My wife kissed another man in front of me during our anniversary party. She wiped her lips and told me she had never loved me. Guests filmed everything while she walked out with him. When I opened my eyes again, I was reborn to the week before that humiliation. This time, I did not wait for her betrayal. I walked away first and erased myself from her life. Ten years later, she chased me into a crowded ballroom. She grabbed my arm and told everyone we were finally getting back together. I smiled. “I have a child now. Why would I go back to her?” 0 I never imagined I’d cross paths with Ava Sullivan again in this lifetime. At a high-society gala in Bay City, she stood arm-in-arm with Derek Graham amidst the crowd, her smile elegant and refined, no trace of the girl she once was. The people surrounding them wore ingratiating smiles, their tones flattering. “Miss Sullivan, you’re truly as capable as any man! To secure a provincial-level project at such a young age, your future is limitless!” “And this must be your partner? What a handsome couple you make, enough to make anyone envious!” Derek gazed at Ava lovingly and said softly, “We’re planning to get married at the end of the year. Everyone’s welcome to attend the wedding if you’re free.” Another round of congratulations followed, and someone asked, “I heard you’ve been together for ten years. Why are you only getting married now?” I was curious about this too. In my previous life, Ava loved Derek so much she was willing to die with him. After my rebirth, she immediately broke up with me. I thought they would get married right after graduation, but I didn’t expect them to still be unmarried now. Hearing this question, Ava’s face momentarily stiffened, almost imperceptibly. She quickly covered it with a smile. “We wanted to establish our careers first, then start a family. I want to give Derek the best life possible.” She looked at Derek, her eyes overflowing with tender affection. In my previous life, when she was with me, I proposed several times. It wasn’t until her family pressured her that Ava reluctantly agreed to be with me. Apparently, the difference between love and indifference can be this obvious. I was about to turn and leave when I caught sight of a small figure from the corner of my eye. My body instinctively followed. “Crash!” Champagne spilled all over the floor, and the waiter holding the tray looked at me with displeasure. “Where did you come from? Are you blind?” His voice was loud enough to attract the attention of those around us. Seeing my face, Ava was startled. “Ethan Thompson, what are you doing here?” I apologized to the waiter and explained, “I’m here to find someone.” Someone curiously asked Ava, “Miss Sullivan, do you know him?” Ava’s hand tightened on her champagne glass, her gaze becoming heavy. “Yes, an ex-boyfriend.” Someone nearby blurted out, “You’ve been together for ten years, I thought you were each other’s first love.” Derek’s smile faded slightly. He took Ava’s hand and said casually, “We were young then, had a little fight and separated briefly. Who hasn’t taken a wrong turn when they were young?” Ava remained silent, her gaze passing over me to the waiter. “Put the damages on my tab. Let him go.” She stood there, her expression calm. Apart from the initial moment of recognition, she didn’t spare me a single extra glance. It seemed she wanted to draw a clear line between us in front of Derek, distancing herself from this ‘wrong turn’ in her past. The waiter hurriedly pushed me towards the exit. “Miss Sullivan is being kind, cleaning up your mess. But there won’t be a next time.” He glanced at my wrinkled pajamas with disdain. “This isn’t a place for you. Get out quickly.” I shook off his hand and explained politely, “I’m here to find someone. Once I do, I’ll leave on my own.” The waiter scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’ve seen plenty of people like you trying to rub shoulders with the elite. Do you even have the right to be at a gala like this? If you don’t leave now, I’m calling security!” “Wait,” Ava’s voice came from behind him. She picked up her dress, looked at me, and sighed resignedly. “He’s here to see me. Let me talk to him.” Derek stood beside her, putting his arm around her shoulder possessively. “Ethan, Ava and I are about to get married. I think anyone with a shred of shame wouldn’t come looking for an ex at a time like this.” Ava’s face darkened slightly, and she couldn’t help but advise me. “Why do you have to be so obsessed with me? Even if you waited for me for ten years, I still wouldn’t fall in love with you.” “My relationship with you was just a mistake. Now that I have a chance to correct that mistake, I hope you can let go of the past soon.” Derek looked me up and down, his eyes filled with mockery. “I can understand why you came to find Ava. After all, times have changed. She’s now a well-known entrepreneur, and there’s no shortage of people trying to curry favor with her.” Perhaps my wrinkled pajamas gave him confidence. Derek spoke arrogantly. “You graduated from a good university, how did you end up like this? If I were you, I wouldn’t have the face to go out in public!” Ava frowned, took out her phone, her tone tinged with impatience. “If you feel I wronged you when we broke up, I can give you some breakup money now.” “Is fifty thousand dollars enough?” Her fingers moved on the screen for a moment, then suddenly froze. “You deleted me from your friends list?” 0
I was a bit puzzled, not understanding why her reaction was so strong. Isn’t it normal to delete an ex after breaking up? Moreover, I have someone at home who gets jealous easily. If she knew I still had my ex-girlfriend’s contact information, who knows what kind of fuss she’d kick up. “Wasn’t it you who said you hoped I wouldn’t come looking for you after we broke up?” I asked. Ava’s face turned cold. She looked like she wanted to say something but held back. My tone was flat as I added, “And the breakup money isn’t necessary. I don’t need it.” After these repeated setbacks, Ava’s expression worsened. She said coldly, “Why are you still pretending in front of me? If I didn’t see how down and out you are now, I wouldn’t even bother saying a word to you.” Derek gently comforted her. “Ava, you’re just too kind-hearted. In my opinion, why bother with a man like this? Look at his shabby appearance, he’s just a hopeless case!” His tone was contemptuous, seemingly forgetting that ten years ago, he was in an even worse state than me. In my previous life, the reason Ava’s family didn’t approve of her being with Derek was because he was an uneducated, lawbreaking hooligan. The first time I met Ava in college, she had just bailed Derek out of the police station and was being forced by her family to break up with him. During Ava’s most depressed period, I was the one who stayed by her side, helping her get through it. She loved photography, so I used the money I had originally planned for starting a business to buy her expensive equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars. In scorching summers and freezing winters, I carried equipment weighing dozens of pounds, following her around, just hoping to see a genuine smile on her face. Who would have thought that it was Ava who confessed to me first? I knew about her past with Derek, and I had seen her occasionally staring at their photos in her album. So when Ava confessed, I very seriously asked her. Had she really gotten over Derek? At that time, she hugged me tightly and said firmly, “That’s all in the past. I’ve long since realized who truly cares for me. Ethan, I love you. Let’s be together.” We dated for seven years. Even her best friend couldn’t help but be surprised. “She liked Derek so much, I thought you two wouldn’t last long.” But what no one knew was that Ava had rejected my proposals countless times in private. “Ethan, I’m against marriage. Isn’t it good for us to just stay like this forever?” It wasn’t until Ava’s parents started pressuring her about marriage that she agreed to get married. During our honeymoon, when news of Derek’s accidental car crash came, she jumped off the cruise ship, leaving only a suicide note. In the note, it was full of her love for Derek, without a single word left for me. At the end, she wrote in blood, “Derek, all I ever wanted in this life was to be your bride. Now, I’m coming to find you.” My love for her also turned to ashes at that moment. So when Ava wanted to break up with me after my rebirth, I didn’t stop her. Because I knew it was unstoppable. Watching them get back together, I deleted all of Ava’s contact information, thinking there would be no chance to meet again in this life. But I didn’t expect to encounter her here. I wanted to leave, but Derek wouldn’t let it go, insisting on humiliating me in front of everyone. “You’ve really gone to great lengths to hook up with Ava. Looking at how you’re dressed, I bet you don’t even have a job to make ends meet.” “How about this, I’ll introduce you to work as a waiter here. If you learn to serve people well, you could make five figures a month.” Someone nearby, wanting to please him, added with a grin, “This is a hotel in the prime location of Bay City. Being able to work here would be extremely fortunate for you. Hurry up and thank Mr. Graham!” Surrounded by people and unable to leave, I said helplessly, “Thank you, but I already have a job.” “It’s photography.” As soon as the word ‘photography’ came out, Ava immediately looked at me. Her eyes flashed with complexity, and her lips moved a few times. She turned her head away, not looking at me, her tone cold. “How much can you earn from photography? You can’t make a living from a hobby. Given that we all know each other, I can arrange a job for you.” I was stunned, immediately realizing she had misunderstood. 0
My love for photography wasn’t because I still had lingering feelings for Ava. In fact, when I saw that suicide note in my previous life, I had already completely given up on her. It’s just that when I was reborn, I found that all the money had already been spent on photography equipment. I couldn’t sell it on second-hand platforms, so I had no choice but to pick it up and use it myself. As a result, I really fell in love with photography. In this life, it’s not to please others, but just for myself. I politely declined Ava’s offer again, my tone courteous but distant. “My hobby is enough to cover my living expenses. Thank you for your concern.” Seeing that I didn’t appreciate her kindness, Ava’s face flashed with anger. “You’re not taking the opportunity I’m giving you. Don’t come crying to me for help later!” I didn’t say anything, nor did I tell her. Now, my photography works are exclusively supplied to several national-level publications, as well as top international journals. The various copyright fees, when added up, are not lower than Ava’s income. But if I said that, she would probably think I was bragging. After all, in these wrinkled pajamas, I did look quite shabby. It was all because of my son. He insisted on playing with me in the sandbox, and when I turned around, he had slipped downstairs again. I didn’t have time to change clothes before I chased after him. Just as I was looking for an excuse to leave, the waiter from earlier seemed to have discovered something. He pointed at my clothes and said, “Balenciaga? Where did you pick up this shirt? You’re not a cleaner here who stole it from a guest’s room, are you?” I couldn’t help but frown. “Can’t this shirt be my own?” Derek sneered, mocking, “Your own? Can you afford it? What rich person would dress so casually and run around like you?” He dramatically covered his nose. “It’s so dirty, you probably put it on without even washing it after stealing it.” Ava looked at me, her brows furrowed so tightly they could kill a fly. “Ethan, have you really sunk so low? Do you still want to be stubborn?” I didn’t want to deal with them anymore and directly said to the waiter, “If you really think I stole something, you can call the police right now.” I knew he saw Derek’s dissatisfaction with me and wanted to step on me to please him. Sure enough, his aggressive attitude immediately deflated, and he muttered, “If it weren’t for the VIP guest at the hotel today, and we’re afraid of disturbing them with people like you, I would have called the police already.” Derek’s eyes lit up, and he quickly chimed in. “It must be the young lady from the Lawrence family, right? I heard she and her family are vacationing in Bay City and staying at this hotel.” Ava nodded, her eyes revealing a hint of anticipation. “If only we could get the Lawrence family’s support for the project our company is working on.” The words “young lady from the Lawrence family” were like throwing gasoline on a fire, immediately sparking a wave of discussion. “Isn’t the reason we came to this gala today to meet Miss Lawrence? This entire building belongs to her family.” “I heard she got married and had a child in her early twenties. I wonder which family’s son she married into.” As everyone was discussing, the hotel manager came running in, sweating profusely, with a team of people behind him. “Has anyone seen a seven-year-old boy, about this tall?” The manager wiped his sweat, his eyes anxiously searching the hall. Someone quick-witted, seeing such a commotion, immediately guessed what was happening. “Is it the young master of the Lawrence family? I heard he’s just seven years old this year.” The gala attendees became enthusiastic, hurriedly searching everywhere. After all, if they found the child, there would be a chance to establish a connection with the Lawrence family. Ava and Derek also joined the search, no longer paying attention to me. Looking at the chaotic hall, I walked straight to the dessert area. Sure enough, I found my son under the table, his face smeared with cream. I extended my hand with a stern face. “Come here.” My son was startled and clung to the table leg, refusing to let go. “No.” Just as I was about to pull him over, Derek appeared out of nowhere, righteously blocking my way. “Ethan Thompson, what are you doing!” “Even if you want to curry favor with the Lawrence family, you shouldn’t lay hands on a child!” Ava rushed over at the news, her eyes full of disappointment as she looked at me. “Ethan, I never thought you’d do something like this for fame and fortune.” The waiter grabbed the manager and tattled. “It’s this man, he suddenly barged into the gala and even stole clothes from other guests!” The manager’s face immediately darkened, and he called for security. “Arrest this thief and send him straight to the police station! If he scares the young master, you’ll all lose your jobs!” A hint of a triumphant smile flashed in Derek’s eyes. He bent down and put on a kind face for the Lawrence family’s young master. “Come here to uncle, uncle will protect you.” My son ignored him completely. To everyone’s astonishment, he cautiously reached out to hold my hand. “Dad, I know I was wrong.”
I twisted his ear and said coldly, “Have you forgotten what the doctor said? You’re getting cavities and still sneaking sweets!” Seeing Henry wince in pain, Derek quickly accused me, “If he wants to eat, let him eat! Who are you to control him?” I replied calmly, “I’m his father. Why shouldn’t I be able to control him?” Derek finally realized what Henry had just called me. He fell silent, his gaze darting between me and Henry. I let go of Henry’s ear, and he immediately clung to me, trying to appease me. “Dad, I only had a little bit. I won’t get cavities.” His face, covered in cream, smeared all over my clothes. I held him at arm’s length with disgust and said irritably, “When your mom finds out later, I won’t stop her from scolding you!” Henry was in the process of losing his baby teeth and liked sweets, resulting in several cavities. Whenever he had a toothache, Lila would be heartbroken, but she couldn’t resist his pleading and often turned a blind eye. During this vacation, Lila got an urgent work call and had to leave. I was strict with Henry, so he snuck down to the gala to steal sweets. Seeing my serious face, Henry hugged my leg pleadingly. “Dad, I promise I’ll never do it again.” The manager standing nearby was trembling, his voice lowered. “You… you’re Miss Lawrence’s husband?” I nodded lightly. “Yes.” He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly forced a smile. “We didn’t recognize such an important person. Would you and the young master like to go upstairs to freshen up?” Looking at the mess of cream all over me, I was about to follow the manager when someone suddenly grabbed me. Turning around, I saw it was Ava. She opened her mouth, but it took a while before she could speak. “You… you’re married? And you have a child?” I pulled my clothes free and nodded indifferently. “Yes, I got married right after graduation.” Lila and I met because of photography. I was on location abroad when I happened to encounter Lila, who had fallen down a hillside while hiking. It was a remote area with poor signal. I went to great lengths to rescue her. While waiting for help, she curiously looked at some of my past work and started chatting with me. As we talked, we discovered we had many common interests. By the time we returned home, we were already together. To my surprise, her family didn’t look down on my background. Lila smiled and looked at me with determination in her eyes. “Ethan, your character and personality are what made me choose you.” I thought that because of my past with Ava, I would find it difficult to love someone again. But Lila made me understand that love is mutual. Looking back on my previous life, all that pain and struggle now seemed so distant. The son in my arms was urging me. “Dad, let’s go back to find Mom. I miss her.” But Ava wouldn’t let us go. She stared at me intently, refusing to give up. “Are you trying to make me jealous on purpose? Didn’t you say you’d only love me in this lifetime?” “Did you say that?” a female voice sounded from behind me, followed by a chorus of greetings from around us. “Hello, Miss Lawrence. Hello, Mrs. Lawrence. Boss.” Looking back, I saw that Lila had come downstairs at some point. She held onto my arm and looked at Ava, her tone neutral. “Is this your ex-girlfriend?” Afraid she might get jealous again, I quickly explained. “We were together briefly when we were young, just for a month. We haven’t been in contact for ten years.” These words, hastily distancing myself from Ava, made her face pale. I thought for a moment and added, “Besides, I never said I’d only love her in this lifetime.” Ava stared at me, understanding the meaning behind my words. That promise was made by me in my previous life. Living this life anew, we had both chosen different paths, so naturally, that promise no longer held. She said reluctantly, “But… but we have so much history. How could you forget everything and be with someone else!” Derek’s face had already turned as sour as it could get. I sighed helplessly. “Why not? Aren’t you with Derek now? You’re getting married next month, yet you’re here accusing me. Isn’t that a bit much?” My words silenced Ava, her face alternating between pale and flushed. She was about to say something else when Derek, unable to watch any longer, intervened. “Ava, let’s go. He’s married now, he has nothing to do with you anymore. I’m the one who’s always been by your side!” But as soon as he grabbed Ava’s arm, she slapped his hand away. Looking at the red mark forming on the back of his hand, Derek’s face suddenly turned bright red. In the past, Ava would have surely held his hand and fussed over him, but now, she didn’t even spare him a glance. Derek shot me a vicious look, his eyes filled with undisguised resentment. Lila smiled enigmatically, looking Ava up and down before speaking slowly. “I thought some young girl had taken a fancy to my husband, but it turns out it’s an ex-girlfriend.” “Trying to rekindle an old flame before breaking up with your current partner? Isn’t that a bit shameless?” Ava’s face turned pale, and she hurriedly tried to explain. “No, I… I…” I raised my hand to interrupt her. “Ava, what happened between us is in the past. I have a family now, and you have someone who loves you. I wish you happiness.”
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