Chapter 1

The only dying wish of my mentor was to see Maya one last time before he died.

But when I saw her and her old flame out enjoying themselves, not caring at all about her father’s life or death at home.

My first reaction wasn’t to storm over and demand an explanation, or to make a scene and drag her back.

Instead, I thought: I want a divorce.

So when Maya called to explain, I was still drowning in pain and couldn’t pull myself out of it, and I didn’t care what she was saying.

“Ethan, listen to me. It wasn’t on purpose that I didn’t come back. I was busy with work. Besides, now that Dad is dead, isn’t it enough for someone at home to handle things? Why do I have to be there?”

“Do you really want to fight all the way to divorce over a dead man?”

My heart trembled unconsciously, and it hurt.

“Maya! Do you even have a heart? That’s your own father. How could you say something like that?”

“You know that’s my own father, not yours. What exactly are you making a scene about?”

She had said she would come back; she had said she wanted to send Dad off on his last journey.

But what happened?

“I waited for you in the cemetery for a day and a night.”

There was silence on the other end for a long time, then I heard the sound of someone getting dressed. “Are you crazy? You stood there holding an urn for that long?”

In truth, the reason I could wait that long wasn’t only because of Maya’s words, but also because of my mentor.

He never got to see his daughter one last time before he died.

I wanted his own daughter to send him off personally when he was buried.

“Wait there. I’m coming now.”

She even muttered before hanging up, “Seriously, burying a dead man is such a hassle.”

I heard that and my heart went cold.

I couldn’t understand how someone could treat her own father like that.

My mentor had loved her so much!

I waited in the cemetery for more than two hours, but still didn’t see Maya show up.

In the end, I had no choice but to settle things for my mentor myself and take a cab home.

After I got home, I collapsed weakly onto the sofa.

I hadn’t eaten or slept for a day and a night, and by then I was exhausted.

Just then my phone dinged again. It was another update from Maya’s old flame.

The caption said: My baby worked hard; these past few days you’ve been staying up all night helping me revise the proposal.

Maya even replied under it without any restraint: Not hard at all, it’s what I should do!

But that post only lasted a few minutes in my feed before disappearing.

I didn’t bother with it anymore, took a random shower, and went to bed.

Just as I had fallen asleep for a little while, the bedroom door was shoved open hard, and the loud bang startled me.

Before I could react, my blanket had already fallen to the floor.

What I saw was Maya’s angry face. “Ethan, are you sick in the head? You called me to the cemetery and then left first.”

“Do you know how terrifying it is for a girl in a place like that? Were you doing it on purpose to screw me over?”

“I spent hours looking for you there, and only came back this late.”

“The second I got home, I saw you lying in bed asleep! Why didn’t you at least make something to eat and wait for me?”

I looked at her furious expression. She had said so much, and everything was blaming me, not a single word about my mentor.

It was as if the person who died had nothing to do with her.

I said sarcastically, “Are you a starving ghost? What, Mark couldn’t even fill you up? Looks like he’s not much either.”

“What do you mean by that, Ethan?”