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‘You know, I’ve lived two lives,” she said, her voice dreamy. “In our last life, we had two children. We had a
happy family. Everyone envied us.”
listened, my gaze cold. “If you’ve lived two lives, why didn’t you choose to continue that ‘happy life’ with me
his time?”
Aria faltered for a second, then gave a bitter smile. “I wanted to try a different path, so…”
So, you were reborn, and you simply chose someone else.”
Her expression hardened for a moment, then she laughed it off. “It doesn’t matter. Think whatever you want.
‘m just putting everything back in its rightful place now.”
A crazed light shone in her eyes. A dawning horror washed over me. “Aria, what are you going to do?”
She pointed to the street outside the courthouse. “This is where we had the car accident in our last life. After that, I was reborn. If we do it again, I’m sure I’ll make the right choice this time.”
She was staring at her watch, counting down the seconds. Her voice was a demonic whisper, ticking down he moments until my death.
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Chapter 2
I stared at her, my eyes wide, fighting the urge to scream. “Aria, even if we were together, what would chan- ge? In the last life, you grew to hate me, so in this life, you chose Ross. Now you regret it, and you want to drag me to my death with you. I don’t want to!”
She leaned down, her face close to mine. “You were reborn too, weren’t you?” she said coldly. “That’s the only way you could have let me go at the engagement party, the only way you could have avoided every crisis that hit your company.”
“Fred, let’s go back to the beginning together. With two lifetimes of experience, we could be on top of the world. We could be together forever. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
“No,” I said, staring her straight in the eye.
“I don’t want to be with you forever. My choice in the last life was a mistake. In this life, I have found someo ne I truly love.”
“Even if you kill me, I will find her again. And I will love her again. As long as I have my memories, as long as have a choice, I will never choose you!”
“Fred!”
A frantic voice cut through the air. I whipped my head around and saw Vera standing a short distance away.
‘Aria, don’t hurt him! We can talk about this!”
Aria looked at Vera, her eyes filled with a deep-seated hatred. “Talk? Vera, you stole everything from me!”
‘But now the time is up. And I’m taking back what’s mine.”
With that, she grabbed me and started pulling me toward the roaring traffic.
My eyes widened in terror. I lunged, my hand catching on a streetlight pole. “I won’t go! Aria, even if we do his a hundred times, I will never choose you!”
Vera was running toward us.
Aria gave me one last, long look, and then her grip loosened.
You’re right,” she said, her voice hollow. “You won’t choose me. So I should go back by myself. Go back and ind my Fred.”
Then, without looking back, she ran into the street.
Vera reached me just in time to cover my eyes.
But I had already seen it.
The impact. The blood arcing through the air, painting the wet pavement red.
I began to tremble uncontrollably, clinging to Vera’s clothes and sobbing like a child.
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Chapter 2
She called the police and an ambulance, then led me away.
The image of Aria being hit by the car haunted me. I had nightmares every night, reliving the moment she tried to drag me to my death.
A few days later, Vera found out that Aria hadn’t died. She told me the news with a sigh of relief and even accompanied me to the hospital to see her.
Aria was hooked up to a constellation of machines, a ventilator breathing for her. The doctors said her cha nces of waking up were infinitesimally small. She would likely remain in a vegetative state for the rest of her
life.
Her parents knelt before me, begging for my forgiveness. I gave it to them. Vera even offered to cover all of Aria’s medical expenses for the rest of her life.
When I asked her why, she simply kissed my cheek. “I heard what she said.”
“I was afraid she might really be reborn and come bother you again.”
“This lifetime, the next, and the one after that… you’re mine.”
I rested my head on her shoulder, a sense of peace I had never known washing over me. It was as if all the
suffering, all the pain from two lifetimes, had finally been laid to rest.
All the hardship I had endured… it was all so I could find my way to this person, and spend the rest of my life
with her.
(The End)
