Before My Last Breath, I Was Her Reflection

The Story of How I Met Him

I was 14 the year I met Spencer.

Back then, I was still the second daughter in the Bippy Family.

I had been abducted and brought to the Bippy Family by human traffickers, only because I looked so much like Yunice. Edward and Melinda Bippy had lost their biological daughter, so they took me in as a replacement.

The first time Spencer saw me, he only frowned, saying, "She looks like Yunice, but she doesn't have Yunice's charm."

He didn't like me. To him, I was a stranger, a stand-in. Yet, I was captivated by him, and the stirrings of first love took hold of my heart.

Later, the Bippy Family found their biological daughter and cast me out.

Left to fend for myself at a young age, I spent almost a year begging on the streets that I was so thin I looked like a child under ten. Finally, one day, I met my mother.

She wiped the grime off my face as she looked at me with pity written across her face. "Poor girl, you must be starving."

The bread she handed me was the best thing I had ever tasted.

From then on, I lived with her in a cramped rental room and ate instant noodles soaked in cold water. Though she barely had a penny to her name, she worked herself to the bone to make sure I could go to school.

It turned out that Yunice, Spencer, and I ended up in the same class. They were adored by all—high above the rest, while I was seen as dirt. I was shunned and isolated by everyone.

Spencer, however, would sometimes toss me the milk he didn't like to drink, saying, "Look at how scrawny you are. Drink up and put some weight on."

And so, I kept my love for him alive for many more years.

Later, Yunice fell in love. She was willing to give up everything she had for the man, but it led to a tragic end.

That summer, she brought her brief, dazzling life to a close by the sea, leaving behind only a jade bracelet for Spencer.

After her death, she became everyone's perfect memory.

For the next six months, Spencer drifted between drunkenness and sobriety, unable to escape his grief.

I ran into him one night while working at an internet café. In his drunken haze, he mistook me for Yunice.

After a fleeting night of passion, I woke to find him bare-chested by the window, smoking a cigarette. I shifted slightly, and he turned, gazing at me with a distant look, as if seeing another person through me.

"You really do look like her," he said softly. "Will you marry me?"

My heart skipped a beat, and I felt my cheeks flush with heat. Nervously, I met his eyes, ignoring the part where he called me a "stand-in."

All I knew was that this man, who had filled every corner of my youth and whom I had loved for so long, was proposing to me.

Like a commoner finally graced by the gods, I became Yunice's shadow completely.

The jade bracelet she left behind became a leash that was worn on my wrist.

To perfect the illusion, Spencer put me through countless plastic surgeries until I became her exact likeness.

I thought my face was enough to keep him next to me forever, but then she came back one day, and my dream shattered.

…

The cause of my death was complicated.

During surgery, I had severe bleeding and a vascular embolism, which led to facial nerve necrosis.

I ended up just like Spencer's discarded dog, a broken body shrouded in a white cloth. My miserable life was brought to a swift and unceremonious end just like that.

Maria lay on top of me, crying until she lost consciousness multiple times.

The greatest regret of my life was disappointing her. She wasn't even my biological mother, yet she treated me as her own.

I had promised to give her a better life, but my foolish heart left her with nothing but shattered hopes.

She handled my burial affairs in silence.

My body, which was so ravaged and deformed that it no longer resembled a human form, was ultimately buried and reduced to dust.

Finally, Spencer remembered me. Amid the thick smoke of candles, he called Maria.

His tone held an irritated edge. "Why isn't Bethany answering her phone? Tell her to bring the jade bracelet over tonight. It's precious to Yunice. After all these years, she has already gotten more than enough wear from it," he added.

Maria put the phone on speaker and couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. "Mr. Legrine, have you forgotten? Last year, Bethany told you that the bracelet is stuck on her arm because she has grown. It caused her great discomfort, but she couldn't take it off. To remove it would mean breaking it."

"Impossible." Spencer's tone turned cold. "The jade bracelet must not be damaged. If she can't remove it, cut the flesh. That should create a little space!"

The wind stirred Maria's graying hair. She stared at the phone screen, a bitter laugh breaking from her throat.

"Fine. I'll take it off and bring it to you tonight."

"Oh, and bring the documents," he added. "We'll finalize the divorce paperwork tomorrow."