Running Away Before She Gets Me

I opened my eyes when I felt a pat on my shoulder.In my daze, I dimly registered the doors opening. Jeannie Goodman stood in her wedding gown on the stage. She looked pure and angelic under the lights. Not even the music could drown out the audience's gasps of admiration as they praised the bride's beauty.But an icy terror had me breaking out in a cold sweat.Someone cued me to walk toward the bride. I had specifically requested this. I looked toward the stage in the distance and met Jeannie's gaze. Her lips curled, and a steely resolve came over me as I turned and bolted out the doors."The wedding's off! I will never marry her!"At once, the audience burst into an uproar.The hotel was huge, and in my panic, I could not find the right exit. Before long, Jeannie's family caught up to me.My would-be father-in-law's face was grim as he frowned at me in displeasure. "Sebastian, the wedding's about to start. Stop this nonsense and go back to wrap up the ceremony!"I shook my he

For the next few days, Jeannie showed up in the morning, afternoon, and evening like clockwork. And she always brought food, which had been lovingly and painstakingly prepared.But I never ate the food or paid her any mind. She would then go about decorating the hospital room. She added cozy and homey touches here and there until it vaguely resembled the house we'd stayed in in my previous life.I grew even more unsettled after that.When Jeannie left the room, I immediately asked to be discharged and went home. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Jeannie to track me down at my family's residence.She was rubbing my parents' shoulders and back. "Mr. and Mrs. Miller, I'm happy to come by anytime to rub your shoulders if they feel stiff."When my parents caught me coming downstairs, they said, "Sebastian just came back from the hospital. He could use a shoulder massage!"Jeannie turned her expectant gaze toward me.My parents had betrayed me, plain and simple. I could underst

My frown deepened. I didn't think Jeannie had been reborn too.Then again, it made sense that she had, considering the many changes to her demeanor in this life. In the previous life, she hadn't picked up cooking until after our marriage.If she had been reborn, I figured we might as well hash things out. A dark look passed over my face as I said, "Don't bring up our previous life with me when you know damn well what you did then. Now that you're reborn, we should go our separate ways."I won't stop you from finding your true love, so stop using the investment as an excuse to bother me."Jeannie argued, "No, you don't understand. That day, when you stood before my tombstone—" Her face blanched, but before she could continue, I had security take her away.…After sorting out everything, I got on a flight bound for abroad the next day. The trip was for a project assessment, but that was a mere cover. I was actually leaving for vacation.I had given up too much for Jeannie in the p

We found a quiet place where we could be alone, but Jeannie wouldn't stop crying. Her whole body was shaking, and her words came out between sobs. With waning patience, I waited for her to pull herself together enough to speak coherently.It took a while longer for her to regain composure. She raised her sorrowful gaze to me and finally said, "Sebastian, my soul never left you even after I died. I heard what you said that day at my grave."My mind went blank. While being reborn was nothing short of a miracle, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Jeannie had been following me around, in soul form, after her death.How did that happen?But Jeannie's next words left me even more bewildered. "In our previous life, a hostile entity from the Otherworld took over my body. Her goal was to get close to and eliminate Gregory, but her plans did not go as smoothly as expected."Besides, my conscious mind was too strong for her to take full control of me. Whenever I regained control of