Everyone froze when they heard Mom's words. But since this was Winona's funeral, no one spoke up for me.

However, I sneered. "Mom, Winona has just died. Yet, you want me to marry her husband right away. What kind of logic is that?"

Mom instantly dropped her act of grief and said with a smile, "Don't we always say, 'a life for a life?' If you marry Kenneth in your sister's place, won't that be the best of both worlds?"

"The best of both worlds? For who? For Winona and Kenneth, I suppose," I mocked inwardly.

I was just about to refute Mom's self-righteous claims, but a man's voice cut me off.

"Amber sees the big picture. Now that Winona is dead, it's perfect for Stella to marry me. She is Sonny's aunt, so she'll take care of him better than anyone else."

Kenneth was dressed in flamboyant, flashy colors. He rushed in from who-knew-where and shoved Sonny toward me.

Even though Sonny was still young, I could already see a vicious look in his eyes. It wasn't a look a seven-year-old child should have. In fact, he had been malicious since he was little. Winona brushed it off, saying he wasn't like other kids and would become a powerful person someday.

But once he entered kindergarten, he bullied his classmates all the time. At first, he ripped the girls' dresses. Later, he even stabbed one of his classmates' eye with a pencil.

As he grew up, I became more and more unsettled. But Mom claimed he simply lacked motherly love since Winona died when he was so young.

When Kenneth tried to beat Sonny, I stood in front of him valiantly. Because of that, Kenneth had dragged me into a room and beaten me up instead.

To keep Sonny in school, I did my best to put up with Kenneth and worked to pay for his education. However, he took what I did for granted, claiming that I owed it to him because I caused Winona's death. He did as Kenneth did, beating and cursing me however he pleased, like I was his slave.

Because of my guilt toward Winona, I had endured it all in silence.

The day Winona returned, Sonny abandoned me instantly without hesitation and clung to Winona's arm affectionately. Sometime later, he spread rumors online that I had killed Kenneth to steal his assets.

Winona had long known about Sonny's violent tendencies. She had faked her death to escape the abusive Kenneth and Sonny, leaving me behind to suffer in her place.

Hearing Mom and Kenneth speak so matter-of-factly, I couldn't help but laugh aloud.

Everyone was startled by this unexpected reaction from me.

Mom looked delighted as she asked, "Does this mean you agree to marry Kenneth?"

"No. I'm just happy for Winona," I replied.

Confusion spread across the room.

I went on, "Winona has barely just passed away. If she knew you couldn't wait to shove her husband and son to someone else, she might come back to life and burst out of her coffin in rage."

Mom jolted in fright upon hearing my words. "What nonsense are you spouting? Winona is as dead as a doornail!"

I ignored her and grabbed the coffin lid to yank it open. Then, I looked inside and gasped dramatically. "Where's Winona? Did she really climb out of her coffin?"

The people attending Winona's funeral crowded forward upon hearing my words. Seeing that the coffin was empty, all of them were shocked. Could Winona really have come back to life?

Mom spoiled and doted on Winona excessively. So, of course, she couldn't bear to let Winona suffer by stuffing her inside a coffin for hours.

In my previous life, Mom rushed to hold Winona's funeral the day after she died.

I had always been suspicious about her sudden death. Those thugs didn't want money, nor did they want her body. What were they after?

But Mom claimed she wanted Winona to be laid to rest as soon as possible. So, she stopped me from investigating further.

After Kenneth and I held our wedding, she wouldn't let us register our marriage, saying it was to honor Winona's memory. She didn't want me to take the official title after I had already taken her husband physically in real life.

I had been suspicious. But Sonny's incessant crying wore me down, and I slowly let down my guard on this issue. In the end, it was all just a ploy to let Winona inherit Kenneth's assets.

Seeing that her lies were about to unravel, Mom panicked. Then, she suddenly teared up and wailed, "I didn't want the crying and sobbing sounds to disturb Winona, so I put an empty coffin here."

The expressions of the relatives and friends present soured considerably. They had come to attend Winona's funeral out of sympathy for her unexpected death. Yet now, Mom was complaining that they were too noisy.

On the other hand, Kenneth wasn't buying any of it. He grabbed Mom by the collar and roared, "Is Winona dead or not, you old hag? Don't tell me you teamed up with that bitch to put on a show. I spent so much money on you two all these years, and all I got was a brat who's all screwed up in the head!

"Even if that bitch is dead, your younger one has to pay me back by giving me a son with a proper head on his shoulders!"

Mom trembled at his words and quickly promised she would give him a satisfactory explanation in a few days. Kenneth was unhappy with her answer, but he nodded reluctantly anyway.

Before he left, he ran his lewd gaze up and down my body. He then warned Mom to hand me over to him intact and not pull any tricks.

Once he walked off, Mom lifted her hand to slap me. But upon remembering Kenneth's words, she froze mid-swing and glared at me viciously.

I clasped my hands around hers and asked tearfully, "Mom, could what Kenneth said be true? Winona isn't dead, right?"

Mom laughed scornfully and sneered. "So, you still remember that I'm your mother, huh? Is this how you repay me?"

Her glare toward me grew even more hostile.

I smiled back and wondered what scene they planned to stage next.

Kenneth left Sonny behind at the funeral, and Mom used that as an excuse to push him onto me. I didn't want to take him, but he cried and clung to me, insisting that he wanted to go with me.

Soon, everyone started guilt-tripping me and said I should take him in since he had nowhere to go. In the end, I had no choice but to bring him home.

Sonny certainly knew who would treat him well. But I learned from the painful experience in my past life that no matter how much I sacrificed myself for him, all I would get in return was a thankless ingrate.

Upon reaching home, I put Sonny in the guest room.

That night, I fell into a deep sleep. When I stirred in the middle of the night, I caught a steely glint through my half-opened eyes. It startled me so much that I jolted awake.

Under the moonlight, I saw a small figure holding a kitchen knife and brandishing it. A chill went down my spine.

When I realized it was Sonny, I let out the breath I'd been holding in relief. Then, I sat up and turned on the lamp, asking him why he wasn't asleep at this hour.

But he just smiled and asked me back, "Aunt Stella, do you want to steal my daddy?"

I was puzzled as to why a seven-year-old would ask something like that. But upon remembering how things ended in my last life, I wanted nothing to do with this family anymore. I shook my head and sent Sonny back to bed.

As I thought about his words, my hand trembled as I locked my bedroom door.

He had said, "It was so hard for Mommy to run away. Do you want to be my new mommy now, Aunt Stella?"

This meant Sonny knew everything. In his eyes, all I had done in my previous life had been nothing but a foolish and one-sided self-sacrifice.

I closed my eyes and forced myself not to think.

The next time I opened them, it was the morning of the cremation. Mom was standing beside the cart and crying loudly.

Because of the ludicrous scene yesterday, the people attending kept silent. Upon realizing that no one was buying into her act, Mom gradually stopped crying. She dabbed at her eyes and asked the staff to wheel the cart away.

I reached out to stop them and said, "Wait, Mom. Let me see Winona one last time."

Mom glared and demanded to know what I was playing at now.

With a choked sob, I said, "Winona and I were twins. I have a feeling that… she's back."

"What nonsense are you spouting now, you stupid brat?" Mom scolded.

She raised her hand to slap me again, but Kenneth grabbed her wrist. As he looked down at her with a menacing smirk, she wimped out and smiled awkwardly in an obsequious way.

With him stepping forward, our relatives and friends joined in and urged her to let me have a look.

So, I yanked the white sheet off the body. A face caked in powder came into view. The makeup was so heavy that the body lying there was completely unrecognizable.

"This isn't Winona at all!" I exclaimed.