay our respects.

Mom suddenly wanted to place something inside Dad's urn.

But when the staff member brought out the urn, Mom and I froze instantly.

Because the photo on the urn in front of us wasn't my dad at all—it was some stranger.

I demanded an explanation from the staff member, my voice shaking.

"What's going on? Why is there someone else's ashes in my father's plot?"

Mom clutched her chest beside me, her heart condition nearly flaring up from the shock.

"We've been paying our respects to the wrong ashes for twelve years? Then where are my husband's ashes?"

The staff member had never encountered this situation before.

He quickly checked the system, then looked at us with confusion.

"Are you sure you came to the right cemetery? I just checked—we don't have any deceased person with the surname Thompson in our records."

"Impossible!"

My tone was firm.

"When my father died, I personally placed his urn in this plot. I couldn't have made a mistake!"

Mom chimed in to support me.

"That's right. We still have the purchase contract for this plot at home. How could your cemetery not have any records of a Thompson?"

Seeing how certain we were, the staff member logged into the system again to check.

But the result was the same as before.

No records of anyone named Thompson.

At that moment, the manager rushed over after hearing about the commotion.

He bowed repeatedly to Mom and me in apology.

"I'm so sorry, this is all a misunderstanding. Last year we expanded the cemetery, and to avoid disturbing the deceased, we temporarily moved all the urns to the funeral home. The staff must have been careless and mixed up the ashes. We'll fix this immediately. Please, come wait in our office."

"Mixed up?"

My eyes widened, anger creeping into my voice.

"Why didn't you notify the families before moving the ashes during your expansion? If Mom hadn't wanted to see Dad today, would we have ever found out?"

"This is entirely our mistake, entirely our mistake!"

The manager wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"I completely understand your feelings, but right now the priority is finding your father's ashes. Please just wait a moment."

I wanted to argue with him further, but Mom, still clutching her chest, stopped me.

"Forget it, Evelyn. Take me somewhere to sit down and let them find your father's ashes first. We can't miss the time to leave flowers for him."

Looking at Mom's haggard face, I could only swallow my anger for now.

"Fine. Find my father's ashes first. After we've paid our respects, we'll discuss how to handle this."

With that, I led Mom to their office.

The manager nodded vigorously behind us.

"Yes, Ms. Thompson, don't worry. We'll notify you the moment we find them."

In the office, I poured Mom a glass of water to help calm her down.

Ever since Dad's company went bankrupt twelve years ago and he jumped to his death, Mom had developed a heart condition.

Over these years, she'd had to care for Grandpa and Grandma while supporting me through high school, with no time to see a doctor.

On top of that, she'd been paying off the debts Dad left behind from the bankruptcy.

Life had been incredibly hard.

Fortunately, I'd succeeded in starting my own business.

Not only had I paid off all of Dad's debts, but I'd also saved quite a bit of money.

I'd originally planned to take Mom to get proper treatment for her heart after paying our respects to Dad.

I never expected something like this to happen.

Thinking of this, I asked Mom.

"Mom, what were you planning to put in Dad's urn?"