Chapter 2

“Rachel, why are you here?”

My biological mother looked worried. She tended to my father.

The faint lines at the corners of her eyes were a stark contrast to my foster mother, who always focused on skin care.

However, she looked at me with the same love in her gaze.

Although this couple had not raised me, they had treated me sincerely in my previous life.

They had even urged me more than once to apologize to my wealthy foster family so that I would not be dragged down and have to live in poverty.

The urge to save my family grew stronger.

I greeted her and took Dad’s phone from him. I sent a resignation message to the boss who had been exploiting him without hesitation.

Dad half-roused with a jolt. “Rachel, do you know how bad things are out there?! If I lose this job at my age, I’ll have to work security!”

He reached out to grab his phone, yet I pushed his hand aside.

“Dad, that’s not important!”

I looked at him with absolute seriousness. “What matters most is that you must go to the hospital for a full checkup.”

“A checkup? That’s too expensive…”

He looked at me like I was a pampered princess who had no idea how life worked.

In the next second, he surrendered to my tears.

“Dad, have you ever thought about what’ll happen to Mom and me if something really happens because you keep drinking?!”

I knew that he had noticed something was wrong with his body in my previous life.

He had been afraid that going to the hospital meant spending money, and he had refused to face it until the very end.

That was why it was discovered way too late.

I shivered as I recalled that dark history.

I had to change his misguided fear.

I cried, and I told him that the tragedies of my previous life were nightmares from last night. My tears sounded more real with every word.

“Dad, I’m so scared the things in that dream will really happen. I’m terrified…”

At last, Dad’s hesitation shifted into emotion, and he clenched his fist. “Fine, I’ll listen to you. I’ll go to the hospital.”

Only after I heard their solemn promise did I feel calmer. I rushed to supervise every part of Dad’s checkup.

When the gastroscopy results came out, I nearly fainted on the spot.

The words “early-stage lesions” made my blood turn cold.

Luckily, we had caught it in time.

The doctor said that starting treatment right away meant he could recover well.

It was not the perfect answer, yet compared to the tragedy of my previous life, it was hundreds and thousands of times better.

“Thank goodness she forced me to go.”

On the way home, Dad stared at the window, and his eyes dimmed.

“If I fell ill, I’d be useless.”

I gripped his and Mom’s hands. “Dad, how can you think that? No matter what happens, our family being together is what matters the most.”

Dad pulled Mom and me into his arms, and the warmth gave me a long-lost sense of safety.

“You’re right. I’ll cooperate with treatment.”

Finishing Dad’s checkup was one of the biggest reasons I had returned after rebirth.

I walked home with light steps as I thought about my next move.

My phone rang suddenly. It interrupted my thoughts.

Vicky’s excited voice came through the line. “How’d it go, Rachel? Did you tell them?”

Her tone was so eager and smug that I could not believe I had never noticed it before when I had trusted her blindly.

I answered flatly, “Of course, I told them. But Mom and Dad said I’ll always be their precious daughter, and Peter almost cried. He even took out a pearl necklace worth several hundred thousand dollars from an auction to keep me.”