Chapter 2

The words made me zone out for a split second.

In our previous life, Julian and I met backpacking. We became travel buddies, and eventually fell in love.

Those first few years were genuinely happy. Until the day we got married.

We booked a dinner at a nice hotel to celebrate. Claire arrived late, walking through the doors in a stunning, bright red dress.

The moment Julian laid eyes on her, he froze. I didn't think much of it then.

But after that night, he grew distant. Eventually, he moved into the guest room.

My intuition screamed that he was hiding something. But I refused to believe it. We shared everything. Why would he betray me?

Then he started coming home later. Guarding his phone. Emotionally, I was in denial. Logically, I knew.

The final blow came one morning after a night shift. I walked up to our apartment building and caught Julian holding Claire in his arms.

I completely broke down. I screamed at him, demanding to know why, asking if he even loved me.

Julian shoved me hard to the ground. He glared down at me with pure disgust.

"Look at yourself, Evelyn! You're a mess. You look haggard. You look twenty years older than me. You've completely let yourself go!"

"Claire is bright, beautiful, and full of life. She's exactly what I want."

"Marrying you was a mistake from the very beginning!"

The man I thought was my soulmate spewed the most vicious words imaginable—all for another woman.

The warmth in his eyes was gone, replaced by bottomless revulsion.

It was absurd. Before Claire, he treated me like royalty.

He used to say he appreciated everything I did for us, that he loved my strong personality because I held our lives together.

But the second someone new and shiny appeared, he threw it all away.

I could understand growing bored of a routine, but I could never accept the betrayal.

Once the affair was out, Julian demanded a divorce.

Exhausted and broken, I agreed.

On the way to sign the papers, we were still screaming at each other. Claire sat right there, throwing snide remarks from the passenger seat.

In the heat of the argument, none of us noticed the sports car speeding around the corner.

A deafening crash. Then, nothing.

When I opened my eyes, I was back on the day we registered our marriage, right before we were supposed to meet the family.

To avoid repeating the nightmare, I gladly stepped aside and handed him over.

They jetted off to Europe to chase fame and fortune. I picked up my scalpel and returned to the career I loved.

Armed with the knowledge of my past life, I quickly rose through the ranks to become an ER attending physician. And along the way, I met the true love of my life.

I had completely rewritten my fate.