Reborn Two Times: How Do I Answer This Life-Or-Death Question?

I opened my mouth, but swallowed the words I wanted to say.

In my first life, my girlfriend, Mia Blackwood, and I were on a boat when she accidentally fell overboard.

Her father was adamant that I'd deliberately killed her and stabbed me to death.

In my second life, I told Mia that I'd been reborn.

"If I choose you, something will happen to Mom."

Her eyes reddened with anger.

"I hate being lied to!

"If you're going to make up a story, at least make it believable. There's no such thing as being reborn!"

I kept explaining until my mouth went dry, but I had no proof.

I had died too quickly to know what happened afterward, so there was no way for me to prove that I had actually been reborn.

Not only did Mia refuse to believe me, but she became increasingly furious.

"Do you really think that just because we're legally married, you can take me for granted?

"I'm telling you, the wedding is off! I want a divorce. Right now!"

All I could do was pull her into my arms.

"Darling, I choose you. Isn't that enough?"

The next day, Mom died.

I planned to remember everything that would happen, then kill myself and take one last gamble.

But on the night of Mom's wake, my younger sister, Sophia Zayn, handed me a glass of poisoned milk and sent me to my grave.

I didn't even have time to ask why.

In my third life, I told Mia everything that had happened in my previous two lives.

"I can't answer that question. Can you please try to understand?"

She was still only half-convinced, but when she saw how broken I was, she finally gave in.

I warned her and Mom again and again to stay away from the river and never go swimming.

They promised me.

They even swore they wouldn't.

I thought that would keep them safe. After all, how could they drown if there was no water?

I never imagined that the very next night, they would both take a bath and drown in the bathtub.

I had planned to stay alive for a few more days so I could write down everything that was going to happen. But her father stabbed me to death again.

At first, I couldn't understand it. They had both died in the bathroom, and I hadn't killed them. So why did Mia's father still want to kill me?

And Sophia had always been close to me. How could she bring herself to kill me?

Then it hit me.

Mia must have told them that I was reborn.

She didn't believe me. But her father and Sophia did.

Her father killed me to save his daughter.

Sophia killed me to save Mom.

This time, I couldn't tell Mia a single word.

When I still didn't answer, Mia's expression turned cold.

"Answer me! Do I even matter to you?"

I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.

"Mia, this is something I need to think about carefully. Can you give me a few days?"

She frowned. I spent a long time coaxing her before she finally agreed.

"I want an answer the night before the wedding!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. There were still three days until the wedding.

"This time, neither Mom nor Mia is going to die!"

I transferred fifteen thousand dollars to Mia's best friend, Luna Fletcher, and asked her to keep an eye on Mia for the next twenty-four hours. Under no circumstances was she to go anywhere near water.

I called Sophia and told her to keep Mom from leaving the house or taking a bath. If she pulled it off, I'd buy her a supercar.

Then I went to The Queen's Cruise, the very place where Mia had fallen overboard in my first life.

Grandpa had once taught me that whenever I was stuck on a problem I couldn't solve, I should go back to where it all began.

So now, I was standing at the exact spot where she had fallen into the water.

I leaned against the railing and arched my body backward, recreating the position she was in when she fell into the water.

But even when I arched as far as I could, my feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

That was when I noticed the special anti-slip treatment on the deck.

The soles of my leather shoes were firmly stuck to the surface.

What kind of shoes had Mia been wearing that day?

I stared at the seemingly bottomless sea, desperately searching my memories of my first life.

I vaguely remembered her wearing a white dress.

It was sporty in style, so it wouldn't have gone with high heels.

So she must have been wearing flats.

Given her height, the height of the railing, the flat shoes, and the anti-slip strips…

How could she possibly have fallen backward into the sea?

Unless someone had pushed her.

I slammed my fist against the railing.

Damn it.

Her father had acted so quickly that I hadn't even had time to check the security footage.

Wait.

Why did her father get there so quickly?

And why was he carrying a knife?

My heart began pounding wildly, and a cold sweat broke out across my back.

I called her father at 6:45 pm.

When he arrived, the clock was striking the hour. It was exactly 7:00 pm.

It was rush hour. There was no way he could have made it here in 15 minutes!

Unless...

He was already nearby.

I suddenly spun around.

A dark figure flashed past.