Chapter 296

Leave? Did he mean the kind where I just move out in this life, or like when I actually died in the last one? His grip on my hand tightened. His eyes were cold, but he didn’t say much. "Okay." We quickly got back to the villa. Mary was home, the place spotless as always. But the second I passed the garden outside, I stopped dead in my tracks, my whole body tensing up. The garden, which had always been left bare, was now filled with all kinds of flowers I used to love—rows and rows of roses, peonies, orchids, osmanthus. Even fruit trees—orange, persimmon. Everything there needed so much care to grow. My chest tightened. I remembered the second year of my marriage to Ronald Wright. I started tending the garden back then, planting things, taking care of flowers—it helped soothe me. Gave me that bit of peace I was desperate for. Gave me something to do while waiting endlessly for my husband to come home. I had hoped Ronald might notice. Maybe say something nice about how good the flowers l