On the night of our wedding, my wife’s first lover posted on social media that he was standing at the edge of a cliff, ready to end his life.
My wife panicked and tried to go find him, but her father stopped her.
“If you don’t stay and go through with this wedding today, we will no longer have a daughter like you!”
In the end, my wife compromised.
The next day, news came that her first lover had fallen off the cliff and died.
My wife reacted calmly and she didn’t shed a single tear.
Thirty years later, after I had dedicated my whole life to her family, the Lincoln Family and was now gravely ill in bed, my wife came in with our son and poured gasoline all over me.
“Ferry, if it hadn’t been for you insisting on marrying up back then, I could’ve lived a happy life with Reynold!”
“Let me tell you the truth about our son. I had him through IVF using Reynold’s sperm! You spent your whole life raising the child of the man I truly loved!”
When the flames engulfed me, I took my final breath amidst unbearable pain.
But when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the night of the wedding.
——
“Metta, if you don’t stay and go through with the wedding today, then we will no longer have a daughter like you!”
Metta’s father’s stern voice rang in my ears.
Snapping out of the torment of the scorching fire, I jolted violently.
Glancing around the wedding room decorated with bright happiness symbols and at Metta, who was sitting on the bed in her wedding dress, sobbing uncontrollably, I realized I had really been reborn.
Sensing my gaze, Metta lifted her tear-streaked, swollen eyes and threw me a hateful look.
“Ferry, don’t think that forcing me to stay will make me fall in love with you. I’ll hate you for the rest of my life!”
Metta’s voice, filled with gritted teeth and hatred and the way she looked at me as if I were her sworn enemy. It overlapped perfectly with how she had looked in my previous life when she burned me alive.
In that instant, a cold sweat drenched me from head to toe. My hands and feet began to tremble.
Just then, Metta’s father turned to look at me. “Ferry, don’t take it to heart. Metta is just saying that out of anger.”
“I watched you grow up. Your character and ability are top-notch. You’re far better than Reynold by a long shot! We can only rest easy entrusting Metta to you.”
He patted my shoulder kindly. “Take good care of her. The wedding starts in half an hour.”
No sooner had he left the room, leaning on his cane, than Metta hurled a teacup at me. “With your poor, pathetic self, you think you’re worthy of being compared to Reynold? Don’t disgust me!”
The teacup struck me hard on the brow bone, shattering on impact. A shard of porcelain sliced into my skin and warm blood began to gush down my face.
But I didn’t cry out in pain.
Compared to the agony and betrayal seared into my heart, this physical pain was nothing.
Seeing the blood streaming down my face, Metta was startled. For a split second, guilt flickered in her eyes.
“Why didn’t you dodge?” she asked.
Before I could reply, her expression shifted again, turning back to one of disdain and contempt as if she’d suddenly thought of something.
“I get it now. You’re doing this on purpose, going out with an injury to keep playing the victim in front of my parents, right? Ferry, you’re such a despicable, shameless scumbag!”
Looking at Metta, at the sheer hatred etched into her face, I suddenly realized how utterly foolish and pointless all my efforts and sacrifices in my past life had been.
My parents had once worked for the Lincoln Family. In a tragic car accident, they saved Metta's father, sacrificing their own lives in the process.
After the accident, Benedict, her father, adopted me at the age of five and brought me into their house.
For the past twenty years, Benedict and his wife had treated me as their own son. Metta had once been affectionate toward me like his own brother. She was always tagging behind like a little shadow, calling my name sweetly and often.
Until Reynold appeared. His rebellious, unconventional charm stirred something in her, drawing her in deeper and deeper until she became completely obsessed.
