I Refused To Reunite With My Family

The impostor took his own life the day I married Cathy Jones.

By the second year of our marriage, we had turned against each other completely because of him.

She despised me because my return had driven Zac Lowe to his death.

And I despised her for longing after the man who had stolen my name for twenty years.

For a decade, we hurled the cruelest words and wished death upon each other until the earthquake came.

She shielded me under her body and used her back to bear the weight of the collapsing beam to keep me alive.

The ceiling fell. Blood and debris blurred together.

As her life slipped away, she whispered in my ear, “If I had known he would die, I would have never brought you home.

“If there’s another life, your only family should be me.”

In the end, I still died in the aftershock.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day she first took me to meet my biological parents.

But she suddenly changed her mind. “Harry, I was wrong! You’re not the son the Lowe family lost twenty years ago.”

Cathy Jones stood in front of the Lowe family’s villa gates and blocked my way. Her expression wavered between conflict and resolve.

I said nothing, but the image of concrete and steel collapsing flashed before my eyes.

Her back was bloodied and torn. She whispered in my ear, “If I’d known he would die, I would never have brought you home.”

So, this was her choice.

If she had another chance, she would choose to abandon me from the very beginning.

That was fine with me.

The ten years of marriage had been a living hell in our previous life. She hated me, and I resented her. We tormented each other day and night until death finally freed us.

I actually felt a quiet sense of relief knowing everything could end before it even began.

I looked at her and nodded calmly. “Alright.”

A flicker of confusion crossed her eyes. The words she had prepared caught in her throat.

“What did you say?” she asked, almost instinctively.

“I said alright,” I repeated myself.

“If there was a mistake, then so be it. Thank you for bringing me here. I should get back to school.”

I turned to leave.

But she grabbed my arm tightly. “Harry!” she said sharply.

Panic laced her voice.

“What’s this attitude? Didn’t you always want to find your family? You’re giving up so easily just because I told you they’re not your family?!”

I turned back to look at her and found her reaction amusing.

Had she not lied just to make me give up?

I had done exactly what she wanted, but she was not satisfied.

“What else do you want?” I asked. “Cathy, were you lying to me? Am I really the Lowe family’s son?”

Her gaze flickered nervously as I finished my sentence. Her grip on my wrist tightened subconsciously before she lowered her head and hid her face from my view.

“This ends here. Don’t bring it up again, and don’t go near the Lowe family.”

“Okay. I understand.”

I pulled my arm free.

“I’ll not mention it again, and I’ll stay away. Are you happy now?”

She stared at her empty hand as if she had just lost something important. She seemed lost for a moment.

She did not know that I, too, had been reborn.

In this life, I would not step through that door again. I would not become the Lowe family’s son. And I simply refused to be her husband ever again.

She wanted to protect her childhood sweetheart and preserve their world. I would grant her that wish.

“I’m leaving.”

I turned and walked toward the bus stop without sparing her another glance.

Her voice rose behind me. She sounded irritated.

“Wait! I’ll drive you!”

She did not take me to the school dormitory. She drove straight to a luxury apartment in the city center instead.

Everything became clear as the city blurred past the window.

In our past life, this had been our home after marriage.

It had once held our sweetest moments. It had also watched us turn into enemies, and finally, filled it with hatred.

When the car stopped, she unbuckled her seat belt and turned her head to look at me.

Her expression was unreadable through the dim light in the car, but her tone was softer than it had been outside the Lowe family’s villa.

“Get out. We need to talk.”