Chapter 1

I dumped Orion Gray when he was at his poorest.

I even aborted the child we had together.

In the blink of an eye, I got together with a rich man.

After that, Orion went abroad in anger and sadness. Within two short years, he turned into the CEO of a publicly listed company.

When he came back to the country, he swore that he would exact his revenge on me.

However, my mother sent a disfigured corpse to his house and asked him to restore it to its original state.

He did not know that it was the corpse of the person he hated the most—me.

Chapter 1

The day Orion Gray returned to the country, I died in bed at home.

I had become so dark and skinny that I was completely unrecognizable.

My mother held my shriveled hand as she sobbed uncontrollably.

“Summer Richards, my poor daughter, you always cared about your appearance. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that you look beautiful when we bury you.”

My eyes were welling up. I wanted to wipe the tears from my mother’s face, but I had turned into a spirit.

I also felt regretful.

I had wanted to see Orion one last time. So, I had tried my best to stay alive until he returned to the country.

However, I died in my sleep last night.

My mother wrapped me in a blanket just as she did when I was younger. Then, she placed me in a trolley.

Her eyes were swollen from all her sobbing. “Summer, I’m going to get you the best mortician to restore your beauty,” she murmured while she pushed me outside.

As we passed by the city hall, we saw a black Maybach parking right in front of it. The car had a really familiar-looking number plate.

I was stunned because I would never forget its owner.

The number plate belonged to the first car that Orion and I had bought.

At that time, we were still very poor. We could only buy a run-down van with the little money that we had.

Despite that, we were incredibly happy to have our own car.

As we were bidding for a number plate, we saw this meaningful combination. The letter “S” represented my name, Summer, and the numbers “1997” represented the year I was born.

Chapter 2

The car door opened, and a man in a black suit stepped out.

Right then, my heart stirred.

It really was my ex-boyfriend, Orion. We were together for five years.

I had not seen him in two years, and he looked more mature.

He walked up to the front passenger seat and carefully helped a pregnant young woman out of the car.

“Are you still feeling unwell? Do you want me to get you a bottle of water?” He looked at her with concern and love.

My heart dropped.

He already had someone new by his side, and apparently, a child too. How wonderful…

It looked like they were about to get married at the city hall.

I did not know why the scene upset me so much, since I had expected this.

“Orion… is that you?” my mother asked in a trembling voice.

Orion turned around and snorted when he saw my mother. “I didn’t even have to look for you to exact my revenge. You showed up all by yourself.

“Where’s Summer?”

When my mother heard this, she started to stutter. “S-Summer, she’s…”

I had previously told her not to inform Orion about what happened to me.

I was hoping that she would be able to keep her mouth shut.

Otherwise, all my efforts would be wasted.

“Summer’s at work,” my mother finally said.

Then, she turned back and pulled the blanket tighter around me to hide my face.

Chapter 3

“Hah, didn’t she marry a rich man? Why is she still working?” Orion said sarcastically.

“Or did that rich man abandon her because she had an abortion before?”

We had an ugly breakup back then.

So, it was no surprise that he was badmouthing me like this.

My mother’s face turned pale.

“Please don’t say that about Summer. She didn’t…”

My mother did not know how to explain things to him.

“What?”

Orion released the young woman’s hand and approached my mother.

“I remember every word she said and everything she did to me in the past.

“Summer’s a dirty and materialistic woman. Tell her that now I’m back, she won’t have another day of peace!”

Right after that, a gust of wind blew the blanket away from my head.

This revealed my dark and emaciated face.

“Ah! What is that?” the young woman next to Orion screamed.

He looked over and narrowed his eyes.

I wanted to block his view, but I could not do anything except panic.

Orion walked up to me to take a closer look. But before he could see anything, my mother covered my corpse with the blanket again.

“I’m sorry for frightening the both of you. This is my dead goddaughter.”

I immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Orion never caught a good glimpse.

Otherwise, he might have recognized me. After all, we had been together for five years.

“Hmph, this is karma. Ask Summer to beg me for my forgiveness. Maybe I’ll forgive her and let all of you off the hook.

“If she doesn’t, your lives are going to be hell.”

Chapter 4

“Summer can’t see you anymore.

“You should let the past go, Orion. Forget about it,” my mother said bitterly.

She wanted to leave with my corpse after that, but Orion grabbed the trolley with an angry expression.

“Why?

“Why should I let the past go just because you say so? I’ll never forgive Summer. I’ve told you before that I won’t let any of you off the hook. Blame it on Summer!”

Then, he glanced at my dead body.

“Are you going to a morgue?

“Go ahead. Let’s see if anyone takes her in!”

My mother started to cry after she heard Orion’s cruel words.

“Summer didn’t do anything wrong. She didn’t do anything wrong,” she said and pushed the trolley forward.

I turned around to glance at Orion. Right then, the young woman next to him was comforting him.

They looked like a match made in heaven, and I felt a terrible emptiness in my heart.

My mother brought my corpse to the best funeral parlor in town, but they turned her away. They claimed to have too many corpses, so they did not have the capacity to take another one.

Following that, my mother went to other funeral parlors.

She visited them one after another, but they all gave her the same answer.

She cried and hugged me.

“Summer, you silly girl. Why did you do so much for him? Because of him, you can’t even look like you did before.”

Actually, Orion loved me immensely in the past, so it was worth it to me.

Chapter 5

It was winter, and my corpse was swaying in the cold, strong wind.

My mother’s voice had gotten hoarse after all the crying. She felt truly helpless and had no idea what to do.

Just then, one of the staff members in the funeral parlor came out.

It looked like she could not bear seeing my mother like that. She soon passed her a glass of warm water.

“Please don’t be too upset. Do you know Mr. Orion Gray? His father’s a really famous mortician. Being his son, Orion learned the skill too. That’s what I’ve heard, so you could ask him to restore the corpse.”

Orion indeed had the skills to do so.

He worked as a mortician back when we were together.

Orion was extremely good at what he did. He could even restore corpses that were completely disfigured from car accidents.

At that time, I was afraid that my mother would not find his career acceptable. So, I hid it from her.

It was obvious what the staff was hinting at.

They had no other choice but to do as Orion had instructed.

After that, my mother immediately went to see him.

Orion was currently the CEO of a publicly listed company. The first thing he did when he returned to the country was purchase a mansion. It was plastered all over the news.

Hence, my mother knew where he stayed.

My mother pushed me along as she looked for him.

The entrance of Orion’s mansion was covered in gardenia trees.

I used to like that flower a lot.

I always told him, “Orion, when we buy a house in the future, let’s plant gardenia trees in our garden.”

“Alright. As long as you like it, I’m fine with it too.” But obviously, I was not going to assume that he planted them because of me.

He must have planted them for the other woman.

Chapter 6

My mother rang the doorbell, and Orion opened the door.

My mother stared at him with teary eyes.

“Orion, none of the funeral parlors are willing to take my goddaughter.”

“I’m aware. I’m responsible for that,” he said knowingly.

“I already told you. I’ll only consider letting you off the hook if Summer begs for my forgiveness.”

If I could, I would apologize to him.

However, I could no longer do that.

My mother’s tears streamed down her face.

“I’m here to ask you for a favor. Can you please help me restore my goddaughter’s corpse?”

Orion sneered. “Is Summer the one who suggested you look for me? Why didn’t she come here herself? Or is she too embarrassed to show up?”

My mother lowered her head as she grabbed the trolley handle tightly.

“Summer… really can’t come here anymore.”

“She’s just too ashamed to face me, isn’t she? Ask her to meet me, and I’ll consider your request!”

Orion seemed furious.

My mother cried even harder, and I knew she was at her wits’ end.

I wanted to tell her to forget about restoring my corpse. She could just bury me.

My mother fell silent for a while, and Orion turned to head back inside.

Just then, my mother fell to her knees with a loud thud.

“Orion, I beg you. Please help me. I just want my goddaughter to leave this world beautifully.

“I’ll do anything if you help me.”

Orion stopped, and there was a flicker of emotion in his eyes.

“I don’t want you to do anything. I just want Summer to beg for my forgiveness.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll ask her to do that.”

My mother was probably desperate, so she chose to lie to him.

However, she would not be able to keep it up.

Regardless, all I could do was watch.

Orion then asked my mother to bring my corpse into his house.

The young woman that we had met during the day was not around. I assumed that she was sleeping. He seemed to love her very much.

My mother put my corpse down in the living room. Finally, she extended her shaking hand to caress my cheek.

“Orion, please do your best to restore this corpse.”

“Fine, but I’m adding another condition. Not only do I want Summer to apologize to me, but I also want her to be my maid.”

“Al… Alright,” my mother murmured and left.

The living room was quiet once she was gone.

Orion pulled the blanket away from my corpse. Apart from not having any hair left, I was black and bruised all over. I was incredibly thin as well, so it was hard to tell what I used to look like.

However, Orion seemed to find something familiar about me. When he looked at my shrunken face, his pupils contracted.

To test his suspicions, he put on a pair of gloves and grabbed my right hand.

I had a couple’s tattoo on my right wrist.

Chapter 7

I got the tattoo with him on our third anniversary.

It had his initials and birthday.

After we got the tattoo, Orion held my hands with bright eyes.

“Summer, no matter what you look like in the future, I’ll be able to recognize you by this tattoo. You won’t be able to run away from me.”

I laughed.

“What if I remove the tattoo and become disfigured? Would you be able to recognize me, then?”

“Of course. Even if I don’t recognize you on the spot, I eventually will. It’s called ‘lovers’ telepathy.’”

At this moment, Orion was trembling as he held my right hand.

He seemed extremely nervous.

He clenched his jaw, and sweat started to form on his forehead.

Then, he flipped my hand over and exposed my wrist.

My skin was a little darker, so it was hard to tell if there was a tattoo on it. There was also a black knife scar.

He instantly let go of my hand and let out a long sigh.

“I knew it wasn’t her.”

The truth was I had cut the tattoo away.

Thankfully, I made that decision back then. Otherwise, Orion would have already recognized me.

He took off his gloves and wiped the sweat on his forehead.

After that, he took out his phone and dialed my number.

I did not expect him to still remember it.

I thought that he would have forgotten about it long ago.

He hesitated for a few seconds before he pressed the call button.

My mother ended up answering the call.

“Orion, Summer isn’t around. Can I help you with anything?”

Orion looked a little annoyed when he heard my mother’s voice.

“Nothing. I just wanted to tell her to begin preparing her apology. It won’t take me long to restore this corpse.”

With that, he ended their conversation.

“Summer, I’ll make sure you apologize to me,” he said fiercely. Then, he slammed the door behind him as he left.