The next morning, I dragged my lethargic body back home with the cremated ashes of my daughter in my hands.

I sat on the couch and waited until the afternoon for Leo to come home.

When I was sixteen years old, I entered society with Leo, and we both tried to make something of ourselves. When we turned twenty-one, we started a small business, and then we got married and had children.

In the blink of an eye, my daughter had grown into an adult as well.

Twenty-three years of companionship turned out to be all for nothing.

Leo seemed taken aback when he saw me. “All I did was forget to tell you about Dianne wanting to donate her kidney to Rosette. Did you have to let yourself go and sink into such a pathetic state?”

I was disheveled and all the spark had left my eyes, appearing more like the dead than the living.

Leo was disgruntled. He kicked off his shoes and went to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

The kettle was empty. This set him off again. “Look at you! You’ve just been lazing around all day at home and haven’t been doing anything. I can’t even get a sip of water to drink around here! This is why I don’t like to come home!”

Then, he turned to the refrigerator to get cold water instead.

Ever since Rosette showed up, he often spent the night out. Rosette was often what sparked our arguments. She was also the reason Leo first brought up divorce. Upset, I agreed in the heat of the moment.

That was when our daughter, who was still in her second year of high school, came home. She overheard our argument from outside the house and started bawling her eyes out.

For the sake of our daughter, we never brought up divorce again.

Now that my daughter was gone, I no longer had any reason to stay with him.

With that, I showed him the divorce agreement I had prepared ahead of time.

“Leo, let's get divorced. There is no need to put ourselves through this for Dianne’s sake.”

Leo took a large gulp of ice water as if to quell the burning anger in his chest. Then, he began his long-winded rant, “Are you still upset about me donating Dianne’s kidney to Rosette? Can't you just give it a rest and stop holding it against Rosette who is still recovering?

“I provide you a roof over your head. Isn’t that good enough? Do you think you could live a better life without me? Do you think I would stick it out and stay with you if it wasn’t for Rosette?

“I know you have no problem with being an unqualified mother, but I still have my principles as a father!”

I looked at the man who I had once loved with all my heart and felt an urge to cry, feeling desolate.

Then, he went on, “Where is Dianne anyway? Even Rosette has been discharged, so I’m sure Dianne has been discharged before her. Tell Dianne to come out of her room. I bought her favorite mango cake for her eighteenth birthday tomorrow. I can’t join her birthday party tomorrow, so I’ll have to celebrate earlier for her.”

I sneered when I looked at the cake he had prepared for the occasion. He would rather skip his daughter’s eighteenth birthday, a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, all so he could spend time with Rosette.

“Leo, she’s about to turn eighteen. Don’t you know she is allergic to mangoes?”

Leo frowned sharply and regarded me with a disgruntled look. “What nonsense are you going on about this time? She’s always ecstatic whenever I buy her cakes!”

“She’s only doing that because she’s a sensitive girl and didn’t want to hurt your feelings. You always talk about how much you love your daughter when the truth is that you don't understand her at all.

“All your affection for her has always been nothing but a show you put on. What she truly wants is a complete and functional family that gives her the love she needs, not these pathetic performances.

“She went as far as to donate her kidney to Rosette just to get you to stay with us. She thought if she saved Rosette, you would dedicate yourself to our family. It’s such a shame that she would never get what she wanted even if she died.”

Smack!

Leo slapped me across the face.

“I warned you to not disrespect my daughter’s name!”

He was so furious that his breathing had become ragged. Then, he glared at me before stomping toward Dianne’s room and pounding on the door.

“Dianne, Daddy’s home! Are you feeling better?!”

He waited for two minutes, but nobody responded. He turned to me and fixed a cross look at me before opening the door.

The room was completely vacant. A pink box was set on the table.

“Clarice, where did you hide our daughter? She needs time to rest and recover. Don’t use her as a weapon against me!”

Every word he said seemed to cut into my flesh like a scalpel. I could feel my flesh shredding off. I turned hysterical. I wanted to ask him why he would rather take care of Rosette than look after our daughter.

When the words came to my lips, I realized I no longer had the energy to argue with him. I wonder how he would feel if he found out our daughter was gone.

Upon reaching this thought, I smiled a cynical smile and gestured at the pink box containing Dianne’s ashes.

With a tragic chuckle, I motioned. “That’s right. I hid our daughter. I hid her ashes inside that pink box over there.”

Leo's mouth jerked upon hearing this. His eyes became so bloodshot it looked like they would bleed.

“Are you trying to get on my nerves by pulling a prank like this? Is one slap not good enough for you? I can give you a couple more slaps if you want! Listen up, I’ll give you a divorce if that’s what you want! Even if Dianne came begging this time, I am still going to divorce you no matter what!”

I couldn't stand it anymore and shouted back at him, “Sure! I’d love to get divorced! And for the record, Dianne won’t have to waste her energy pleading with you anymore! Thanks to your complete neglect, she died of kidney failure! If you won’t believe me, go ahead and ask at the hospital. They will tell you that everything I just said is true!”

Leo narrowed the look in his eyes and fixed a prolonged look on me.

After a few seconds, he reached for his phone with trembling hands.

Before he could even make the call, Rosette ended up calling him. He immediately picked up as if that was the exact thing he had been waiting for.

Rosette’s voice came through the other end of the phone and she sounded like she had been crying.

“Leo, I think I caught a cold. I feel awful, I’m not going to die, am I? Would you stay by my side?”

“Alright, I’ll be there right away, don’t overthink it, alright? The doctor says you will recover just fine.”

Then, he hung up before glaring at me. “I'm not going to believe anything you say. We will settle what happens with Dianne after her birthday.”

With that, he turned around and slammed the door shut.

I thought about Dianne’s eighteenth birthday party that I had been preparing for the last three months. The thought that she would never get to join the party made me shed tears again.

It was a party that she had been particularly excited about. It was supposed to be held at a beautiful field right next to a lake, and the theme of the party was fashioned after one of her favorite castles in a fairy tale.

I wanted to give her everything she wanted. How could I not?

Since she was fond of the color pink, I reached for a pink ribbon I had prepared in my bag and tied a beautiful knot around the lid of the urn.

I looked forward to her birthday celebration tomorrow.

As night fell, I lay in bed and thought about her beautiful, radiant smile. I ended up staring at the ceiling until dawn.

Just like the countless nights before, Leo did not come home. I was not affected by it since I had grown completely numb to it by this point.

Around dawn, I got up and put on some light makeup to mask the heavy circles under my eyes that had formed because of all the accumulated stress over the past few days.

I knew my daughter was watching me from above. I was sure it would hurt her to see her mother in such a ruined and haggard state.

The staff who helped organize the birthday party had shown up in their coordinated outfits as well.

Soon, a row of pink flower baskets was brought out to decorate the passage leading to the castle. Colorful balloons decorated the tables filled with fresh fruits and desserts. A red carpet was laid out to lead the way to the castle.

My daughter had requested to not invite any of our relatives and friends. Instead, she had invited her classmates.

I held the urn containing her ashes and paraded down the walkway toward the castle. The entire time, I sensed bizarre stares from her classmates.

Then, I turned around and announced my daughter's death to them with an apologetic smile.

It was supposed to be a merry occasion, but the announcement took the wind out of the room in an instant. A heavy and oppressing silence fell over them.

“That’s impossible. Dianne just texted me a few days ago telling me how happy she was that the dress she had made was completed! She was talking about how excited she was to wear it today and celebrate her birthday!”

The girl who was completely floored by the announcement was Helena Brown, Dianne’s best friend.

Her classmates all echoed the same sentiment. They were all in disbelief that Dianne had passed away.

“Aunt Clarice, Dianne has always been eccentric and it’s just like her to pull such a weird prank on us. Alright, she got us good. Tell her to cut it out and come out!”

I held onto the urn tightly and tilted my head to the sky to try to hold back sadness. Despite that, tears continued to stream from my eyes. “My darling daughter will never grow up…”

“Yes, she will never grow up because you keep spoiling her! You’re the reason she always wants things her way!”