Chapter 1

The younger brother I'd cut off long ago called me, crying.

The first thing out of his mouth was that our mother had had a stroke and was paralyzed, that she was refusing to eat and trying to starve herself to death, and would I please come home and see her.

In my last life I went without a second thought. My heart broke for her, so I brought her home and cared for her myself.

But on her deathbed she told me the paralysis had been fake.

All because she couldn't bear to see her son struggle.

She said to me, "Zoe James, you've got money. Don't hold it against your brother. That two hundred grand you set aside for my old age, plus my pension, just give it all to him."

I looked at the account, at the money already transferred out, and the rage hit me all at once. I dropped dead on the spot.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my brother called.

This time I didn't answer the phone. And this time, my mother really was in a car accident, and really was paralyzed.

1

A ringtone broke the quiet.

I came back to myself and glanced at the screen.

The caller was the younger brother I hadn't spoken to in ages.

The familiar scene dragged me back into my last life.

I'd picked up, and Herbert James had launched straight into his sob story.

"Sis, Mom's body's just too frail, she's had a stroke, she's paralyzed. She doesn't want to be a burden on us, so she's decided to just stop eating and starve herself."

"Nothing I say gets through to her. She told me her one wish now is to see you, to know whether you're doing all right."

"She thinks she was too hard on you back then. Her conscience is eating at her, she feels like she owes you. Sis, come home, please. Otherwise next time you come back, Mom won't be here anymore."

Hearing that, something in me clenched.

Back then Mom had favored Herbert and refused to let me go to college. I did resent her for it.

But she was still my mother. There was no way I could hear she was in trouble and feel nothing.

The moment I saw her, she rolled off the bed and lay flat on the floor apologizing to me, saying she'd been wrong all those years ago.

I softened. I couldn't stand to watch her actually die, so I brought her home and wore myself out taking care of her.

Only right before she died did she admit it. She'd faked the paralysis to cling to me, to make me take care of her for the rest of her life.

Her favoritism toward my brother never changed, not from the first day to the last.

She was even so afraid Herbert would run out of money after she was gone that she quietly signed everything I owned over to him.

This time, I wasn't going to answer.

I set the phone to Do Not Disturb and put it aside.

Not long after, a sharp knocking came at the door.

I set down the book in my hand and went to open it.

Herbert was standing there, pushing a wheelchair up to me.

"Sis, Mom... she said she wanted to see you before she died, so I brought her."

"I meant to tell you first, but you never picked up. She misses you so much."

The mother in the wheelchair saw me, and her eyes went red at once.

Her hand trembled as she slowly lifted it.

As if she wanted to touch my cheek.

But no matter how she raised it, she couldn't reach me.

"I know you still resent me. Resent that I favored Herbert, that I couldn't afford to send you to college. But you know your father was gone. One woman, raising two children, I just couldn't manage it."

"And now look at me, a useless woman who can't do a thing for herself. Call it my punishment for abandoning you back then. It's all what I deserve. I deserve to die a thousand times."

She lowered her hand, sighed softly, and a few more tears slid down.

"Zoe, seeing you doing so well now, my heart's at peace. When the day comes that I close my eyes, I can go without regret."

"But if I could, I'd want to see your face every single day. I suppose that's just a fool's dream. How could you ever forgive me? I wasn't a good mother."