Chapter 2

With that, Judd stared at me in silence with eyes full of warning.

Even if I knew the truth about him now, that guarded look still stung me.

In both my past life and this one, I could swear that I'd never done anything to hurt him. When he insisted on volunteering for the border project, I stayed behind to take care of his parents.

His father, Frank Garrison, seemed kind, but he was deeply patriarchal, while Eleanor was sharp-tongued and snobbish. Before Father's downfall, they were polite enough, but as soon as the trouble started, they couldn't even bother to keep up with the pretense.

I'd knelt and sobbed, begging that even if they wouldn't help, they could just let me see Father one last time. But they'd ignored all my pleas.

If Eric hadn't snuck over to check on me and keep me updated, I probably would've lost the will to live.

Just like that, I waited for Judd year after year, missing Father's funeral in the process. But in the end, I ended up seeing Judd and Megan show up at my grave, hand in hand, telling me now that I was dead, I should rest in peace and stop bothering the living.

After everything I'd done, what I received in return was the hostility and suspicion he now showed me.

I curled my lips into a mocking smile. "If you've got the time to warn me, you might as well think about how you're going to convince your parents.

"After all, you know who they'll pick between the daughter of a political officer and the daughter of some contractor out of town."

Having once been the Garrisons' daughter-in-law, no one understood Eleanor's snobbery better than I did. If Judd believed cutting times with me early in this life would make marrying Megan easy, he was dreaming.

Judd's expression darkened as he glared at me, "Megan saved my life once. That alone is enough for my parents to say yes!"

My breath hitched, and I couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

How was it such a coincidence that I saved him, too? But why did he choose to betray me in both lifetimes?

When I said nothing else, he turned and walked toward Megan.

As I watched him leave, all the memories I'd intentionally ignored in my past life started surfacing.

At some point, he stopped coming to my house for me and started showing up for Megan. On his birthdays, the first slice of cake was always handed to Megan, no matter how far she was standing.

But on my birthday, all he'd done was give me a simple fountain pen and told me to study hard. I'd been overjoyed and treasured it like a priceless gift.

Yet on the same night, he brought out a carefully wrapped velvet box and gave it to Megan, which contained an exquisite bracelet. He claimed it was an early birthday gift because she wouldn't be around for her own birthday.

…

Back then, I was naive enough to think that he was being nice to her simply because she was my cousin. Now, I realized I was just the annoying burden hovering around Megan, whom he actually loved.

"What's on your mind? I've been calling you forever."

Eric waved a hand in front of my eyes, snapping me out of my thoughts.

When he followed my gaze and spotted Judd, he curled his lip.

"You like him that much, don't you?"

"What?"

He muttered something under his breath that I didn't catch.

"Nothing," he said, laughing it off and pushing me forward. "Someone’s slacking. Don’t make me call you out."

He intentionally led me over near Judd, though his expression soured.

I sighed and looked up just in time to catch Judd's eye. He was holding the ladder steady for Megan and gave me a quick, dismissive glance before looking away.

"Megan, I'm going to grab the other colors for you."

He lifted his head and spoke gently to her as she filled in the mural.

"If you're scared, come down and wait until I'm back to hold the ladder."

She smiled and nodded. "Don't worry. I've got this, so go ahead."

I couldn't care less if he was trying to keep his distance or just bring a doting boyfriend; I just knelt down and focused on touching up the paint when Megan suddenly let out a startled cry from right above me.