Chapter 9

The Reapers came to take my soul. They looked at my body, very angry.

“Why did you kill yourself? Your time wasn’t up, suicide goes against the natural order of things!”

I looked at them helplessly. “I have stomach cancer and depression. Death was only a matter of time.”

The Black Reaper said, “You have a fated romance ahead of you; you can’t die yet.”

But I didn’t want to live anymore.

I said, even if you don’t let me die, I’ll still find a way to end it.

The White Reaper glared at me. “I’ll give you one chance, one hour to return to your body, to do what you want, and see if you can find a reason to live.”

I agreed.

The first thing I did after returning to my body was to take out my phone and dial Alex’s number.

The call took a long time to connect. “Clara, what is it?”

Hearing his voice, I was momentarily lost.

Even after we broke up, he still habitually called me Clara, never changing it.

As if, between us, there had never been a separation.

And I was still the girl he cherished, forever his.

“Alex, my big brother.”

I looked up at the falling snowflakes, and for a moment, it felt like I was back in that snowy night ten years ago.

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

I knew he probably hadn’t processed it.

After all, I hadn’t called him that since we broke up.

“Alex, my big brother,” I whispered again, “If…”

“Honey,” Isabella’s questioning voice came through the phone. “It’s so late, who are you talking to?”

I heard the click of a lighter. Alex must have lit a cigarette.

“No one,” he said. “Just a casual acquaintance.”

A casual acquaintance.

So, in his heart, I was nothing more than a casual acquaintance now.

I laughed sardonically and hung up the phone.

The snow had stopped.

The moon emerged from behind the clouds, gentle and beautiful.

I gazed at the moon, tilting my head back, trying not to let my tears fall.

“Alex, my big brother,” I softly murmured, speaking the words I hadn’t had time to say.

“If I died, would you be sad?”

I knew I would never get an answer.

He probably wouldn’t be too sad.

After all, I was just an insignificant passing stranger in his life.

Of no consequence.

I died again.

My soul floated in the air. The Reapers looked at me, huffing and puffing.

“Do you truly have no desire to live?”

I nodded.