Chapter 1

I was in the late stages of a terminal illness, with only days left to live. The doctors told me to notify my family and make arrangements for my funeral.

But my brother, Liam, had believed Seraphina's lies, convinced I had bullied her for three years in high school. He’d blocked me ages ago.

While I was fighting for my life in the emergency room, Seraphina merely had a low-grade flu fever. Yet, Liam waited outside her film set all night, his face, usually so indifferent, etched with frantic worry.

"Please, go see a doctor, okay? Even a small cold can be serious if you push yourself."

His fans on Ins gushed about his overwhelming devotion. As I was fading, barely clinging to life, I called the cemetery salesperson.

"Everything's arranged, right? No funeral, just cremate me directly."

"And the music sheets Liam wrote for me... burn them too."

I died on my twentieth birthday.

Liam never knew. He never knew it was Seraphina who had bullied me for three years, and that she'd even swapped my terminal diagnosis records.