In my past life, Ethan had told me that every bit
of kindness I showed him came at a greater
cost of pain. So he never dared to hope for
anything, and he was always prepared for me to
leave. Now, those words were like a knife.
twisting in mu haart
r
On this day, in my past life, while I was gone, his dinner was a cold box of takeout. No one had wished him a happy birthday. So he waited for me outside the hospital, didn’t he? He just wanted to hear me say “happy birthday,” but I told him to mind his own business and stay
away from me.
The belated truth was suffocating.
He looked away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have
said that. It’s getting dark. It’s not safe. If
you’re going to the hospital, you should hurry
I grabbed his hand, a bold, almost desperate
gesture, intertwining my fingers with his.
He froze, but didn’t pull away. His voice was
low and husky. “Sarah, what are you doing?
Haven’t you humiliated me enough?”
11:27
I looked up and tugged on his tie, pulling him
down.
“Honey, don’t move.”
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Those two words seemed to break his resolve. I
stood on tiptoe and kissed his cold lips. The
scent of his elegant cologne filled my senses. I
wrapped my arms around his neck and pushed
him against the wall, gently, tentatively….
He went from stiff, to shocked, and finally, to
surrender. He closed his eyes, letting me have.
my way. His pristine shirt became wrinkled. He
unconsciously wrapped his arms around my
waist, pulling me closer, his hands resting
possessively on my back.
The overhead lights flickered and finally went.
out, leaving us in darkness. We broke apart,
foreheads touching, catching our breath.
“Sarah,” Ethan murmured, his voice thick with
emotion. “Don’t do this…”
“You don’t like it?”
“No.” He was silent for a long moment. “Don’t tempt me. While I still have some sense left, go
to him.”
“Can you bear it?” I breathed softly in his ear.
“Aren’t you jealous? Aren’t you angry? Can you
bear to see me kiss someone else-”
Ethan seemed to snap. He lowered his head
and captured my mouth in a hungry kiss, taking
control. He lifted me into his arms and carried
me back to the sofa. Before I could react, his
hand cupped the back of my head, and he
kissed me again, with a fierce possessiveness…
A smile played on my lips. He had remarkable
restraint, but a little push was all it took.
However, things escalated a bit more quickly
11:27
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“Ethan!” I said, suddenly wary. “What are you…. hey… what are you doing… I mean, we can go home and…”
His voice, warm and husky in my ear, stopped
my protest. “I gave you a chance. You didn’t take it.”
“Now, there’s no more chances.”
He flipped me over so I was draped over the back of the sofa.
His voice, a low murmur against my ear, sent shivers down my spine. “Sarah, you’re dead.”
5
I’d assumed, given Ethan’s personality, that he wasn’t capable of anything too wild. But I forgot. In my past life, he was the kind of crazy
who’d die for love. He had a streak of wildness
buried deep down.
“You…you” My weak protests were
<
11:27
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swallowed by his kisses. In the end, I could only cling to his neck and plead, “Ethan…have some
mercy on me…”
He seemed angry, not hearing my words at all. I
bit my lip, holding him tight, tears welling up
and spilling onto his shoulder.
Ethan froze, then stopped, his movements
suddenly cautious. “I’m sorry.”
My chin rested on his shoulder. I looked up and
saw the bright moonlight through the window.
“Ethan, I’ve even picked out names for our
kids.” I’d thought about it for so long in my past.
life, but never told him.
“Sarah, don’t,” he murmured, his voice hoarse.
“Don’t you believe me?”
He didn’t answer. He probably didn’t dare to
hope that we could have children.
11:27
- ))
<
“A boy and a girl,” I continued. “I’ll let you pick
their nicknames-”
Unbeknownst to me, the man who had just
regained his composure was losing control again. Ethan didn’t give me a chance to finish.
He carried me, half–delirious, through a small
door next to his office. The door closed softly
behind us. The wind whispered outside the
window. The moonlight was bright. And from
behind the closed door, came the murmur of
whispered words.
Later that night, my childishness took over, and
I started kicking him, telling him I didn’t want
him anymore. Ethan, without a word, pulled me
back and asked, “You don’t want me? Who do
you want then?”
He asked in all seriousness.
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<
I blushed furiously. “Anyone but you!”
“Hmm,” he mumbled, burying his face in my
hair. “You don’t get to decide that.”
That night, my dreams were filled with Ethan’s
embrace and the raging inferno. I lay in a pool
of blood, strapped with explosives. Ethan
rushed into the flames, picked me up, his whole
body trembling. I saw him crying, but I could
only weakly raise my hand and push him away.
“Get out…”
“Ethan, I told you to get out… Don’t touch me,
please…”
My dream shattered with my cries. The warm.
touch vanished. I fell back into darkness, then.
my eyes flew open, my cheeks wet.
I was dreaming.
As I came to my senses, I realized I had pushed
<
Ethan to the edge of the bed. Judging by his
expression, I had been talking in my sleep. He
handed me a tissue, but remained sitting at a
distance. His fingers avoided touching mine.
My heart sank. He still misunderstood.
“Ethan,” I said, “I was having a nightmare.”
He was listening intently.
My voice trembled. “I was in a fire, strapped
with explosives, and you were going to die with
- me. That’s why I yelled at you. Don’t
misunderstand.”
Ethan’s eyes flickered with understanding, then
returned to their usual dullness. “Okay, I believe
you.”
He tucked me in, picked up his pillow, and
walked out.
<
“Ethan!” I called out to his retreating back.
“You’re lying.”
He didn’t answer.
I grabbed a pillow and hurled it at him. “Fine, go ahead and leave! My whole body aches. You jerk! Just leave me here to die!” I turned my back to him, curling up into a ball under the
covers.
No wonder people said young people were stubborn. Ten years younger, Ethan was
incredibly rigid, not cute at all.
After a long silence, the bed dipped behind me.
Ethan sighed. “Go to sleep.”
“Hold me.”
He obediently scooped me into his arms.
The night was long, but I stared at the
<
darkness, wide awake. Since my re
SO
much information swirled in my mind. The
person who kidnapped me had crossed paths
with Ethan before. He was a businessman
whose company had gone bankrupt. And the
“accident” that happened to Dylan was
orchestrated by my uncle to drive a wedge
between Ethan and me. I learned all of this in
the last year of my past life.
Ethan always kept my movements closely
guarded, yet I was kidnapped on my way to a
prenatal checkup. How did they know? The only
possibility was the call from Dylan. And in my
final moments, Ethan had said, “Thank you,
Dylan. Without you, I wouldn’t have found her.”
Love is blind. Looking back now, what role did
Dylan, my most trusted childhood friend of over
a decade, play in all of this?
7
We returned to the car. Outside, the police were
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gradually dispersing. Soon, someone would take us to the hospital. Because Dylan had no family.
