To save my childhood sweetheart, Serena, who suffered from congenital heart disease, my wife Valerie tricked me into signing an organ donation agreement. Then, she found a semi-truck and had me run over right outside the hospital. As I was barely clinging to life, Valerie coolly removed my heart. When my body was wheeled out of the operating room, Serena rushed to my side like a madwoman. She saw the gaping, unstitched void in my chest and screamed, tears streaming down her face: “I’m so sorry… I was too late… If there’s a next life, I won’t let you suffer like this again…” Her tears landed exactly where my heart used to be, and I even felt a strange warmth. She spun around and stormed into the operating room. When she emerged, Valerie and Dylan Hayes were lying in pools of blood. Then, she slit her own wrist, taking her life for me. Before she died, she ordered them to bury us together. When I opened my eyes again, I was reborn. Valerie, dressed in a wedding gown and holding a bouquet, was proposing to me. I immediately flung the bouquet in her face, then turned and embraced Serena in the crowd. But after just a year and a half of marriage, she changed. Valerie and Dylan Hayes became inseparable, openly letting him move into our home. She even let him drive over my cat—my beloved cat that I’d raised for seven years—claiming its incessant meowing was disturbing his sleep. I couldn’t believe this was the woman who had loved me so fiercely in my last life. My eyes burning, I demanded, “What the hell is wrong with you?” But Valerie’s eyes were glacial. “Nothing. Just fell out of love.”
After burying my cat, I stopped by a copy shop on the way back and printed two copies of a divorce agreement. As soon as I got home, the housekeeper came up to me. “Sir, the madam has been busy in the kitchen all morning. She’s probably trying to apologize to you. She really cares about you.” I could only force a hollow smile. Clutching the divorce papers, I walked towards the kitchen. Valerie was packing up the food she’d just made. The kitchen was a disaster zone. When she saw me, she immediately stopped, pulling off her apron as she headed for the door. “I’m going to change. Help me pack this up. Eat whatever else is on the table, and then come with me to bring food to Dylan.” So, all that effort was just to make a meal for Dylan. Of course. Knowing Valerie, she would never cook personally just to apologize to me. I reached out and stopped her hurried exit, handing her the divorce agreement. “Sign this.” She frowned, staring at me. Her hand already flipped to the last page, where she scribbled her name. She casually stuffed the papers back into my chest, then rushed off, saying, “Hurry up. I’ll be down in two minutes.” I scoffed. She had signed the divorce papers, so I was free to leave. As I was about to head out, Valerie, already changed, ran down the stairs. She saw me by the front door, without the lunchbox she’d prepared, and immediately blew up. “Caleb Reed! I’m stressed out of my mind, and all I asked you to do was put the lunchbox in a bag! Why are you just standing there like an idiot?!” “Dylan works hard overseeing the site. He only gets a short break to eat. Are you going to take responsibility if he misses his meal?” She stormed into the kitchen, packed the lunchbox in two swift movements, then grabbed it and strode back to me, shoving it into my arms. The steaming hot container made me flinch, but before I could react, she dragged me out the door. After tossing me into the car, she stomped on the gas, and the car sped off. When we arrived at the construction site, Valerie was wiping Dylan’s sweat and fanning him. They looked so intimate, truly like an affectionate couple. Even I, her actual husband, was green with envy. Valerie insisted on dragging me along, no doubt just to mess with me. I was almost gone anyway, so I didn’t care anymore. “Look out!” A startled cry rang out. Valerie, beside me, reacted first, but she shoved me aside. As I fell, I saw Dylan embracing Valerie, leaping away. A steel beam crashed down exactly where we had been standing, sending up a cloud of dust. I scrambled to my feet and rushed over. Valerie pushed Dylan off her, her hands flying to her lower abdomen in a panic. “My baby!” Dylan scrambled back to Valerie’s side, carefully helping her up, his eyes overflowing with urgency. I stood there, stunned, staring at Valerie’s belly. “You… you’re having a baby?” Valerie was pregnant? But the last time we were intimate was a year ago. So… she loved Dylan enough to have his child?
The car keys Valerie threw at me hit my forehead, giving me my answer. “What else? You think it’s yours?” Maybe it was my imagination, but as the heavy keys struck my head, I distinctly saw a flicker of something in Valerie’s eyes. But her voice remained icy. “What are you waiting for? Get in the car! Take me to the hospital!” Stunned, I unconsciously obeyed, starting the car and speeding towards the hospital. It wasn’t until I went to pick up Valerie’s lab results that a passing nurse gasped, looking at my head. “Your head is bleeding!” I reached up and touched it, realizing the blood from the gash on my forehead had already coagulated. After cleaning the wound, I returned to Valerie’s exam room with the results. Just outside the door, I overheard the doctor’s caution: “Ms. Thorne, it’s a miracle your baby is alright this time. Please be extremely careful from now on.” “This pregnancy was conceived through IVF, and with unstable implantation, the risk of miscarriage is very high.” IVF? Why IVF? I was a bit confused. Valerie and Dylan’s relationship was almost public. Was IVF really necessary? As I was pondering, Valerie walked out of the room and bumped into me. I looked steadily into her eyes and asked, “What’s this about IVF?” She froze for a second, her gaze darting away. Even her words were stuttering. “Wh-what IVF? There’s no such thing!” Her reaction was exactly like someone caught in a lie. My brows furrowed. Could it be… this child… A sudden pang in my chest. I stared at her, my voice rising unconsciously. “Valerie! What’s going on with the IVF?!” Under my direct gaze, Valerie’s shoulders began to tremble. Her breathing grew rapid, as if she was about to break and tell me the truth… “Valerie, is the baby okay?” Dylan’s concerned voice suddenly broke through, making her jump. She immediately shoved me away and yelled, “Mind your own business! Caleb Reed, don’t you dare try to hurt Dylan and my baby!” Her words hit me like a bucket of ice water. All my desperate hopes crumbled. Indeed, this was her and Dylan’s child. How they conceived it was their business. I scoffed, a self-deprecating smile on my face, and handed the car keys back to Valerie. “I guess I was meddling.” “If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave. I won’t disturb you resting up for the baby.” I turned to leave, but Dylan clapped his hands. “Caleb, I still have to learn from your acting skills!” “I knew you took a long time getting the lab results. Turns out you were staging a scene.” “It’s just a small cut, why wrap it up like that? All to make Valerie feel sorry for you, right?” Valerie finally noticed the gauze on my forehead. A fleeting look of concern crossed her eyes. She reached out, as if to check my injury, but then grabbed my arm instead. “I can’t drive. Dylan can’t drive. You’re taking us home.” “And make dinner. Then bake a cake. It’s Dylan’s birthday tonight.” It hit me then. Today was Dylan’s birthday, but it was also mine. Even though I was five years older than Dylan, our birthdays were on the same day, same month. In my last life, when I was with Serena Vance, she never celebrated my birthday. Only Valerie Thorne did. But the Valerie Thorne in this life had completely forgotten about me. I looked into her eyes, my voice firm. “No.” This was the first time I had ever refused Valerie. In my last life, she avenged me after my death, and insisted on being buried with me. From the moment I was reborn, I had decided to love her with everything I had. But now, I was truly exhausted. Dylan gently tugged Valerie’s sleeve. “Caleb doesn’t want to, forget it. No cake, no big deal. It’ll just be an incomplete birthday.” “Enough! You don’t have the right to refuse!” Without giving me a chance to argue, Valerie dragged Dylan and me into the car. Back at the mansion, seeing me methodically start on the cake, Valerie finally looked satisfied and left the kitchen. I remembered the first time I made her a cake. Her eyes were full of stars as she watched my every move. Sure enough, anything, given enough time, becomes tiresome. I sighed softly and opened the oven, ready to take out the baked cake base. “Not ready yet? I’m starving, man.” Dylan’s voice came from behind me. I ignored him, but the next second, a strong push came from behind, and I stumbled forward uncontrollably. In my panic, my hand landed squarely on the scorching hot oven rack. “Ah!” A burning pain shot through my palm. I struggled to pull my hand away, tearing off a piece of skin that sizzled in the oven. Dylan immediately tapped the oven with his finger, then clutched his hand and sank to the floor. “Caleb! I’m sorry!” “What happened?!” Valerie rushed into the kitchen, asking anxiously. I clutched my wrist, my palm trembling slightly. I expected Valerie to go to Dylan first. But a familiar scent filled the air, and she actually ran straight to me, grabbing my wrist. Seeing my horribly mangled hand, her eyes filled with concern. “How did this happen…” She urgently looked up at me, meeting my confused gaze, and her eyes instantly filled with panic. “Caleb, I know you’re upset about making my cake, but I was just trying to help you get the cake base. You didn’t have to try and ruin my hand…” Dylan’s tearful voice drifted over. Valerie immediately dropped my hand, turned to help Dylan up, and glared at me, her voice unnatural: “Caleb Reed! Do you really have to be so vicious? You’d hurt yourself just to frame him? You don’t need to go this far…”
I scoffed, my gaze locked on Valerie’s eyes. “There’s a security camera in the kitchen. Just check it yourself and you’ll know…” “No need for that.” She cut me off directly, refusing to back down. “Dylan wouldn’t lie.” Her words were a dagger plunged into my heart. With every beat, the pain intensified. Clearly, the Valerie Thorne of now wouldn’t feel anxious for me. But the next second, she suddenly placed a first-aid kit in front of me. “Handle it yourself. Once the cake is done, get out. Go to the hospital or wherever you want, I don’t care.” With that, she turned and pulled Dylan away, gently applying medicine to him in the living room. I endured the excruciating pain in my hand and finished the final step of the cake. Consider it the last thing I’d ever do for Valerie. After tidying the kitchen and setting the cake out, I walked straight to the door. She didn’t spare me a single glance until I closed the door behind me. The night wind was a bit chilly, but at that moment, I felt completely light. Walking to the hospital alone, I saw a figure running towards me from a distance. When they got closer, I realized it was Serena Vance. Breathless, she grabbed my wrist, carefully examining the injury on my hand, and her eyes instantly welled up. “Caleb, you’re so badly hurt. Did she bully you?” “She already has you this life, why isn’t she cherishing you properly?! Just wait, I’m going to kill her!” I coldly shook off her hand. “It’s none of your business.” But she looked at me stubbornly, tears streaming from her red eyes. Her expression seemed genuine. I stood there, stunned. The person who hurt me most in my last life was now weeping for me in this one. And the person who loved me fiercely in my last life was now the source of all my suffering. Serena’s hand trembled as she pulled a share transfer agreement from her bag and presented it to me. “Last life… I did a lot of things to hurt you. This… this is a birthday gift, and my apology.” “I owe you… too much… Can you forgive me?” After my rebirth, I had cut all ties with Serena Vance, but she had continued to pester me. From small things like clothes and accessories to big things like houses and cars, she gave me so much, eventually running her family’s fortune into the ground. I sighed softly. “I can’t forgive you.” “I won’t take these things. It wasn’t easy for your parents to build this company. Don’t let it fall apart in your hands.” Serena was now crying tears streaming down her face. She stubbornly grabbed my hand, choking out, “But… if I don’t have you, what’s the point of having any of this…” Her words were drowned out by the wail of an ambulance. A stretcher was then pushed out of the ambulance and rushed towards the hospital entrance. “Make way! Make way!” “Caleb Reed! What grudge do we have?! Why would you poison me?!” It wasn’t until Dylan Hayes’s voice rang out that I realized the person on the gurney was him. The next second, a slap landed on my face. I turned my head to see Valerie, her eyes red, rushing to my side. She forcefully pulled Serena Vance’s hand from mine and roared, “Caleb Reed, you’re becoming more and more irrational!” Before I could reply, she had already grabbed Serena and chased after Dylan, who had disappeared into the hospital. I gently touched my still-stinging cheek, letting out a bitter laugh. I turned and walked in the opposite direction from her. Perhaps, leaving such an impression on Valerie’s mind in the end wasn’t so bad. I picked up my phone and booked a flight to Europe for tomorrow. I planned to find a hotel for the night, pick up the divorce papers tomorrow morning, and then head straight to the airport. But as I was walking, Valerie’s call suddenly came through. My hand trembled, and I accidentally answered. Her urgent voice blasted through the phone. “Caleb Reed! Dylan’s heart condition flared up because of the poison you gave him! Get to the hospital immediately and get a match for him!” Alarm bells blared in my mind. Painful memories from my previous life, right before my death, flooded back. A hint of terror colored my voice, trembling as I spoke. “No, I won’t go.”
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