Chapter 3

It had been the same in my past life.

Melissa showed up with her eyes swimming in tears, sobbing about her husband's abuse and begging Leo to help her. She looked fragile on purpose, like a woman who might shatter if you spoke too loudly. Her voice shook, but her gaze never truly lost its focus.

Leo's heart tilted to her side almost immediately.

He found an apartment for her and her son in Back Bay and got them settled. He hired the best divorce attorney he could find and helped her fight that violent husband in court.

But he did not have time to go with me to David's Bridal to try on wedding dresses.

I planned the wedding alone. He only appeared in a rush, like a guest stopping by for a formality, smiling for photos and disappearing the moment the applause ended.

After the wedding, he got an opportunity to do research at Cambridge.

Melissa followed him there too, claiming she needed a change of scenery to "heal."

I stayed behind in Boston because Leo's mother had suffered a stroke, and I had no choice but to take care of her.

After that, we lived in two different places. We were together less and less.

Later, I had a son and a daughter.

My daughter was born frail. Caring for her took more out of me than it took from other mothers. The fevers came easily. The nights were long, the panic sharp, and my hands never felt clean of fear.

I gave up my chance to move closer to tenure. Then I simply quit my job.

I got trapped in that small world called "housewife."

I did everything. I did it carefully, thoroughly, down to every detail.

And he went with Melissa to Iceland to see the northern lights. He went with her to Alaska to watch whales.

I cried.

I made a scene.

All I got back was his cold voice, like ice laid flat against my skin. "Can you stop being so hysterical?!"

Even the children I had raised with my own hands began to dislike me.

Because I had been a housewife for so long, they said I was out of touch, that I could not keep up with the times, that I could not compare to "Aunt Melissa," who had "taste."

They said their knowledgeable father and that elegant, independent Aunt Melissa looked more suited to each other.

I had never imagined I would raise two ungrateful children.

Later, Leo became seriously ill. On his deathbed, his final wish was to divorce me. He wanted, after he died, to be buried with Melissa in the same plot at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

My son and daughter urged me to grant these "star-crossed lovers" their happiness.

But I could not accept it.

I had exhausted myself for that family. I had given everything. I had worked myself into sickness and pain.

Once, my daughter's fever spiked so high it triggered seizures. I stayed by her side, and in a single night, worry turned my hair gray.

How could I accept it?

Why did they get to have this?

I clenched my teeth and refused to divorce him.

Melissa fell ill from "grief" over it.

Her son, already a teenager, slipped into my house in the middle of the night. He wanted to vent his anger for his mother. He held a knife and tried to threaten me.

In the chaos, the blade went out of control and drove into my heart.

I collapsed to the floor.

In the final moment of my life, I truly regretted it.

My life should have been brilliant.

I should not have given up my academic career.

I should not have spent my whole life swallowing my anger and giving in.

But it was fine.

Everything was still in time.

I had been reborn.

Reborn before marrying Leo.

Now, nothing was too late.