Chapter 1

I'd been married to Fiona for forty years.

But when she passed away, she left everything to her true love, Michael. She even asked him to give her a husband's send-off at her funeral.

All she left me was a single sentence.

She said, "David, you kept me trapped in this marriage for forty years. Please, set me free and let me return to Michael."

Michael gave me a frosty stare.

He sneered, "David, you never stood a chance against me. Do you know why you two never had kids? Because she never wanted a child unless it was mine."

Every memory crashed down on me, smashing my heart to bits.

Blood gushed from my mouth, and everything went black as I crumpled to the floor.

When I woke up again, I was back at my wedding with Fiona: forty years ago.

This time, when she chased after Michael, I didn't stop her.

Instead, I handed her the car keys.

"Drive after him," I said.

*****

Standing on that wedding stage from forty years ago with Fiona, the familiar wedding music playing, it finally dawned on me: I had been given a second chance.

Watching Fiona slowly walk toward me in her wedding dress, who could've imagined that just moments ago, I'd watched her slip away forever?

Forty years of marriage with Fiona, we journeyed side by side, we parted as strangers: not even a final farewell.

When she died, she said goodbye to everyone, and even the housekeeper got a personal farewell. But me? She wouldn't let me near her sickbed.

The lawyer read out her will ahead of time, just like she wanted.

The lawyer announced, "I, Fiona Harper, hereby bequeath all my possessions to Michael Reed, including the villa that David and I currently share.

"Michael Reed will handle my funeral and lay me to rest as if he were my husband. David is barred from my funeral."

I couldn't hear anything else the lawyer said. Just those two sentences crushed me completely.

Fiona and I had been married for forty years, but because of her health, we never had any children.

I always thought that after all we'd been through together, I'd at least mean something special to her.

And yet she gave Michael the title of husband, barring me from her funeral.

Everything I'd worked so hard for, even the house we'd lived in for decades, she gave away to her true love, Michael, without a second thought.

From outside the hospital room window, I watched Fiona stroke Michael's face again and again, her eyes brimming with tears.

Her lips parted and closed as she whispered in Michael's ear, confessing endless love and longing.

That kind of tenderness was something I'd never once felt from her in forty years.

Even with their hair turning gray, they still looked like they belonged together.

Even after forty years, I was still just an outsider: forever on the outside looking in, never truly part of their world.

I watched as Fiona rested in Michael's embrace, a gentle smile on her lips as she slipped away in his arms.

Unable to hold back my tears any longer, I clung desperately to the lawyer's hand, my voice breaking as I cried out.

I demanded, "She must have left something for me, right? I don't believe it. She couldn't have left me with nothing."

The lawyer gave me a sheepish look and finally spoke, "Ms. Harper left you just one sentence."

For a moment, hope flickered inside me, only for her words to crush it completely, leaving me in utter despair.

The lawyer continued, "Ms. Harper said, 'David, you kept me trapped in this marriage for forty years. Please, set me free and let me return to Michael.'"

I crumpled to the ground, scenes from our decades together rushing past in my mind, one after another.

One by one, tears fell onto my wrinkled hands.

So that was the power of the first love. Forty years by her side, and I still couldn't measure up.