Seal My Heart

"Joaquin, I bought tickets! Didn't Serena keep asking you to take her to the beach? Since it's the Independence Day holiday, let's all go together. Oh yeah! We should take Uncle Wayne and Aunt Bethany too. That way, they'll get to relax for a bit," Giselle chirped.

Joaquin's expression soured instantly. "Why take that troublemaker? Hasn't she caused enough problems? Just seeing her annoys me. I wish she was dead."

"But I already bought the tickets… Joaquin, you know how rare it is for us to get a break in this line of work." Giselle's voice took on a tearful tone.

"I'll go with you," Joaquin replied.

Giselle cheered immediately over the phone. She excitedly listed off all the seafood she wanted to try.

Joaquin listened with a smile and said indulgently, "Alright, alright, we'll try everything."

A month ago, I said the same thing to him. My birthday was approaching, so I begged him to take me—someone who grew up inland—to see the ocean and to taste the seafood I only ever saw in documentaries.

Joaquin told me that Giselle's cat was about to give birth, so he couldn't leave.

"Is her cat giving birth more important than my birthday?" I asked incredulously.

Joaquin nodded solemnly and said, "I promised Gigi."

He forgot he also promised me. Every year, he would ask me what I wanted on my birthday, and I would always say I wanted to see the ocean. Each time, he would tell me he would definitely take me there next year.

Yet, even until the day I died, he never once took me to the beach.

I sat in the waiting hall, watching him and Giselle as they waited to board across from me.

Giselle looked at him innocently and asked, "Joaquin, I heard the wax sculpting competition was postponed. Why is that?"

There was a hint of hesitation in Joaquin's eyes. Perhaps he was afraid Giselle would be upset after hearing the gory details about the dead body in the wax figure.

He forgot that Giselle was a surgeon—she saw all kinds of bloody scenes.

She once excitedly described how she accidentally nicked a patient's artery during surgery. She chatted animatedly about how it sent blood spurting over three feet high while squeezing ketchup onto her fries.

"Joaquin, are you hiding something from me?" Giselle leaned in close, her hand resting on his. She looked at him innocently as she said in a low voice, "I never told anyone about 'that,' you know."

A flash of terror crossed Joaquin's face, and he told her about the wax figure.

She patted his hand reassuringly. "Don't worry. Serena is definitely at the beach right now. We'll go surprise her together."

"I'm not worried about Serena," he blurted out. "I'd rather never see her again."

Giselle tried to conceal the glee that threatened to burst forth in her bright eyes. Instead, she put on an expression of guilt and regret. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have insisted on modeling for you…"

Joaquin responded, "What does that have to do with you? She's the one being unreasonable. She's been my wax figure model for so many years. Isn't she sick of it yet?"

If I could, I would have laughed out loud.

Back when he was poor and couldn't afford to hire models, I had to stand in for him. Later, when he became more famous, he made me a wax figure as my birthday gift. After all, that wouldn't cost him anything.

Every year, I received more or less the same birthday gifts. I'd long grown tired of it, but I never said anything for fear that it might affect our relationship.

Giselle took out her phone, saying she wanted to call and apologize to me. She waited for a long time for me to pick up, but no one answered.

Giselle then lowered her gaze, her voice full of remorse. "Serena must still be angry with me."

Joaquin snatched the phone from her and pressed the red button. "What right does she have to be mad at you? She might as well die for all I care."

Too bad he didn't know that I was already dead.

The boarding announcement came over the speakers. Just as Joaquin stood up, his phone rang. It was his mother, Bethany Ziegler, calling.

"Serena hasn't visited me in days. Are you two together? Did something happen?" Bethany asked anxiously over the phone.