Chapter 2
In my previous life, I happily borrowed money to hold my wedding and arranged everything.
To be the perfect bride, I made sure to always keep myself in the best possible shape.
But after the wedding, I learned of my parents' deaths.
They had died in a car accident seven days earlier, while I was trying on my wedding dress.
As their only daughter, I didn't even get to keep vigil for them.
The Fitzroy family knew that my parents were dead, but they kept this from me and just shrugged it off. "What a bad omen. Anyway, they're already dead."
That night, I was curled up in Landre's arms, crying uncontrollably. At first, he was gentle.
But after the phone rang a few times, he impatiently pushed me away and never came back.
With the passage of time after my previous life, I once more walked toward my parents' cemetery in this life.
But I was stopped by the cemetery staff.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't have any headstones here for the two people you mentioned."
I felt as though I had been struck by lightning.
In my previous life, the Fitzroy family buried my parents here without telling me.
They only allowed me to visit once, and after I returned home, they burned all the clothes I wore that day.
In this life, they had kept it from me. They wouldn't even let me know where my parents' bodies are.
I immediately called Landre.
His phone rang repeatedly before my call was disconnected.
It was Monicka who called me in the end.
'Yvon, when people do something wrong, they have to pay the price."
Her voice was soft and seductive, and it was accompanied by a man's muffled gasps and the sounds of thrusting.
Monicka and I used to be classmates.
Back then, Monicka was withdrawn and timid. Her dirty clothes concealed the scars on her body, which became more severe over the years.
She was subjected to domestic violence and bullied and slandered by her classmates, but she never fought back.
It was I who stepped in to defend her and help her escape her toxic family.
Every Christmas Eve, she would sneak over to my house for some meatballs.
My parents treated her as if she were their own daughter.
I had long suspected that her affection for me was insincere.
But now, seeing how heartlessly she treated my parents in exchange for their kindness, I felt bitterly disappointed, angry, and betrayed.
"Monicka, I'm asking you again. Where are my parents?" I pressed.
She just gave a soft, scornful laugh and ended the call.
Behind me, Ivor and Soren could no longer contain their anger.
Just as Ivor pulled out his phone to give orders to his bodyguards, Soren had already found out where my parents were.
"Yvon, you're just too kindhearted," Ivor muttered.
Both of them did not look too pleased.
I only smiled calmly at them. "I'm not."
At the funeral, the place was filled with mourners dressed in somber black.
Only two people stood out from the crowd.
Monicka wore a light blue cocktail dress and had a demure smile on her face.
Landre was holding a video camera and brazenly filming at my parents' funeral.
The Fitzroy family was rich, and Landre was carrying equipment worth almost a million dollars.
But his interest in photography was nothing more than a passing fad.
Come to think of it, that was actually how we met. It all started because Landre was playing around with cameras.
*****
I was a professional boxer, but the audience only wanted to see powerful, brutal fights between men.
They had a preconceived notion that women were delicate and lacked strength.
During that period, Monicka, who had become my manager, and I hit a low point in our careers.
Monicka tirelessly sought investment for me day and night.
And whenever I had a match, I fought with all my might.
By a twist of fate, we met Landre Fitzroy, who had been dabbling in photography at the time.
In Landre's photos, I appeared strikingly dashing and full of vitality.
Every time I stepped into the ring, I fought with everything I had.
Monicka's cheers from the audience were always the loudest.
And Landre never missed a single one of my fights.
Back then, I thought the three of us would always be so happy together.
*****
The flash stung my eyes. Ivor instructed someone to take Landre's camera away.
Landre only gave a scornful laugh. "She ruined my wedding. I'm just teaching her a lesson."
He was a rich scion who often received death threats, and he was a complete klutz when it came to sports.
Yet he was willing to be my human punching bag and spar with me.
His social media wall was a compilation of my most memorable moments.
I even competed in a match without knowing I was pregnant. When Landre found out I was pregnant, he was the first to shed tears.
That was why I always believed our love was mutual, and I was utterly captivated by our happiness.
I couldn't wait to share my joy with my parents.
My parents, who had always been honest and upright and never said no to me, urged me to calm down.
I couldn't understand why they were against my relationship with Landre.
We had a heated argument, and I stormed out, slamming the door behind me. That was the last time I saw my parents.
*****
I watched as Landre snapped photos of the cold, lifeless gravestones.
Suddenly, I snatched the camera from his hands and smashed it to the ground.
"Yvon!" Monicka shrieked.