The annulment of Ethan and Alina's engagement went smoothly. He orchestrated it with ruthless precision, setting up Alina to be caught in bed with my brother—by a room full of witnesses.
When I heard the news, Ethan was loading laundry into the washing machine.
I watched him quietly for a moment before poking his slim waist.
"What?" he asked gruffly.
"Aren't you afraid you'll regret setting Alina up?"
He glanced at me, puzzled. "Why would I regret it? She's nothing to me."
"But she's..." your wife.
The words caught in my throat, unspoken.
That was from another lifetime.
Scratching my head, I decided to drop it and asked instead, "When are you going back?"
"If you want to go, we can leave today."
"Then today it is," I said, pointing at the spinning washing machine. "Once the laundry's done and dried, let's go."
---
It seemed that when it comes to self-interest, principles hold little weight.
After Alina's engagement was annulled, rumors about Ethan and me began to circulate.
The White family reached out to me multiple times.
The once cold and distant parents who accused me of being an imposter in their home, the brothers who ignored me for years, all now wore expressions of utmost concern, asking what I lacked and when I would return home.
Even my biological parents, who had remained indifferent until Ethan secured a kidney for them, awkwardly called me, asking what I liked to eat so they could prepare it when I came back.
Looking at the mixture of sincerity and pretense in those messages, I suddenly thought of a phrase:
The human heart is a scale.
When true affection and self-interest are placed on the balance, the heavier side wins.
In my past life, their coldness wasn't solely due to their affection for Alina. It was also because Ethan loved her. She could bring them substantial benefits.
This time around, because Ethan loved me, they discarded Alina.
The realization sent chills down my spine.
"What are you thinking about?"
Ethan hugged me from behind, his breath tickling my skin.
I looked down and murmured, "I think I'm still too naive."
Despite living a second life, it took me this long to understand these tangled interests and disputes.
Ethan chuckled softly, leaving the topic behind.
"The luggage is ready. Let's go."
After some thought, I turned to wrap my arms around his neck.
"Will you love me forever?"
His deep eyes met mine for a moment before he smiled.
"I don't know," he said. "You better hope I do."
---
I had betrayed him, hit him, bossed him around, and treated him like a useful, obedient dog.
Because he loved me, he tolerated it.
But if he ever stopped loving me, the consequences were terrifying to imagine.
"Don't you have faith in yourself?" I asked softly.
"I have great faith in my loyalty," he said, ruffling my hair.
"But this isn't about confidence or lack thereof."
"I'm human too, Estelle. I can hurt. No matter how much I love, crashing into the same wall over and over will eventually wear me down."
"I love you, but if you despise me and never respond, I don't know how long this love can last..."
"So, Estelle," he continued, staring intently into my eyes, "if you want to walk this path with me, please treat me better. Give me a reason to keep going."
---
Do I want to walk this path with him?
The answer was, of course, "No."
He killed me once.
The suffocating pain of drowning was excruciating, and my hatred for him ran just as deep. Even if it was hidden now, the scars of the past couldn't be erased.
On the private jet, I removed my eye mask and glanced at Ethan, who was resting with his eyes closed. Hesitating for a moment, I cautiously reached out to touch his face.
