Chapter 1

The next time I met Melanie Sanders again, it was at my daughter's ballet recital.

I sped down the roads on my motorcycle as I brought my daughter, Caroline Solt, to school. Just as I stopped at the gates, I heard a wave of exclamations come from the crowd.

"Look! That Lamborghini is truly the epitome of luxury!"

"I know, right? To be able to drive such a car to send your kid to school—I'm so envious!"

"I have to say, though, it's quite admirable that someone that rich would still feel a sense of responsibility in personally taking their kid to school."

A voice cut through the crowd's chattering, crying out, "Hey, isn't that Melanie Sanders? Long time no see!"

"Oh, my, you mean that famous dancer, Melanie Sanders?"

"Surely, her daughter must have inherited her talent for dancing."

The next moment, I heard a voice that I couldn't be more familiar with saying casually, "I just went abroad to further my studies. Naturally, I had to come back to the country to grow my career."

I never would've expected that the next time I would hear Melanie's voice again, it would be ten years after we reincarnated.

A mutual friend of ours, Shawn Zink, approached Melanie. "I'm a teacher here at this school. What a coincidence this is that your daughter would be learning ballet here! You remember our classmate, Robert Solt?"

Melanie answered a little impatiently, "Vaguely."

"His daughter is learning ballet here too. Who knows, maybe your children might become dance partners!"

Then, the sharp-eyed Shawn spotted me standing in the crowd. "Speak of the devil! Look, Robert is here, too!

My gaze locked with Melanie's.

A scornful look flickered in Melanie's eyes as she scoffed and muttered, "Daughter? Has he become a stepfather?"

I had been in a hurry to leave the house earlier, not even having the time to put on a tie, so my attire was incredibly plain and simple. As a result, I looked like a weary common man.

Graciously nodding at Melanie in greeting, I said, "Long time no see."

Her response was an indifferent dip of her head.

However, when she noticed the small figure by my side, her eyes abruptly widened as they remained fixed on my daughter's face. After all, Caroline had very similar facial features to mine.

Nonetheless, she didn't get to say anything, as it was time for the ballet recital.

…

Perhaps it was fate, but Melanie's daughter and Caroline were in the same ballet class.

After the recital, Melanie came to me, her eyes shining with the same look of disdain she used to shoot me in our previous life. Besides that, she was also radiating a smug air.

"Robert, this is your daughter's first recital, so the least you could've done was dress in some new clothes. Children nowadays are incredibly sensitive. If you dress like a janitor all the time, they start to feel inferior, you know?"

"As for your daughter…" She scoffed. "She really can't compare to even a hair on my daughter's head, huh?"

She stalked closer to me before lowering her voice to whisper in my ear, "Regardless, I truly am quite surprised, Robert. I can't believe you actually have a child! You're nothing but a man destined to ride a motorcycle and be at the mercy of the weather when sending your child to school, yet your wife was still willing to undergo IVF for you?"

I simply glanced at her before turning to take in the daughter she was so proud of.

In our past life, Melanie used to always mock me for being infertile. Yet, I was the only one who knew the truth—I wasn't the reason we were unable to have a child.

Surely, she knew how this child of hers came to be? Or had her husband somehow tricked her into thinking the girl was truly her biological daughter?

When I didn't speak, Melanie continued mockingly, "You know, leaving you was the best decision I had ever made in this life. Without you dragging me down this time, I'm living the life! You, on the other hand, are living no differently from a beggar."

She grew increasingly smug as she spoke, the mockery on her face deepening. Fishing out the key to the Lamborghini, she deliberately shoved it in my face.

"I bet you've never even seen a luxury car key like this before, have you? Well, take a good, hard look! This is the kind of life I should be living!

"Robert Solt, back when you blocked my number without any hesitation, I'm sure you never would've thought this day would come, huh? Do you regret it now?"

After Melanie and I got married in our previous life, she became restless and insisted on starting her own business. She tried multiple times, but every single time, she failed. As a result, forget about buying a luxury car—we didn't even have the money to buy a regular car.

Hence, the flaunting note to her tone right now was strikingly genuine.