Chapter 2

Even in the final moments of my life—when all I wanted was for my wife and daughter to stay by my side just a little longer—all I got were cruel words.

"If you hadn't torn Mom and Luther apart back then, none of this would've happened. Stop clinging to Mom already. She deserves to be happy," my daughter said.

"Just die. You're always guilt-tripping me. I'm so sick of it. Every time I want to do something, you use your 'kindness' to trap me. If Luther hadn't pointed it out, I almost would've fallen for your act again. This fire was just another one of your pity stunts, wasn't it, Blake?"

The two people I loved most in the world—my wife and daughter—stood over my dying body and said those words without a second thought.

I felt anger, despair, and sorrow. But in the end, all of it faded into numbness.

I watched helplessly as they ran off to another hospital room to take care of Luther, who only had a cold.

And then, slowly, I closed my eyes.

Thankfully, heaven gave me another chance.

So this time around, I'm done concerning myself with Samantha.

If she's hungry? The detention center feeds its inmates just fine.

…

During the days Samantha was detained, I cut off nearly every possible future intersection between us.

In my previous life, we had happened to get accepted into the same university. This time, I immediately changed my application and chose a university in Quintelle City instead.

As for everything else, I handled every detail carefully and made sure everything was arranged properly.

My original plan was to settle everything during those fifteen days, then go traveling with my parents once Samantha was released.

But unexpectedly, I saw her again at a class reunion four days later.

I guessed the police station had taken her upcoming SATs into consideration. They had probably just given her a light punishment instead of making things too difficult for her.

Even so, the fact that Samantha had been taken to the police station for theft had already spread everywhere.

At the reunion, most of our classmates looked at her strangely.

But that had nothing to do with me.

Still, the moment I saw the hatred burning in Samantha's eyes, I realized something. She had been reborn too.

The classmates were still chatting excitedly about their future university lives. The food hadn't even been served yet when the private room door was suddenly shoved open.

A yellow-haired punk stormed inside, glaring aggressively around the room.

"Blake, what the hell is your problem?!"

It was Luther Reese—Samantha's first love—a worthless delinquent with no future to speak of. I glanced at him indifferently and couldn't even be bothered responding to his accusation.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Samantha's eyes suddenly light up. I couldn't help recalling the twenty years of my previous life.

For all those years, Samantha had always looked at me with cold, distant eyes. No matter how much I did for her, no matter how much I sacrificed for her family, she had never once given me warmth in return. Even on the day our daughter was born, hatred filled her gaze.

Back then, I couldn't understand her expression. I thought it was simply her nature.

I believed her unhappy past had robbed her of the ability to feel joy. So I constantly tried to make her happy in every way I could. Whenever I received a bonus, I bought her gifts immediately. Whenever I had free time, I took her and our daughter out together.

Yet every time, all I got in return was the same response.

"What's so fun about it? Wouldn't it be better to spend that time enjoying some peace and quiet alone?"