Chapter 3
"Anna, are you going to watch the meteor shower or not?" Ethan shouted, sounding more than a little annoyed.
Anna snapped out of her daze and stared at Ethan in shock. "Why are you—"
Back in her previous life, Ethan had only ever mocked the idea of watching meteor showers. Now, with this sudden change, Anna couldn't help but wonder if this was some kind of bonus for helping him fix what he regretted.
"Anna, what's with you today?" Ethan was clearly getting impatient. "Whatever. If you don't want to go, just forget I asked—"
He didn't even finish before Anna interrupted, her tone urgent.
She nodded quickly. "Of course I want to go!"
Getting to watch the meteor shower with Ethan was something she'd always dreamed of.
With only 36 hours left, Anna just wanted to steal a little happiness and finally make this wish come true. She thought she wasn't asking for too much.
Besides, when she thought about it, it wasn't all that weird. Ethan was always a good guy at heart. Maybe he just suddenly decided to go for it.
"Alright, deal. Let me get you home first," Ethan said.
Seeing her so excited, Ethan's face softened without him even realising it. He quickly waved down a cab.
"I'll come pick you up later and take you to the observatory. That's the best spot to catch the meteor shower."
Anna was over the moon.
But just as she was about to climb into the cab, Ethan's phone blared out of nowhere.
Anna caught a glimpse of Melissa's name flashing on the screen, and her heart instantly plummeted.
Sure enough, after the short call, Ethan's brows furrowed deeply, his whole expression clouded over.
"Melissa hurt her hand. I need to get to the hospital right now. Just head home on your own," Ethan said, his tone clipped and urgent.
Anna's face fell at the answer she'd already seen coming. She murmured, "Okay."
Ethan froze, then spun around and fixed her with a hard stare. "Anna, what's your game? Every other time I went to see her, you'd freak out or throw a fit. Why the sudden change today?"
Anna opened her mouth to speak, but Ethan cut her off with a cold laugh.
"Right, we're married now, so you think Melissa isn't a threat anymore, huh? Whatever. Just text me when you get home. I'm leaving," Ethan said.
With that, Ethan jumped into the cab and told the driver, "Mercy General Hospital. Step on it!"
Watching the cab disappear into the distance, Anna let out a bitter laugh, whispering to herself, "Figures. As long as Melissa needs him, nothing else even registers in his eyes."
In fact, Anna had never tried to get in the way of Ethan's feelings for Melissa.
If Melissa really was as perfect as Ethan imagined, Anna would never have tried to come between them.
But reality was a whole different story. Anna had caught Melissa kissing different middle-aged men more than once.
They acted like nobody else existed, going at it so passionately that Anna couldn't help but blush just watching.
One time, even Ethan's parents walked in on them.
Their faces darkened with rage, and they rolled up their sleeves, ready to march over and give Melissa a piece of their mind.
"How dare she treat Ethan like this!" Ethan's mom snapped.
Anna quickly stepped in, trying to calm them down. "Maybe it's just a misunderstanding. You know, kids these days have some pretty unusual ways of saying hi..."
But after digging around and asking around, it turned out Melissa had been kept by different sugar daddies all along. She was never worth Ethan giving her everything.
"Ethan actually fought with us over someone so shameless!" one of his parents snapped.
Once they learned the truth, Ethan's parents became even more determined to keep him away from Melissa.
Anna just wanted to protect Ethan from getting hurt, so she fought tooth and nail to keep them apart.
But to Ethan, all of this just looked like ironclad proof that Anna and his parents were out to control his life.
Before she married Ethan, Anna had truly believed that if she poured all her love into him, she could fill the hole in his heart left by losing the one he loved.
But a decade of marriage had cruelly shown her the truth: no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't make him love her.
Ethan spent ten miserable years by her side, and in the end, it was she who cost him his life.
For three years after Ethan died, guilt and regret crushed Anna under their weight, keeping her up night after night.
So this time, even if it broke her heart, as long as Ethan could live his life well, she'd rather wish happiness for him and Melissa.
"Ethan, this time, you have to be happy," Anna whispered.