Chapter 3

【2024.4.1—April Fool's Day, no one fooled me】

"What do you mean Mom's gone?!"

In the video, the neighbors were holding me back, keeping me from rushing towards the man in the white lab coat.

"Cassidy, calm down!"

Mrs. Henderson from next door held me tight: "Your mom just didn't want you to worry, that's why she didn't tell you. If she saw you like this now, she'd only be more heartbroken watching from above!"

My eyes red-rimmed, I looked at her:

"You knew?"

I looked at the neighbors: "Did all of you know?!"

They all looked down.

"Cassidy... you and Liam are struggling to make it in the city right now. If you'd known, all your hard work these past few years would've gone to her medical bills. Your mom thought of that, which is why she made us keep it a secret…"

My eyes red-rimmed, I shook my head:

"You're lying... you're all lying to me!"

I clutched Mrs. Henderson's hand tightly:

"It's April 1st... April Fool's Day. You're kidding me, right? Please, just tell me you're kidding!"

Mrs. Henderson's tears fell: "Cassidy…"

I fell to my knees, tears hitting the ground hard: "Mom!!"

April 1st.

April Fool's Day.

I lost my mom.

What was worse.

No one fooled me.

I stumbled, clutching the urn, back home.

The house was still as neatly kept as Mom always had it.

If not for the thin layer of dust on the table, I would have thought Mom still lived here.

A book, next to *Heart: A Schoolboy's Journal*, was half-pulled out of the bookshelf.

I opened it, and a bankbook fell out.

With a handwritten note from Mom:

【All of Mom's savings are here.

【My good daughter, don't neglect yourselves in the city. Mom's gone to decorate our new home downstairs.】

I don't know with what willpower I managed to return to the city.

For half a month straight, I was a zombie, numb and dazed.

On my way back from the hospital after picking up painkillers, I barely registered the rain hitting my face.

It wasn't until I bumped into someone that I frantically snapped back to reality, helping him pick up his ID card:

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Seeing the name "Liam Sinclair," my hand froze.