Chapter 1
Before I could even react, someone shoved me hard from behind.
With a loud thud, I hit the floor, momentarily dazed and completely disoriented.
Through the thin wooden door that barely muffled any sound, a barrage of insults poured in with crystal clarity.
“You ungrateful little brat! I’ve clothed you, fed you, raised you all these years, and now you think you can just run off to college and live the high life? Dream on!”
“Once that damn application system closes, you’re getting a job to support our family. My son’s going to college next year, and if you mess up his future, I swear to God I’ll beat you senseless!”
The shrill, relentless verbal assault continued as I stumbled to the mirror in a daze.
The reflection staring back at me looked exhausted but surprisingly youthful. My hair was still smooth and shiny, not yet dried out and grayed by the hardships of life.
My stomach was flat–no life growing inside it yet.
There was no surgical light above me, no obstetricians surrounding me, no smell of antiseptic filling my nostrils.
In that moment, the realization hit me with absolute clarity: I had been reborn.
Reborn to the day after the SAT results were released–the first day to submit university applications.
And right now, I had been locked in my room by my mother, AGAIN.
In my past life, she kept me locked up until the application deadline passed, then forced me to get a job to support our family.
she’d brag to anyone who would listen: “She cried and threw tantrums back then, but look at her now–quietly handing over her paycheck like a good girl.”
When I tried to fight back, only to receive a brutal beating.
When I finally escaped this house, she called the police, claiming I’d been kidnapped. I hadn’t gotten far before they brought me right back.
When I fulfilled her wish and started earning money to support our family, she would still hit me and verbally abuse me at the slightest provocation, constantly putting me down while forcibly taking every penny I earned to fund her precious son’s expenses.
Even after I finally got married, I remained her personal ATM, with her clinging to me like a parasite.
Chapter 1
She never loved me.
That’s why during my pregnancy, when my mother–in–law forced “nutritional” soups on me that made my baby dangerously large, labor became a nightmare.
Instead of showing concern, she actively prevented my husband from signing consent forms for pain relief during delivery.
The delay cost both my life and my baby’s.
When she found out, she just stood there, neck stiff with self–righteousness.
“I just wanted her to feel the pain so she’d understand a mother’s sacrifice. It’s her own weak fate that killed her!”
Looking back at my previous life–controlled, bled dry, enslaved and abused like a tool.
Now that I’ve been given another chance, am I going to walk the same path again?
After a violent shudder, I glanced at the paper–thin wooden door. Without hesitation, I grabbed the nearby stool and began smashing it against the doorknob.
One strike. Two strikes. Three strikes…
I lost count of how many times I hit it, my mind fixated on a single thought.
I will NOT repeat the same miserable life again!
