My boyfriend, Sanford Hoffman, lost his patience when he saw me sitting still in the chair.

He pulled out a handkerchief, insisting that I use it to wipe my tears.

I snapped back to reality and didn't take it.

I hadn't forgotten that in my previous life, I had felt drowsy after using that handkerchief, mistakenly thinking it was due to excessive grief.

It must have been laced with a drug.

They were waiting for me to pass out so they could swap Alice's body and take her away.

I stood up and walked to the door of Alice's room, where there was better ventilation. Sanford was startled and quickly put away the handkerchief.

He blocked my way.

"Lacey, don't look. Alice's body is broken."

I had to see it. I would also secretly take a photo.

Ignoring Sanford's attempts to stop me, I walked to the bed and discreetly started recording on my phone.

I lifted a corner of the bed sheet, revealing Alice's pale, bloodless face.

The bed sheet beneath her was soaked with blood, and she looked as if she had been drained dry.

I smirked internally. If I hadn't lived another life, I would have believed she was dead.

I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

Her head tilted, and her hair stuck to her face, but she didn't move.

It looked like she had been sedated.

It worked just fine for my plan.

Sanford cried out and hurriedly embraced Alice, shielding her from me.

"Lacey, why did you hit her? She's dead, how could you hit a dead person?"

I gritted my teeth, glaring at the two of them huddled together.

I pretended to be heartbroken, my hands continuously moving.

"I told you to go home, but you didn't listen and ended up in Sanford's car. See? If you had listened to me, you wouldn't be dead."

Feeling guilty, Sanford grabbed and held onto me tightly.

"I just happened to run into Alice on the way. Please, don't be sad, my dear."

His guilt made him try to appease me.

He just let me hit Alice.

"Don't be too sad. Alice wouldn't want to leave you like this," Sanford said.

I stopped and looked at Sanford.

"I told you to take care of my best friend, but you let her die. Why don't you die instead?"

Using my rage, I hit him and then felt much better.

He touched the blood on his lips, angry but silent.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled out my phone and called the nearby hospital.

Sanford quickly tried to stop me.

"What are you doing?"

"This clinic isn't legitimate. Can its death certificate be trusted?"

A doctor hiding in the back immediately jumped out.

"Of course, it's legitimate. We have proper credentials. My certificate is valid."

This guy was one of Sanford's buddies. He was lazy and just hanging around the clinic.

Hearing his assurance, I nodded. Just as he was about to relax, I turned and called the funeral home.

"We need someone for a cremation here."

Sanford rushed to stop me but, seeing my determination, quietly sent a message on his phone.

The funeral home workers arrived quickly, eager not to miss the business.

I pretended to arrange everything for my best friend.

"She's my best friend. Don't spare any expense. Do everything at the highest standard. Did you bring the shroud?"

I glanced at Sanford.

"She's been dead for hours. If we don't take her to the funeral home soon, the body might spoil. How will I explain to her family then?"

The funeral home workers were thrilled to get such a big job and moved to change Alice's clothes.

Sanford hurriedly stopped them.

"Lacey, let Alice's family handle this. It's not right for you to do it."

I slapped him again.

"Alice's been staying at my place. Her family lives far away. If we wait for her mother, she'll start to decompose. Let me handle it."

The workers praised me for being a faithful friend, but Sanford wouldn't step aside.

He was afraid the professionals would discover that Alice wasn't dead.

He kept his distance from me and stuck to the bed.

"Alice's family has ancestral graves. She doesn't need to be cremated. You're being hasty and disrespectful to her," he argued.

A gleam of light shot out from my eyes. I was disrespectful?

'What was she thinking when she signed for me to marry the fool? Didn't it break my heart?' I thought.

While we were confronting each other, a sharp voice rang out.

"Who dares to cremate my daughter?"

It seemed Sanford had already teamed up with Alice, even having her mother's contact to alert her.

I hadn't expected to send Alice straight to the crematorium.

I just wanted to provoke them into revealing the truth.

With more people involved, it only proved that they had been conspiring against me in my past life.

Back then, I had asked Alice's mother to testify, thinking it was her daughter's arranged marriage.

But she had pretended ignorance, blaming it all on me.

She knew everything. She was just pretending.

Then letting her watch as I sent Alice to her death wasn't too much.

Alice's mother rushed over, pushing me aside and standing by her daughter's bed.

Without even looking at Alice, she glared at me with her hands on her hips.

"Who dares to harm my daughter? Alice trusted you the most, and yet you plotted to burn her alive? How could you be so vicious?

"If any of those people dare to touch my daughter again, you and I will have a serious problem."

She still found time to worry about her daughter's innocence.

I couldn't help but furrow my brows.

"Mrs. Archer, Alice always lived off me, stayed with me, and this doesn't count as being her best friend? Besides, she's already dead. How could I want to burn her?" I scoffed.

Only then did she realize her mistake in speaking and shook her head, pushing the funeral home staff away.

"My daughter will be buried, not cremated. Just go."

The funeral home staff grumbled and drove away.

Only then did Sanford breathe a sigh of relief and neatly cover Alice with the sheet.

Alice's mother also sighed with relief and began complaining to me again.

"It's all your fault. If it weren't for you, Alice wouldn't have died. If only she had listened to me and come home earlier to get married, none of this would have happened. It's all because you encouraged her to be independent."

I was indeed wrong to inspire an ingrate.

My life had just begun, and I had worked hard to buy a house for myself.

But she had insisted on moving in with me.

Yet her mother blamed me for corrupting her.

I pretended to cry with a grievance, apologizing, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Archer. I just wanted Alice to rest in peace sooner."

She was sweating profusely, gasping and cursing, "Rest in peace, my foot."

I snatched the handkerchief from Sanford's hand and handed it to her to wipe her sweat.

She used it and then collapsed into the chair.

Sanford's sweat crawled across his forehead as he looked at me.

"Mrs. Archer seems to be overwhelmed with grief," he stuttered

Seeing that I wasn't suspicious, Sanford sat down to catch his breath, feeling like he had exhausted all his intelligence in this lifetime.

I helped Sanford up from the ground.

"Mrs. Archer has collapsed. You should hurry and call the doctor."

He dared not move, urging me, "Or should I watch Mrs. Archer while you go call the doctor?"

Seeing my hesitation, he reluctantly went to find someone else to help.

While he was away, I dialed the cemetery's phone number.

This cemetery had a good location and had someone who could handle the burial.

It was on his family's land.

Sanford pretended to go out for a stroll, returning to ask me anxiously after seeing me hang up the phone.

"Who did you call?"

I calmly replied, "I've thought about it. We should respect Mrs. Archer's wishes. I've found a burial plot for Alice. Everything concerning the coffin and the burial plot won't cost you a cent. After all, we were best friends."

Sanford panicked and paced around, occasionally glancing at the unconscious Alice and her mother.

"Alice was your best friend. Is it necessary to rush her burial like this?"

I looked at him disapprovingly.

"Sanford, you're weird. Alice has been dead for so long. Every time I try to arrange her affairs, you hinder me. Alice once said her family was poor and she wanted to stay in this big city. I'm just fulfilling her wishes."

As time passed, he became as restless as a cat on hot bricks.

He attempted to up Alice's mother.

Suddenly, he noticed something and pointed to Alice's bedside, where her pale hand hung down.

"Look, Alice seemed to move."

I screamed in cooperation, "Sanford, are you crazy? How can a dead person move? This is your clinic. If someone who has been issued a death certificate comes back to life, you and your friends who issued the certificate could be sued by her family."

Sanford opened his mouth wide, unable to come up with a rebuttal for a long time.

The people from the cemetery arrived. Without anyone hindering them, they carried Alice into the car and drove away.

We headed straight for the suburbs.

I glanced at my watch and Alice, holding back the urge to laugh.

The day I met Alice in my past life, I was amazed that after ten years, she hadn't changed a bit.

There were no wrinkles in sight, and she looked rich.

The girl who once vowed to establish herself in the big city had resorted to drastic measures to live the life she desired.

I wanted to ask how she managed to come back to life, but she met me without a hint of surprise, as if everything was expected.

She pointed disdainfully at a ring on my stall.

"Oh dear, old friend, how did you end up like this? Wasn't your marriage going well?"

Her mocking laughter still echoed in my mind.

She flaunted, "I faked my death on purpose, just to trick you into marrying that fool. The good life is always meant for me."

I turned to look at Sanford beside her and burst into tears.

He could have simply broken up with me instead of trapping me in the mountains.

'Why did he do this to me? Just because I was kind to him?' I thought.

They took away my house and burdened me with half a million in debt.

My parents searched for me in vain for years, only to pass away later.

I lived in a remote, impoverished village, bearing children in despair.

Whenever I tried to escape, the villagers would come to beat me. That was the life meant for Alice.

She leaned in, smirking triumphantly at me.

"You know, I couldn't move at the time, but I was conscious, listening to you cry before me. It almost made me throw up my dinner, hahaha."

As I collapsed, she stepped back with Sanford.

"Oh my, don't dirty my shoes, old lady. Let's go."

As they walked away, I closed my eyes for good. I was not even 40 years old back then.

While I was lost in thoughts, Alice's finger twitched.

It seemed like she was conscious until she had to be buried.

The effect of the sedative would not last much longer.

I called out to the driver. "Sir, please drive faster. I'm a bit scared. Several people in the hospital just tried to take my best friend away. She swore never to return to her hometown. I have to fulfill her dying wish."

The driver floored it out of town, speeding at 120 miles per hour straight towards the mountains.

I glanced at the popping veins on Alice's neck and whispered, "I know you're not dead. I know you set your eyes on Sanford and conspired with him to deceive me into marrying that village idiot. That's your fate. If you had spoken up, I could have helped you, but you chose to make me suffer. So, don't blame me for being heartless now, Alice. I've never failed you."

I patted her shoulder and waved the handkerchief from earlier.

"Rest assured, I'll find you a good burial place," I said.

As she drifted into unconsciousness, Alice made a faint struggle.

She didn't want to die, but she couldn't shake off this drowsiness.

My phone kept vibrating. Those calls were from Sanford and Alice's mother.

I was a good person focused on fulfilling my best friend's wish. I didn't have time to answer the phone.