At the party, I dragged my drunk best friend back to her hotel room. But my childhood sweetheart—the man I’d loved my entire life—grabbed me, mistaking me for her. It was a messy, chaotic night. Everyone said I did it on purpose. They said I was a homewrecker trying to drive a wedge between him and his "true love." Even after we were forced to marry, nothing I did could melt his heart of ice. I thought I could endure it. Until I overheard him on the phone, his voice dripping with malice. "I’ll drag Luna along for the rest of her miserable life if it means getting revenge for Chloe. Who else would want her anyway?" "She wants a baby? I’ll make sure she never gets one. I’d rather die." A piercing car horn cut his tirade short. He turned, saw me standing on the corner, and panic flooded his face. He started running toward me. But it was too late. The impact was brutal. I was sent flying into the air. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at that party. Back to the night it all went wrong. And this time? I decided to let him and my "best friend" have their happily ever after. 1 Only Chloe knew I was in love with Asher. When I saw Asher stumbling drunk in the hallway, eyes glazed over, pinning me against the wall, I didn't lean in. My eyes went cold. I grabbed his arm and dragged him straight to Chloe’s room. I pounded on the door. When Chloe opened it, I shoved Asher right into her arms. "He needs you. Now." Chloe looked stunned for a split second. Then, as she wrapped her arms around him, her face twisted into a sneer. "Finally got some self-awareness, Luna?" "Took you long enough. Asher has always wanted me. Why do you keep humiliating yourself?" "He rejected you so hard last time, and you’re still acting like a simp? Do you have no dignity?" My fingernails dug into my palms. Even a lifetime later, her words still stung. In my past life, Chloe had played the "bestie" card, dragging me on this beach trip only to treat me like a glorified maid while she flirted with the guy I loved. That night, in my first life, Asher was too drunk to know who was who. I took him to his room, and things happened. We got engaged out of obligation, but on our wedding day, Chloe killed herself in our bridal suite. That guilt destroyed my marriage before it began. But this time? I wasn't playing. "You're right," I said, my voice flat. "He’s always wanted you. I’m done chasing." I turned on my heel and walked out of the hotel. Tears streamed down my face the second I hit the fresh air. I cried for the wasted years, for the pain of two lifetimes. Then, I pulled out my phone and dialed my aunt. "Aunt Sarah? I’ll take the offer. I’m moving to Canada." "And that arranged marriage you mentioned? I’ll do it." Aunt Sarah sounded thrilled. "Oh, thank God, Luna! You finally came to your senses. I’ll make the arrangements..." She paused. "Does Asher know?" "No." "Good," she sighed. "Honey, I know you grew up with the guy, but he’s not your guardian. You’re an adult. You can’t keep orbiting him, especially when his heart is taken. I’ve been so worried about you staying there..." I let out a bitter laugh. "I know, Auntie. That’s why I’m never going to love him again." 2 I didn't go back to the hotel that night. I stayed at a cheap motel nearby, catching a fever from the drafty window. When I returned the next morning, groggy and burning up, I walked straight into the news of their engagement. Asher was lounging on the sofa in a wrinkled silk robe, his neck covered in hickeys. Chloe was wrapped in a towel, looking like the cat who ate the canary. They were feeding each other breakfast, putting on a show. "Oh, look who's back," Chloe chirped. "Asher cooked breakfast. It’s delicious. But I guess you’re sick of his cooking by now, right Luna?" My heart gave a painful throb. Sick of it? Asher had never cooked for me. Not once. Well, except for that one time when we were kids and I was sick, crying for my mom’s soup. He made a bowl of undercooked rice sludge with sugar instead of salt. I cherished the memory of that terrible porridge for years. But for Chloe? He took culinary classes. He made gourmet meals. Asher wiped a crumb from Chloe’s lip, his expression cold as he looked at me. "Chloe likes the villa on the South Side. We’re going to renovate it for the wedding. As for you..." I looked down. I knew what was coming. That villa had been my home for ten years. Now, I was being evicted. "I’ll move out ASAP," I said, my voice raspy. "Brother." Asher froze. His pupils dilated. I hadn't called him "Brother" since I confessed my love at eighteen. He used to scream at me to stop having "disgusting thoughts" about him. "What did you call me?" he stammered. Chloe cut in, draping herself over him. "I mean, we’re getting married. She’s practically family." She smirked at me. "So, what are you going to call me?" Asher didn't answer. He was staring at me, looking conflicted. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Sister-in-law." Chloe’s smug smile faltered. I walked past them to my room and collapsed on the bed, the fever taking over. Later, Asher blocked my doorway. "I don't care what game you're playing," he snarled. "I’m marrying Chloe. Don't try to sabotage this." "If you do, I won't let you off easy." Not let me off easy? What else could he do? In my past life, Chloe spilled hot soup on me, and he made me kneel in the rain to apologize. She pushed me down the stairs, and he locked me in the basement until I admitted I fell. My love for him was a poison I drank willingly. Not anymore. "Understood," I whispered. Asher seemed thrown off by my lack of fight. "Look, we have a few days left of vacation. You can come with us tomorrow..." "No thanks," I cut him off. "You guys enjoy your honeymoon preview. I have stuff to handle back home. I’m leaving." I packed my bag and left. 3 They turned the rest of the trip into a pre-wedding honeymoon. Chloe made sure I knew every detail. She bombarded my phone with photos. Picture: Asher cutting steak for her. "He's so attentive. I must have saved a country in my past life to deserve him." Picture: Asher washing her feet. "Your dream guy is serving me like a queen. Did he ever do this for you?" Chloe knew exactly where to stick the knife. But she didn't know he used to be good to me, too. Before she came along. If I had a nightmare, he’d fly back from business trips. If I got bullied, he’d show up at school, pale-faced from his heart condition, to defend me. That all ended the day I told him I loved him. I scrolled through his Instagram. It was a shrine to Chloe. In every photo, he looked like a boy in love. I stared at the screen until my tears blurred his face. Then, my phone buzzed. Asher. "What are you doing?" his voice was icy. I looked around my room at the Fu mansion. He had given me a mountain of gifts over the years, but I was taking almost nothing. I looked at the shelf of photo albums. I used to document his life because he was vain about getting old. He used to love it. After my confession, he burned half of them in a drunken rage, calling my obsession "sick." I left them there. Under the bed was a box of a thousand letters I never sent. He told me once, "If you ever can't find me, write it down." He never knew they existed. I left those, too. I took one suitcase of clothes and a photo of my late parents. "Nothing," I said into the phone. "What do you want?" "Can you stop harassing Chloe?" he shouted. "How many times do I have to tell you I love her? Give it up!" I stayed silent. The accusation was baseless, as usual. "You leave early to play the victim, then you blow up her phone asking for photos? Are you psycho?" Chloe sent them to me. To gloat. He knew that. Or maybe he didn't care. "I didn't ask for them," I said tiredly. "Stop lying! Just stop!" he yelled. "I’m sick of you. When will you get it through your head? Your obsession is disgusting." Tears rolled down my cheeks, but my voice was steady. "It won't happen again." "Good," he huffed. "I was going to send you to the branch office for an internship, but I don't want you messing up my wedding. I’m sending you out of state." "No need," I said. "I found a job. It’s far away. I won't be living at the house anymore." Silence on the other end. "When did you find a job? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you let me arrange it?" He was doing it again. Pushing me away, then panicking when I actually left. "I’m an adult," I said. "I can take care of myself. Brother." I emphasized the last word. He hung up on me. Minutes later, a text popped up. Tonight. Engagement party on the yacht. You have to come. Chloe insists she wants her 'best friend' there to witness her happiness. 4 The yacht party was extravagant. Millions of dollars in fireworks, the elite of the city, champagne flowing like water. In my last life, our wedding was a shotgun affair he tried to keep secret. He wouldn't even take wedding photos. For Chloe? He bought the world. "Luna! Over here!" Chloe shoved a camera into my hands. "Asher is going to propose officially. Record it for us." As she handed me the camera, she flashed her wrist. My eyes burned. She was wearing the prayer beads. 108 wooden beads. I had climbed a mountain, kneeling at every step, to pray for them when Asher was in critical condition with his heart. My blood was still stained into the wood grain. "Asher gave them to me," she giggled. "I tripped the other day, and he said these would keep me safe. He's so superstitious." She smirked. "He said you ruined your knees begging for these? That's crazy." I still had chronic pain in my legs when it rained. He knew that. After the proposal photos, Chloe grabbed the camera back and "accidentally" bumped into me. The beads flew off her wrist and into the dark ocean. "Oh no!" Chloe wailed. "Luna! I know you didn't want me to have them, but did you have to throw them away? They represent Asher's safety!" She looked at Asher with big, teary eyes. "Does this mean... something bad will happen?" "Don't talk like that," Asher snapped. He turned his glare on me. "You break it, you buy it. Or in this case, you retrieve it. I taught you that, didn't I?" Just like when Chloe broke her own project and blamed me, and he gave her my award-winning design as compensation. Just like when she threw away her cheap jade pendant and he forced me to give her my mother's heirloom. I looked at the dark water. Then I looked at him. "Fine. As you wish." I jumped. The water was freezing. It felt like a thousand needles stabbing my skin. I dove down, again and again, lungs burning, until I found the beads snagged on a ladder rung below the surface. When they hauled me up, shivering and blue, Asher just scowled. "Still trying to play the hero? You think this makes me pity you?" I handed the beads to Chloe. "Sorry." Chloe snatched them. "Thanks, Luna. Oh, by the way, Asher said since you're moving out, I can use your room for my collectibles?" My room. The one she had already forced me out of three times, pushing me from the master suite to the guest room to the attic and finally the storage closet. "Sure," I said through chattering teeth. "It was just a closet anyway." "And those clay dolls under your pillow? Can I have them for inspiration?" My head snapped up. Those dolls. Asher made them for me years ago. He said they were us, together forever. They were the only thing that kept me sane. Asher looked at me, his expression unreadable. I smiled, a broken, hollow thing. "Take them. They're in his room now anyway." "Take whatever you want," I said softly. "I’m leaving everything behind. Including the person who used to mean the most to me." Asher’s face darkened. "I’m leaving now. Congrats." I turned to walk away. Suddenly, the giant LED screen on the deck flickered to life. A video started playing. It was the night at the hotel. But the video was edited. It didn't show me handing Asher to Chloe. It only showed Asher drunk and stumbling, and me wrapping my arms around his neck to support him, looking intimate. Gasps rippled through the crowd. "Luna!" Asher roared, his face draining of color. "You... you actually filmed it?" "It’s a misunderstanding!" he frantically told Chloe. Chloe looked at him with sad, betrayed eyes. "I trust you, honey. But... who else would release this but her?" Asher marched over and slapped me across the face. Crack. "You disgust me! You released a sex tape to ruin my engagement?" I tasted blood. The crowd was jeering. "Ungrateful wolf," someone muttered. "She wants to force him to marry her." "I didn't do it!" I screamed. Slap. He hit me again. "Liar! Only you and I were there!" I looked at Chloe. She was the only other person who knew. "Asher," Chloe sobbed. "She hates us. She wants to ruin the family reputation because she can't have you." "Luna," Asher said, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. "I gave you a chance. You blew it." He signaled his bodyguards. "Bring the whip." They beat me in front of everyone. When I was barely conscious, they tied a rope around my waist and threw me back into the ocean. "Maybe the sharks will teach you a lesson," Asher spat. The scent of my blood drew them in. I thrashed in the water, feeling the rough skin of sharks bumping against me. I felt teeth graze my leg. I screamed until my throat tore. Asher stood on the deck, arm around Chloe, watching me drown. When they finally pulled me up, I was bleeding from multiple bites. As the police arrived—called by Asher to arrest me for defamation and blackmail—he announced to the crowd: "Let me be clear. I have no relationship with Luna anymore. Chloe is the only woman I will ever love." I was dragged away in handcuffs, listening to the applause.
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