Part 1He Took My Lifeboat During the Outbreak

During our annual leave, my husband and I went abroad for our honeymoon. Coincidentally, a new virus broke out—infection meant death within three months.

Desperate, and due to my specialized profession, I received the only two return tickets available.

I touched my belly, where my child was less than three months old, and excitedly told my husband, “Liam, we don’t have to die.”

But on the day we were supposed to leave, Liam said, “I gave the tickets to Sienna. She’s seven months pregnant.”

Sienna was the one he’d loved and lost in his youth, his “white moonlight.”

For the sake of the baby in my belly, I knelt and begged him to get the tickets back. He hesitated for a second, then coldly refused me.

“Sienna and her baby need those tickets more. Your baby is only a month along; it doesn’t count as a life yet!”

In the end, I watched helplessly as he took Sienna and boarded the plane, while I, and the child in my womb, died in a foreign land.

When I reopened my eyes, I found myself holding two tickets!

* * *

Half an hour ago, I had called the embassy and, due to my specialized background, had secured these two sole tickets.

Memories of my past life flashed before my eyes like a film.

They stopped at the scene of me, connected to a ventilator, dying in despair on a cold hospital bed.

My body turned to ashes, scattered with thousands of other deceased souls on foreign soil.

When I returned to the hotel, it was twenty minutes earlier than in my previous life. I overheard Liam on the phone in the bathroom.

“Sienna, don’t be afraid. I’ll find a way to get tickets.”

“For the sake of our unborn baby, you must be strong. You’re a strong mother. Trust me, I won’t let you or the baby die.”

Liam’s voice was softer than I’d ever heard it. From the other end of the line came intermittent sobs.

“Oh, Liam, thank you for still being so good to me. If I hadn’t been born into such a parasitic family, I never would have left you.”

Then Sienna’s voice turned a bit sour. “By the way, Liam, are you in Florence for your honeymoon this time?”

Liam hummed, then eagerly added, “But also to see you. I heard you got divorced, and I was worried about you being alone.”

I gripped the tickets, sitting on the sofa, and scoffed. So, among all those countries, Liam’s insistence on coming to Florence was for Sienna.

It was laughable that before we left, he’d given the reason that Florence was a romantic city and he wanted to give me a romantic trip. Only now, reliving it, did I realize it was all a lie.

The doorknob to the bathroom turned, and Liam saw me. A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, but he quickly composed himself.

He smiled and sat beside me, wrapping his arms around me intimately, as he always did, burrowing into my embrace. “Honey, when did you get back?”

Our bodies were pressed tightly together, but I no longer felt the warmth I once did. Instead, a chill seeped into my bones.

I pushed him away, calmly saying, “I just got back and sat down when you came out.”

He didn't think much of it, nor did he notice my changed demeanor. Instead, he let out a sigh of relief, then his voice dropped.

“Honey, if we can’t leave this time, I’ll die with you.”

I said nothing, but scoffed inwardly. With Sienna, he was careful to comfort her and promise she wouldn’t die.

With me, he said he could die with me, yet in the previous life, he took the ticket and boarded the plane with Sienna.

I still remember how he resolutely flung my hand away, feigning agony as he said, “Eleanor, I’m an only child, and I come from a single-parent home. If I die, my mother won’t survive. But don’t worry, I’ll treat your parents as my own.”