Cerita Pendek & Novel Reborn Family Emotions

"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.

I jump off the seventh floor on my wedding day. Why? Because everyone has abandoned me to pick up a fake heiress from the airport, my fiancé included. I expect to see them riddled with heartbreak and regret after my death. However, my father merely shakes his head stoically and looks at my body while saying I was too willful. My mother bites her lip and sighs in relief. My fiancé, Magnus Gilmore, shields the fake heiress. He's afraid she'll see the horrible state of my body. The fake heiress is scared to tears at this, and everyone crowds around her to console her. No one cares whether I'm still breathing while lying in a pool of blood. I'm stunned when I see this, but I soon laugh self-deprecatingly. When I open my eyes again, I've been brought back seven years in the past. It's the day I've just stepped foot at home.

"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.

On my eighteenth birthday, my three adoptive brothers gave me a present—a stray she-wolf. My eldest brother, Caine, said her obedience might finally tame my vicious temper. Rhael said her delicate nature would make my rough strength stand out even more. Lucian said her beauty might distract everyone from how plain I was. But that she-wolf had only one ambition: to become a Luna. When a blind Alpha from a distant pack came seeking a bride, she volunteered to marry him in my place. She never made it. Worn down by the grueling journey, she died along the way. My brothers were consumed by grief. When an enemy pack attacked, they threw me into the enemy ranks with their own hands. I stared at them in disbelief. Caine accused me, “You knew Sophia might die. That’s why you let her take your place without a second thought!” Rhael glared at me with hatred. “You love throwing your status around and bullying others, don’t you? Today, you’ll learn what it feels like to be completely at someone else’s mercy!” Lucian turned to the wolves around us and ordered, “No one helps her. I want her to know what it feels like to be abandoned by everyone!” When I died, there wasn’t enough left of my body to piece together. Then I opened my eyes—and found myself back on the day Sophia volunteered to marry in my place. Remembering how my three brothers had shielded her behind them in my previous life, I smiled. “Father, I’ll marry him.” Father frowned. “Knox is blind and brutal. Are you sure?” “I’m sure.” Since my brothers couldn’t bear to part with Sophia, they could stay with her forever.

After finding out that the city is flourishing with countless opportunities, Florence Chastain drinks far too much out of elation. She begins stumbling toward the home of Gerard Vertes, a widower, in her drunken haze. Even though I have a crush on her, I choose to ignore her. In my previous life, I was worried that Florence might submit to her carnal urges due to intoxication, which might lead to her losing the golden opportunity of moving to the city. So, I rushed over to stop her. But Florence was quick to yank the hem of my shirt while begging me to satisfy her urges. After the wild night, she got pregnant with my child. In order to preserve Florence's reputation, her parents forced her to marry me. After our marriage, Florence was cold and aloof toward me and our child. She'd beat us up from time to time, too. "If not for your busybody tendencies back then, I wouldn't have married a country bumpkin like you! With talents like mine, I'd definitely have made it big in the city!" The daily torment had me physically and mentally strained. In order to make life easier for this family, I borrowed money from various sources just to rent a general store. That way, we'd have steady income. But Florence had the audacity to lock me up at home when our son was down with a high fever. I begged her to save our son, only to get beaten up by her ruthlessly instead. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the night Florence is making her way drunkenly toward Gerard's house.

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.

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.

In my previous life, I am reunited with the Duran family. To protect the adopted girl, my brother, Adrian Duran, frames me for causing her illness to flare up. My parents believe him and throw me out of the house. Not long afterward, I die from illness on the streets. When I open my eyes again, I am back on the day I am brought back to the Duran residence. Adrian stands before our parents and points at me. "Mom, Dad, she's not my sister." The Durans look at me with disappointment before turning around and leaving. I stand there silently and do not take out the crystal pendant that can prove my identity. Instead, I quietly walk back to the orphanage. 20 years later, I become one of the country's leading cardiologists. The man sitting across from me hands over a medical file and speaks in a trembling voice. "Doctor, please... please save my sister." I pause when I see the name. My gaze settles on his worn and exhausted face. After staring at him for a long moment, I finally look up and say, "I won't be taking this patient."

It wasn't until twelve years after my sister, Abigail Ritter, died that I learned the truth: the year she turned eighteen, she hadn't simply gotten married. My parents, Dennis and Rhonda Ritter, had taken an 18,000-dollar bride price and promised her, freshly accepted to college, to a twenty-nine-year-old man. On the day she ran from her wedding, she hid in a haystack outside town. And I, six-year-old Aaron Ritter, was the one who found her first. Holding up two pieces of candy, I shouted excitedly toward the house, "Mom! I found Abby!" Four months later, my sister died in her husband's family's home. Everyone said she'd just been born unlucky. Then, twelve years later, I found a letter among her belongings, a plea for help she never managed to send home. At the very end of it, she'd added a few more lines: "I don't blame Aaron. He's still little. He doesn't understand anything." When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my sister ran from her wedding.

My parents were set up in Harbor City. They not only lost their entire fortune but were also left with a mountain of debt. They changed out of their usual polished shirts and dresses, their faces filled with worry. "Millie, which one of us do you want to stay with while we pay off our debts?" In my first life, I felt sorry for my father because he had trouble walking, so I accompanied him to work at a construction site. However, when a steel beam came crashing down, he shoved me away and shielded my adopted sister beneath him. The beam crushed my skull, and I died on the spot. In my second life, I chose my frail mother. I worked five jobs a day to care for her and desperately earn money to repay our debts. However, my mother gave every cent I earned to my adopted sister and sent her on a trip around the world. I was in the final stage of leukemia and could not afford my medication. In the end, I died in agony inside a basement rental apartment. This time, I hesitated as I faced my parents’ expectant gazes. I had just stepped out of the room when I heard the disappointment in my father’s voice. "Millie has really been spoiled rotten. We only tested her on a whim, yet we immediately exposed her true nature." My adopted sister, Lily Brooks, had just been accepted into a psychology program. She sighed. "Psychology says that only children who grow up pampered tend to become cold and self-centered. They have to experience some hardship before they can learn their lesson." My mother showered her with praise. "Lily, your idea of pretending to be bankrupt was brilliant. We can’t tell Millie the truth until we completely cure her spoiled, vain habits and turn her into the person we want her to be." My entire body trembled violently. The suffering I had endured in two lifetimes had only been a lesson meant to teach me obedience. Just as my heart sank into despair, the system I had not heard from in so long came back online. [The host’s emotional distress has reached a critical level. Would you like to prepare to leave this world?]

Edward Sterling is playing in his university's freshman basketball tournament when my parents banish me abroad. My biological sister and my fiancée are both on the sidelines, cheering for him. That spotlight should've been mine. The jersey he's wearing, with a star player's autograph on it, was supposed to be my 14th birthday gift. Edward and I have been rivals for most of our lives. It never matters whether I'm right or wrong—the moment he plays the victim, my parents rush to defend him and scold me without hesitation. But I am their biological son! It's not until I die alone and sick in a foreign country that I finally understand one thing. If I ever get a second chance, I'll never again fight Edward for love that was never mine to begin with.

In my last life, the System let my parents swap my SAT scores with my twin's. I was always top of my class—until I magically bombed with a 640. Amelia Everton? Scored a perfect 1520, like she'd earned it. The internet went nuts. Everyone called me a fraud. My parents played innocent on TV, said I'd been cheating for years. Every college ghosted me. Then they kicked me out. I froze to death alone. Not this time. I'm taking it all back—every last thing they stole.

Three years after my mom, Scarlett Vaughn, gets divorced, she suddenly finds herself being pursued by a man named Keith Lawrence. He dotes on Mom so much that it's almost ridiculous, driving her to and from work and making sure she gets a different breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. At the wedding, his eyes are red as he swears he'll never let Mom suffer even the slightest bit of hardship. But on their very first night as newlyweds, Keith slaps Mom so hard he ruptures her eardrum. Then he whips her with a belt, hits her with liquor bottles, and beats her with a baseball bat. The last time, Mom doesn't get back up. Then he pushes open my bedroom door and reaches for me. In a panic, I fall from the 36th floor. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day when they got their marriage certificates. Mom stands at the entryway, urging me with a smile. "Melissa, are you ready? Keith is waiting for me at City Hall." I hear a horn downstairs. The cab has arrived. I immediately jump in front of the door. "Mom, don't go. You can't marry him."

My stepbrother, Terence Norman, had one goal in life: finding a way around the SAT and getting guaranteed admission. To pull it off, he deliberately staged an accident on the first day of the SAT, sending the daughter of the richest family in the country over the side of a bridge. The girl nearly drowned. Terence jumped into the river pretending to be the hero, even missing the SAT because of it. Not only did I not stop him, but I even contacted the media myself and made sure the story spread everywhere. Because in my previous life, after overhearing Terence's plan, I tried to talk him out of it. I told him the Lawsons might be the richest family around, but there was no way they could change SAT policy. That, and the Lawsons hated being manipulated more than anything. Terence listened to me. When the scores came out, he ended up dead last in the school. On the surface, he acted like he had accepted his fate. During the celebration for college admissions, he stabbed me to death. His face twisted with rage as he screamed at me. "If you hadn't stopped me, I would've saved the Lawson heiress and become her hero! They would've paid to get me admitted somewhere for sure. And maybe Mr. Lawson would've seen what a good person I was and made me his son-in-law! You ruined my life!" When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the SAT. This time, I wanted to see what would happen after Terence nearly killed Kendall Lawson, the girl most likely to become the top SAT scorer.

I'm lucky to have Maggie Lambert as my grandmother. She appears in my dreams three times. The first time, she tells me I'll win a 75-million-dollar lottery jackpot. The second time, she tells me I'll marry a gorgeous woman. She then visits me for the third time and says, "Go to the home in the south of the city and burn everything in the basement, Christian." I'm over the moon with excitement, but that day, Nathan Lister, my three-year-old son, suddenly comes down with a high fever and loses consciousness. I decide to take him to the hospital instead of following Grandma's instructions after seeing how worried my wife, Wanda Cooper, is. In that instant, my world completely collapses. I lose 75 million dollars, and the company I founded becomes my assistant Henry Johnson's conglomerate. On top of that, Wanda becomes Henry's wife. I take the matter to court and report it to the police, only to be labeled delusional—everyone looks at me like I'm insane. In the end, Henry sends me straight to a psychiatric hospital. Henry and Wanda come to visit me the last time I'm clear-headed. Wanda cuddles up to Henry in his arms and looks at me, asking, "How much longer do you think he'll live, Henry?" I don't have time to struggle before Henry pulls out my ventilator. I open my eyes again and find that I have been reborn.

After I was reborn, I dumped the cheating bastard and married his older twin brother. But as it turns out, I still picked the wrong man. In my past life, I married Maxwell Vaughan, the younger twin. Not long after our wedding, he started sleeping with Kelly Sloan, the maid's daughter. For her, he set the house on fire while I was sleeping. I woke up burned beyond recognition. Amoura, the world-famous lingerie brand, dropped me overnight. Just like that, my modeling career was over. This time, I chose Charlie Vaughan, the older twin. We were in sync and deeply in love. I thought I'd finally made it, that I'd rise to the top and become the supermodel I was meant to be. But the night before my Amoura runway show, my face was burned again. Charlie uncovered the truth quickly and had Maxwell arrested. For a moment, I thought I'd made the right choice this time. Six years later, I overhear something I was never meant to hear as Charlie tucks our sons, Declan and Dylan Vaughan, into bed. "Dad, Uncle Max already took the fall for Kelly. So why did she have to leave the country? Couldn't she have stayed here with us?" "Yeah, Dad. We still want Kelly to be our mom. We hate that freak!" Charlie pulls Declan and Dylan into his arms. His gaze softens with sorrow, then hardens with quiet resolve. "I already betrayed your mom once for Kelly. I'll spend the rest of my life to make it right." A rush of emotion surged through me, the pain cutting deeper than the fire ever did. For six years of marriage and eight years of love, I've been nothing more than a joke. Only now do I see it—Charlie loved Kelly all along, just like Maxwell did. Our marriage was nothing more than a matter of convenience. Even Declan and Dylan call me a freak and wish Kelly were their mother. If that's how it is, then so be it. I'm done with all three of them.

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.

Before our wedding, my girlfriend asks me, "If your mom and I both fell into a river and you could only save one of us, who would you choose?" In my first life, I choose my mom. My girlfriend drowns, taking our unborn child with her. She is only three months pregnant. In my second life, I choose my girlfriend. My mom drowns on her way to bring me chicken soup. In my third life, I refuse to answer. They both die. I open my eyes, and I'm reborn once again. My girlfriend folds her arms and asks me, "If your mom and I both fell into a river and you could only save one of us, who would you choose?"

I was the real daughter of the Sinclair family, yet I was the one abandoned when their fake daughter and I were kidnapped and taken to the top of a building. They were given a choice between the two of us, and they chose to save the fake daughter, letting me be pushed off from the eighteenth-floor balcony. Even though I survived, I was completely disappointed in them. Then, their attitudes changed overnight. My parents, who despised me, started asking me about my likes and dislikes. My brother who wished me dead, started suddenly giving me precious jewelry. Even my fiancé, who always claimed I was nothing compared to the fake daughter, started to prepare for our wedding. To say I was confused was an understatement.

When my parents got old, they needed someone to take care of them. Katerina—my younger sister—was off to Amiraka with her smug husband Chris. Meanwhile, I was crammed into a two-bedroom in Bellavaro with my husband Pavel, who drove a taxi. Mom had no retirement savings, so guess who she dumped herself on? Yep—me. Dad took the cash and ran straight to Katerina. Our place was tiny, but we still gave Mom the master bedroom. She hated it. Constant complaints, constant drama. According to her, life with me was pure misery. Every night, she'd hop on video call with Katerina, gushing about Amiraka like it was heaven, while throwing shade at me for not "taking care of her properly." Meanwhile, I was drowning—trying to hold it together for Mom, help my daughter prep for exams, support a husband with spine problems, and check in on aging in-laws. Mom didn't care. She wanted a plane ticket to Amiraka to party for Katerina's birthday. I snapped. We had a blowout fight, and she collapsed—brain hemorrhage. Even in her hospital bed, she stared me down, whining Katerina's name like a broken record. Then she spat out, "I should've never picked a useless daughter like you!" My chest cracked in half. I blacked out. When I woke up—I was ten years younger. Back to the day they decided who'd get stuck taking care of them. This time, Mom didn't wait. "I want Katerina to take care of me. It's my turn to enjoy life!"