Chapter 1Echoes of Summer: My Ghostly Sweetheart

Midnight.

My fiancé’s secretary sent me a provocative, intimate photo.

[We went for 4 hours today.]

I didn't have time to reply.

Because my dead childhood sweetheart, who passed away ten years ago, suddenly appeared in my living room.

"Is this your fiancé?"

"Tsk... why does he look a little bit like me?"

* * *

Pushing the door open and seeing Carter, I thought I was still drunk and hallucinating.

He was still wearing his faded high school varsity jacket from a decade ago.

And just like before, he had a smart mouth. The moment he saw me, he started roasting me: "Wow, look at you. Cosplaying a drowned rat meets The Ring."

I looked down at my phone.

2024.

The time was correct.

No time travel, no alternate dimensions.

Thinking my eyes were just playing tricks on me, I was about to look up to confirm, but a few messages popped up on my screen.

[Miss Davis, congratulations on getting exactly what you wanted—an engagement to Mr. Perfect.]

[But compared to you, he seems to like me a lot more.]

[He went for four hours tonight. Twice.]

Attached was a post-coital selfie of her resting against Spencer’s bare chest.

Before I could even look up, Carter’s obnoxious voice rang in my ears again.

"Holy crap! What kind of R-rated pic is that?"

"Summer, does your phone have a virus?"

"Wait, fiancé? You're getting married?"

"Oh my god! You're engaged and he's sleeping around? You actually want a guy like this?"

"Hold on, this fiancé of yours... why does he look a little bit like me?"

"Is this some kind of doppelgänger romance trope? Summer, don't tell me you actually had a crush on me? Hehe..."

Carter Hayes. Known to everyone as the mute prince.

The undisputed heartthrob of Lincoln High.

When he kept his mouth shut, that face was absolutely flawless.

Unfortunately, he was cursed with a motor-mouth.

Snapping back at him was practically muscle memory for me.

"A crush on you? Am I sick in the head?"

The moment the words left my mouth, Carter froze.

I froze too.

The next second, a chorus of screams echoed through the entire apartment building.

"Ahhhh!!! I saw a ghost!"

"Ahhhh!!! There's a freaking ghost!!!"