Chapter 2

"First, you'll leave for college. Then, you'll get a job somewhere else! Then, you'll marry someone there! And after that, you'll never care about me again! You're just like your heartless mother. You both want to abandon me!"

He collapsed onto the floor, pounding his fists against it as he cried out in misery.

I had seen this scene play out countless times in my previous life. Any time I showed the slightest resistance, he would break down, listing everything he had sacrificed for me and accusing me of being an ungrateful son.

Back then, I had truly believed he was right. I thought I was the one who had failed him. It was not until the moment I jumped off that rooftop...

I interrupted, "Dad, I never said I wouldn't take care of you."

He looked up through tear-filled eyes, as if he had just grabbed hold of his last shred of hope.

"Then change it back! There's still time! Accept the local college's offer! Go to medical school! Become a doctor after you graduate. It's a stable career! You won't have to live so far away, and I'll get to see you all the time..."

"I'm not changing it." My voice was quiet but unwavering. "And stay out of my college applications."

He froze. It was obvious he had never expected me to reject him so directly.

I picked up my laptop, stepped around him where he was still slumped on the floor, and walked into my bedroom, locking the door behind me.

Outside, he kept yelling.

A few minutes later, I heard him calling our relatives. In between sobs, he told them how difficult he was, how much he had sacrificed, and how ungrateful I had become.

I could not have cared less. Instead, I opened my laptop's security settings and changed the password. The simple one based on my birthday became a long, complicated string of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

Leaning against my headboard, I rested a hand on the cool metal casing of my laptop and silently promised myself that this time… my life belonged to me. I would never compromise for anyone again.

Maybe it was because the pain of jumping off that rooftop had felt so real in my previous life, I slept like a rock.

My dreams were haunted by scattered fragments of that life.

My fingers were cracked and bleeding after endless winters spent working at an auto repair shop. Then came the vase my wife had hurled at me during one of our fights. After that, Dad was standing in my living room, looking at me with disappointment as he said, "You couldn't even keep your wife. The kids are already grown. Just put up with it."

I jolted awake, my forehead drenched in cold sweat.

The bedroom was dark, with the only light coming from my laptop screen. Then, I heard it. The soft tapping of keys.

Someone was sitting at my desk, trying to guess my laptop password.

The moment he realized I was awake, the bedroom light snapped on, forcing me to squint against the sudden brightness. Before I could fully gather my thoughts, Dad hurled the laptop onto my bed. His face was ashen with rage.

Pointing a finger at me, he shouted, "You changed the password? What's that supposed to mean? You're guarding against me like I'm some kind of thief?"

Anger flared inside me. However, the instant I met his eyes, all that anger drained away, leaving only exhaustion.

I had known this would happen.

For more than ten years, he had walked into my room whenever he wanted. He went through my phone whenever he felt like it. Even when I set a password, I had to tell him what it was.

I sat up, pulled the laptop closer, and answered calmly, "I already told you, my college decisions are mine to make. This is my computer, and you have no right to go through it."

"I'm your father! What of yours can't I look at?" His face turned bright red, his voice sharp enough to cut.

"Do you really think I'd hurt you? I just wanted to see which schools you applied to! I'm doing this for your own good! Why do you have to go so far away?

"Choose a college here, become a doctor after graduation, and then I'll help you find a good wife and settle down. Isn't that a whole lot better than drifting around somewhere far from home?"

I had heard those words my entire life. "I'm doing this for your own good."

In my previous life, those exact words had dragged me straight into hell.

"Enough!" My voice was not loud, but it stopped him cold. I walked over to the coffee table and picked up the fruit knife lying on top.

I did not point it at him. I simply held it in my hand.