Cerita Pendek Reborn & Novel Bias Family Emotions

The day my parents divorced, I turned my back on the mother who loved me and clung desperately to my cheating father. In my previous life, I chose my mother without hesitation. Because the family never accepted me, she spent the rest of her life suffering for my sake, enduring endless scorn and hardship. This time, as I looked into her heartbroken eyes, I walked away without a backward glance. Five years later, I was scraping by at a seafood market, spending my days gutting fish amid the stench of saltwater and blood. Just as I expertly sliced open a fish's belly, my mother appeared. Her heels clicked across the damp floor as she navigated around puddles left by melting ice and approached me. She covered her nose in disgust, looked me up and down in my stained, shabby clothes, and let out a cold laugh. "No matter how hard you wash, you still reek of fish. This is the life you chose when you picked him over me. “The Cooper family's notorious young heir is about to form an alliance with our family through marriage. “As long as you kneel and beg me, I'll give you a chance to live a better life. What do you think? “You know I always mean what I say.” The contempt in her voice was unmistakable. I swallowed the metallic taste rising in my throat, flashed a carefree grin, and stepped closer. “Not only am I not kneeling, but you’ll have to kiss me first if you want me to go.” Just one kiss would be enough to get me through the last month of my life.

On the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, the old Alpha King laid the names of several heirs before me and told me to choose my future mate. Because I was the only pureblood heiress of the Redmoon Pack. For generations, Redmoon Pack had bound itself to the Alpha King’s line through bond. Only my bloodline could bear true pureblood heirs, and whoever formed a bond with me would stand closest to becoming the next Alpha King. This was never just a bond. Even so, I chose without hesitation. Kaelan, the fourth heir. Everyone present was stunned. Everyone across the packs knew that I, Sia, the pureblood heiress of Redmoon Pack, had loved Raine, first heir to the Alpha King’s line, since I was young. I had once declared before the gathered packs that I would bond with no one but him. In my previous life, I got exactly what I wanted. I bonded with Raine. But three days after our bond was sealed, he told me he intended to bring my half-sister, Veya, into his household and keep her by his side. My mother refused, and Veya was instead promised to one of my father’s young retainers. Raine hated me for it. He believed I had torn him and Veya apart. After that, one she-wolf after another appeared at his side, and every one of them resembled Veya in some way. He let them humiliate me, torment me, and grind me down until I died on the day he took the title of Alpha King. Now that I had lived again, I wanted only one thing: to stay far away from him, leave him to Veya, and spare myself. But when the old Alppha King’s bond pact finally came down, the same Raine who had once wanted me dead lost control on the spot and openly defied it.

In my past life, Killian cut off all his mistresses and spoiled me rotten, doing everything to win my hand in marriage. But the day before our wedding, I overheard him boasting to his friends. "Killian, that orphan girl you supported is still clinging to you. She's younger and prettier than your fiancée. Are you really not tempted?" Killian curled his lip in disdain, "What is she even? She isn't even fit to lick my wife's toes. Tell her to get lost." His words sent a rush of euphoria through me. He had told me himself that financing Vivienne Moore was merely a strategic move to bolster my charity foundation. At that moment, I truly believed I had found my happily ever after. But on the wedding day, the orphan girl drove her car straight into me. She sobbed and pulled out a terminal diagnosis. "Killian, I don't have much time left. I beg you. Don't abandon me, please!" I got injured in a collision and pleaded with Killian to take me to the hospital first, but he scooped her up in his arms without a second glance. "Sierra, I need to take Vivienne abroad for medical treatment. If I were her husband, it would be way easier for me to get stuff done. We have to get a divorce first. I’m sorry.” I stared at him, my eyes widening in sheer shock. He kept going, his voice stead, “I promise I'll come back and marry you in five years. Just wait for me.” Five years turned into ten, and I waited for him in vain, nothing more than a fool. It wasn't until I was on my deathbed that I received his letter, "I'm sorry, Sierra. I'll marry you in the next life." I tore the letter to shreds and died of sheer rage. Yet, when I opened my eyes again, I was back on my wedding day. I calmly gazed after Killian as they faded into the throng. Then, without hesitation, I turned around and boarded a plane to Switzerland.

I gave Julian Marchetti thirty years of my life after the war ended. I built his empire, raised his children, and held the family together behind the scenes. But when he died, his will didn’t even mention my name. Half his fortune went to our children. The other half went to Lydia Carter, the daughter of the man who’d saved his life in Normandy. The same Lydia who’d stolen my identity.The same Lydia who’d built her entire life on the ruins of mine. All he left me was a single note, scrawled in his familiar handwriting. I loved you. We had thirty good years. But I owe Lydia. This is the least I can do. I dropped dead of a heart attack right there in his study, clutching that pathetic piece of paper. When I opened my eyes again, I was reborn in 1945, when the war had just ended This time I will not swallow my anger and suffer in silence; I will fight back. And I will take back every single thing that is rightfully mine.

In my previous life, the fake daughter Linda Veil wanted the billionaire family all to herself. She manipulated my adopted brother Jason with her two-faced act, sabotaging me at every turn. All I ever wanted was family. Instead, they came to despise me, and shipped me off to the African savannah to fend for myself. Before the plane even landed, Mom and Dad threw me out from low altitude, hatred written all over their faces. "Stay out there and learn your lesson. Let's see if you ever dare hurt your sister again!" "We'll come get you once you've straightened up." Both my legs shattered on impact. I lay in the grass, sobbing that I was sorry, begging them to believe me. But the sun cracked my skin open and wild animals stripped me to the bone. They never came back for me. Right before I died, I finally learned the truth. Sending me to the savannah had been Linda's idea all along. She'd spent three hundred million commissioning a lifelike robot to replace my dead body. Mom and Dad watched the cameras every day, seeing a lively, healthy "robot me" going about life. They had no idea I was already gone. And Linda? She married my adopted brother, poisoned my parents slowly, and inherited every last penny of the Veil fortune, handing it all to her human-trafficking birth parents. Then I opened my eyes again. I'd been reborn, back to the day the billionaire family first took me home. This time around, I'd worked ten jobs at once to survive and developed a serious mental illness. Whoever messed with me got the full crazy treatment.

"Two families are here today hoping to adopt. You can choose which one you'd like to go with." In my previous life, I chose the Parkers, who owned a small neighborhood store. Life wasn't particularly comfortable, but they cherished me like their own. They fully supported my writing and helped me become a moderately successful novelist. Meanwhile, Sean Lowe chose the affluent Bennett family. Their home was comfortable, but cold and detached. He spent more than a decade trying to earn their affection, but never truly became part of the family. Now that I'd been given a second chance, the moment I saw the Parkers again, I nearly called them Mom and Dad. But Sean beat me to it. He threw himself forward and said, "Mrs. Harper, I want to go with the family that owns the store! I love snacks the most. I'll be good and listen to everything they say!" He buried himself in Claire Parker's arms like a kitten that had finally found its way home. I stopped behind him and didn't move. If my guess was right, he had been reborn too.

At the orphanage gates, the fake heiress stole my proof of identity and slipped into a waiting luxury car, smiling triumphantly. I leaned against the attic while waving goodbye to her. "Have a safe journey, my scapegoat." In my past life, I was taken back to a wealthy family. I thought I'd found my family. My adoptive parents smiled at me, bought me dresses, and called me their darling daughter. Three months later, I was wheeled into an operating room. My heart was removed. I died on the operating table. They didn't even hold a funeral for me. After being reborn, I wanted to make everyone pay the price. This time, it was them who should be on the operating table.

I brought my three-month-old pup, Nico, to my mate's pack for the Moon Gathering. The Blackwood pack lived deep in the northern pines, hidden from human eyes. Margaret Bailey was the Luna of the Blackwood pack, mated to the aging Alpha who rarely left his den. Her word was law in the longhouse. While my pup was sleeping, my niece, Raven Blackwood, and her friends carried him to the second floor of the longhouse and threw him out the window. My baby died right in front of me. I lost my mind. I shifted and tried to carry him to the pack healer, but it was already too late. He was gone before we ever made it there. Because my niece was still a minor under pack law, she barely faced any consequences. The Council ordered her family to pay eight hundred thousand dollars in blood money, but my sister-in-law, Seraphine Stone, howled and screamed, accusing me of trying to destroy their bloodline. I cried until I felt like my heart had been clawed out. All I wanted was justice. But my mate, Damien Blackwood, and the Luna, Margaret Bailey, only snarled at me. "Raven is just a pup too! Are you really going to destroy her future just because your son died?" I never got my revenge. In the end, grief and hatred hollowed me out. That winter, I died of a broken heart. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the Moon Gathering. This time, I immediately called my birth pack and asked them to take my son away. But even then, my niece still threw a baby from the upstairs window.

My mother-in-law Mindy was fanatically superstitious. When my daughter Amy came down with a high fever, she followed an old wives' tale and wrapped the child in three thick quilts, causing her to nearly suffer permanent brain damage from overheating. I immediately rushed Amy to the hospital and repeatedly warned Mindy not to feed her anything strange. The moment I stepped away to pay the medical bill, she forced "holy water" she'd gotten from a suspicious temple down my daughter's throat when she'd only been barely saved from death's door. My daughter had an adverse reaction, and she suffocated to death on the spot. Devastated, I tried to call the police to arrest Mindy, but my husband Sam insisted she had only meant well, and had told me to be more understanding. "Mom was just desperate to save her! You don't have to take it this far, we could always have another child!" Because of this incident, I ended up being diagnosed with severe depression. Mindy, however, was insistent that I'd been possessed by an evil spirit and called on an exorcist to perform a purging ritual on me, inflicting wounds all over my body with a whip. By the time I was barely clinging to life, my husband came home from work. When I tried to beg him to save me, he forced me down by my limbs. "Listen to Mom. Once the evil spirit is exorcised, you'll be all better." And so, I was beaten to death. When I came to, I returned to the day Mindy tried to "help" my daughter once more. This time, I would make sure they had a taste of their own medicine.

At my 20th birthday banquet, I am to sign and receive the ten-billion-dollar inheritance left to me by my mother. My half-sister, Samantha Hatfield, and Howard Daley, her husband, who is also a secretary, eagerly urge me to sign the document. In my previous life, they trick me into signing the very same agreement, and the inheritance somehow becomes theirs. When I try to fight back, no one listens to me. Together, they have me confined to a sanatorium, where I spend the rest of my life drugged, imprisoned, and forgotten. But this time, their scheme is going to fail—I have returned with memories of what happens from the past life. Under their confident, expectant gazes, I pick up the pen. However, I do not pick it up to sign. I raise my hand and slash the pen's tip across Howard's face. As he lets out a terrified scream, I tear the agreement into pieces in front of all the guests and hurl the paper scraps at them. I say coldly, "My mother left all this to me. What makes you two heartless parasites think you're worthy of laying even one finger on it?"

"Your love makes me sick." Those were the final words my husband, Vittorio De Luca, left me in my past life. On our wedding day, Elara Hale had crashed my ceremony, begging Vittorio to run away with her. But he chose to stay by my side. Yet, when Elara died of an illness shortly after, he harbored nothing but hatred for me. He detested that I had clung to him for over a decade, forcing him into a marriage he never wanted. More than that, he loathed himself for not running away with Elara. When I opened my eyes again, I was reborn before everything went wrong. I looked at him, "Vittorio, I'm getting married." He looked a bit troubled. "You know I’m busy with a critical territorial expansion. My mind is entirely elsewhere…" “Never mind.” I offered a faint, indifferent smile. Relieved, Vittorio leaned in and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Don't worry. We've been together for twelve years. I'll do the right thing and take responsibility." He didn’t know what I meant, but I knew what I’d do in this lifetime. I would never choose him again, let alone marry him.

At my daughter's high school graduation party, she greeted me with a bouquet containing her wish list. "My dearest Mom! "My life truly begins at eighteen! "This is the first step toward rebuilding my social image and starting an entirely new life! "Thank you, Mom, for supporting me completely!" The list tucked into the bouquet included the newest phone, tablet, laptop, and earbuds. Together, the smaller items cost more than five thousand dollars. But the final line, printed in bold red letters, stabbed into my eyes like the point of a knife: Helena Abernathy must give Chloe Collins a house free of charge. The property will be for Chloe's exclusive use, and no one else will be permitted inside. I stared at the bouquet, while the soul that had died unjustly in my previous life trembled inside my body. Last time, I carried that bouquet home and tossed and turned all night. In the end, I still tried to discuss it with my daughter. "Chloe, about the house... I truly can't afford it right now." "Could we possibly..." Chloe was silent for three seconds before accusing me through tears. "I knew it! You never loved me. You only love yourself!" My photograph, address, and workplace were posted across social media. Then came the online attacks, the doxxing, the red paint splashed across my door, and the suspension from my job. When I stood on a rooftop, unable to endure the abuse any longer, the people below kept recording and shouting: "Jump! If you aren't guilty, why would you jump?" This time, I looked down at the bouquet in my arms and smiled. I didn't want the list. And I didn't want this daughter anymore.

Everyone said I was the most generous man alive. When my CEO wife brought her brother-in-law and his son through the door, he stood there with bloodshot eyes. "Emmett's mother is gone. Could I borrow Colette for a few days to be his mom? He cries every night. It's breaking my heart." Without a word, I went to the bedroom and packed Colette Harmon's things for her. "We're family. You don't have to ask." At my son's birthday party, Emmett Pryce wanted to go to the amusement park and told everyone he did not want to share his new mom. My son immediately turned to the guests and apologized, saying, "Ms. Harmon has an urgent matter to attend to. We'll have to wrap up today's party here. Thank you all for coming." Everyone praised us, father and son, for being so gracious about it. Only I knew what had really happened. My son and I had been reborn. In our previous life, Colette had favored her widowed brother-in-law, Stefan Pryce, just the same. I had swallowed every last bit of it. When my patience finally ran out, I forced the divorce. Not long after, my son developed a heart condition and needed an artificial heart. The medical bills were staggering, so I had nowhere else to turn but Colette. However, she laughed in my face and threw me out into the blizzard. "You'll never be half the man Stefan is. Give it up." My son's heart stopped in my arms. Now that we had been reborn, I willingly let these things slide. All I wanted was for my son to live.

On my way home after a night shift, my wife, Lilian Jones, the associate chief of neurosurgery, suddenly called. "Honey, Garrett Lowe in Room 9 has suffered a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. You're the only surgeon in the hospital who can perform this operation. Come back now!" In my previous life, I did not hesitate. I made a U-turn and sped back to the hospital. However, by the time I burst into the operating room, Garrett was already dead on the table. Right in front of his family and the entire surgical team, Lilian slapped me across the face and insisted that my surgical error had cost Garrett his life. The hospital immediately suspended me from clinical duties, stripped me of my position as an attending neurosurgeon, and suspended my medical license for six months. Three days later, Garrett's family ambushed me outside the emergency department and stabbed me to death in broad daylight. Only after I died did I learn the truth. To give surgical resident Ethan Smith a chance to gain hands-on experience, Lilian violated hospital protocol and allowed him to take the lead in the operation. His inexperience cost Garrett his life, and I was nothing more than the scapegoat they sacrificed to cover it up. Less than a week after my funeral, the two of them moved in together openly. A few years later, they even became the hospital's model couple, admired and envied by everyone. "The patient's already under anesthesia, and the OR is fully prepped. Where are you?" Lilian's voice came through the phone again in this life, her barely concealed panic impossible to miss. I fell silent for a moment before answering in a hoarse voice, "Okay. I'll be right there."

My childhood crush's first night is put up for auction after her family goes bankrupt. Instead of paying an exorbitant amount of money to save her from her predicament, I choose to remain on the sidelines and do nothing. Later, I also call off our engagement and move abroad. I act this way because, in our past life, she assumes that I'm expecting her to repay me after I save her. She gives me the cold shoulder for years after we get married, but she gives birth to a pair of twins who belong to her first love. She even allows her twins to poison me. The four of them stand before me when I'm lying on my deathbed. "Our family can finally reunite." My heart burns with hatred when I take my last breath. When I'm given another chance at life, I decide to leave before they can hurt me, fulfilling their wishes.

I'm the unluckiest real heir to the Hoffman family. I have been reborn 99 times now, and each time, it's on the exact same day—the day I'm brought home for the first time and immediately sent away by a single question from the fake heir, Dexter Hoffman. "Whom do you love more, Dante? Mom or Dad?" "If Desiree and I both fall into the water at the same time, who will you save first, Dante?" No matter what my answer is, my whole family will think it's wrong and judge me as a horrible, malicious person. And then, I will die under mysterious circumstances. When I'm reborn for the 100th time, I decide to give up on giving any real answers and just slack off. Dexter stands next to Mom and Dad and asks me the same question again with a smile on his face. However, I remain standing in place and say nothing in response. Dexter flies into a rage. "Are you deaf or mute, Dante Hoffman? Why aren't you saying anything?" I happily bring out my handy notebook and write, "Are you welcoming me home, Dexter? I'm sorry, but I'm deaf and mute, and I can't hear your beautiful voice. "I'm so happy and touched. You're the first person who doesn't despise me." I even draw a crying face at the end. Dexter is shocked. Even Mom, Dad, and my elder sister, Desiree Hoffman, are utterly confused.

On my younger brother's 18th birthday, our parents book the most expensive revolving restaurant in the city to celebrate with him. But all because a waiter accidentally splashes a bit of water on the edge of his sneakers, my brother, Samuel Stone, blows up on the spot. "Do you have any idea how rare these are? They're limited-edition worldwide! Not even your life is worth as much as them!" The waiter, Rowan Lane, shakes in fright and bows his head, apologizing profusely. But Samuel just keeps going and makes a mountain out of a molehill. He even orders Rowan to get on his knees and lick his shoes clean. Our parents, who have always spoiled Samuel rotten, jump in to back him up. They yell at Rowan like he's committed some unforgivable crime. When this happens in my last life, I can't stand it. I step in and talk my family down, finally ending the farce. Unbeknownst to me, someone films the entire thing and posts it online. People on the internet call me kind and brave. By comparison, Samuel's tantrum makes him look like an entitled, vicious brat. He gets torn apart across every platform. He holds a grudge against me for it. After tricking me up onto the rooftop of a 30-story building, he shoves me off without a second thought. From that height, I hit the concrete and die on impact. When I open my eyes again, I'm back in that restaurant—right at the moment Samuel is pointing at Rowan and cursing him out. What Samuel doesn't know is that this "nobody" he's screaming at is actually the only son of the city's richest man, who went missing years ago. All the humiliation and insult Samuel dishes out that day is going to come back as one hell of a revenge.

My father threatened to kill himself three times to control my life. The first time was when I was applying to college. He climbed onto the roof and demanded that I turn down offers from prestigious out-of-state universities and enroll at a local state college instead. I gave in. Even though my grades were good enough to earn a place at one of the country's top universities, I ended up staying in my hometown. The second time came after I graduated from college. I had landed a job with a company in a major city and was ready to finally build a life of my own. However, my father climbed onto the roof of the company's building and threatened to jump unless I quit and came home. Once again, I surrendered. I returned to my hometown and took a low-paying job at an auto repair shop where my father had pulled a few strings to get me hired. The third time, he climbed onto the roof again. This time, he forced me to marry a woman I had only met once, simply because he believed she would be 'the perfect wife'. I obeyed. Only after we were married did I discover the truth. She was already pregnant with another man's child, and I had been nothing more than the fool expected to clean up the mess. In the end, I could not endure it any longer. I stepped off the rooftop. … When I opened my eyes again, I saw my father gritting his teeth as he climbed onto the roof once more. "If you dare go to a college out of state, I'll jump right here!" I looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked away. "Go ahead," I said without looking back. "Just don't waste my time."

The year I became disabled, my own daughter Emily brought home the ex-husband who had abandoned me years earlier. With his new wife beside him, they strutted into my house as though they owned it. The three of them stared me down and announced a new house rule. "From now on, everyone pays their own eldercare costs." A caregiver had just changed my adult diaper. Emily pulled out a calculator and demanded I pay $150 on the spot for the nursing fee. I looked at the woman lounging on my couch and eating imported cherries, then forced myself to speak. "She lives here too. Why doesn't she have to pay?" Emily clenched her jaw. "Seriously! You think you can compare yourself to Aunt Camilla?" "You made me wear hand-me-downs and live on plain boiled vegetables. Life with you was cheap and miserable!" "Camilla takes me shopping for designer brands and out to fancy dinners. She gives me real love and freedom! They get a pass because I love them. You don't." I stared at the home cardiac monitor beside my bed. I had emptied my savings to buy it when she was sick. "You've always used my illness as an excuse to control me, to torment me. We share nothing but blood. Whatever feelings we had are long gone, and I have no obligation to take care of you for free." Day after day, they schemed and ground me down, until I finally died a miserable death in that hospital bed. Then I opened my eyes and found myself back, years in the past. It was the day I first discovered that my ex-husband Adam had been secretly taking Emily to Disneyland.

I closed my eyes, about to jump off a building, when an ill-timed phone ringtone blared. On the other end of the phone came a voice that I couldn't be more familiar with. It was my own voice. "Don't jump, Jack Sterling."