Chapter 3
Dad said, "Come on, you know we could've just stayed together as a family. Don't tell me you're actually thinking about going back to his hometown! No way I'm letting that happen! If he really loves you, he should stay here. This is a big city, after all. The future here is way brighter than wherever he's from!"
I was so choked up I could barely get the words out.
"Dad, I'm not leaving. I'm not going back to his hometown with him. We broke up. All I want is to stay with you and Mom for the rest of my life," I said.
"Hey, don't cry. Did that guy hurt you? Don't worry, I'm here for you! Just don't do anything you'll regret, okay? It's not that I really have anything against him. More than anything, I just want you to be happy," Dad said.
"I know..." I sobbed.
Of course I knew. Dad didn't really have anything against Xzavier; he just cared about me too much.
Even though he never liked Xzavier much in my last life, when the time came, he still gave me away at the wedding, tears in his eyes.
All he ever asked of Xzavier was to treat me well.
He even chipped in so we could get a bigger apartment for our wedding.
The wedding money was just a formality.
But who could've guessed it would end up hurting me the most.
My parents have always been good people.
They raised me to be genuine and sincere with everyone.
They believed that if they gave their hearts, they would get the same in return, but all his family ever did was figure out how to bleed us dry.
They'd bleed us dry and swallow us whole, then still gripe that we weren't good enough and left a bad taste in their mouths.
No way was I going to waste this rebirth. I knew Paisley way too well.
Paisley would never just let Xzavier off the hook.
Ditching Xzavier's whole family was just step one. I needed a real plan.
Time to use this cheat code of rebirth to score some real benefits for me and my folks.
My mind was spinning a mile a minute.
I suddenly remembered seeing all those viral posts online about catching the big waves of each era, like snagging an apartment in 1995, jumping on Bitcoin in 2009, or blowing up as an influencer in 2018.
It was 2023.
I made up my mind.
I looked at my dad and spoke up. "Dad! I'm not buying a house anymore. I'm going all in on gold!"
"Dad! I'm not buying a house anymore. I'm going all in on gold!"
Before long, our place was practically overflowing with gold. Everywhere one looked, something was gleaming.
On top of the gold bars, I even used my saved-up allowance from the past few years to buy Mom some gold jewelry.
My parents kept exchanging nervous glances, not daring to say a word.
They probably thought I'd finally snapped or something.
I quickly tried to calm them down.
After telling my parents to keep an eye on the gold and all the paperwork, I headed back to campus.
Stepping outside, the cold wind snapped me back to reality.
Once I got back to my dorm, I fired up my laptop and started looking up all those stocks and funds I remembered were about to blow up.
At the same time, I launched a new personal growth account on social media.
I planned to run it while studying for my SAT exams.
I grew up pampered by my folks.
I never knew money was such a big deal.
But after I got married, suddenly, everything needed cash.
Xzavier never did a thing, and Paisley was all smiles before the wedding, but after, she showed her true colors and made my life hell.
Looking back, Xzavier's family wasn't actually poor. They just valued money more than me, and thought spending it on me was a total waste.
In the summer, it didn't matter what fruit I wanted. Only what was cheapest made it to the table.
If I ever bought anything, even a little expensive, Paisley would scold me for not knowing how to live properly and give me the stink eye.
It was like that for everything, from daily life all the way to choosing the hospital for when I gave birth.
Even when I was pregnant, I barely got any meat. Paisley claimed that cutting back on meat would make labor easier.
She'd feed me wilted vegetable leaves she'd scavenged from the market, but I caught her serving Xzavier a whole braised pork knuckle just for himself!
At my final prenatal checkup before giving birth, my baby only weighed just about six pounds!
Whenever I complained, Paisley would say I didn't know how good I had it, and that her own mother-in-law never did a thing for her when she was pregnant.
She'd always brag about how she had to wait on her mother-in-law with a huge belly, dropping hints that I should be bringing her a basin of water for her foot bath every night.
Xzavier just acted like he didn't see anything, and whenever I brought it up, he'd just stir things up and make it worse.
Xzavier would just tell me to do whatever his mom said, like I had to listen to her too.
My parents weren't in great shape back then, and I didn't have the heart to tell them what was happening.
It wasn't until I had my own child that I finally understood what it meant to be a parent.
Whenever I suffered, I knew it must've hurt them ten thousand times worse.
I kept telling myself I could tough it out, that once the baby was born, everything would get better.
If things got really bad, I could always just walk away and call it quits.
I went out of my way to pick the best hospital and doctor to have my baby, but Paisley, always pinching pennies, convinced Xzavier to switch me to a cheaper place.
She never wanted me to go for prenatal checkups. I had to insist on every single one. This time, she just went behind my back and had Xzavier switch hospitals without even telling me.
She wouldn't even let me go to the hospital early to get ready for labor, controlling every move I made.
That was when I realized just how hard things could get.
This lifetime, I was going to rake it in.
Just as I was plotting, Xzavier spammed me on WhatsApp, rambling on and on.
He said: [Arianna, we were so good together. How could you just break up with me like that? Are you really the kind of girl my mom says you are, just a gold digger? Is it because you think we're too poor for you?]
[Or do you think if I go back home, I can't give you the future you want?]
[Honestly, I'm willing to stay here for you! My mom said our whole family is ready to compromise for you, stay here just for you.]