Part 1Love in Every Sunrise and Sunset

To save me, my twenty-five-year-old boyfriend was thrown from a skyscraper by his captors.

When he opened his eyes again, he was a stranger, cold and distant.

He claimed he was from ten years in the future, sent back to fix everything.

He said that the thirty-five-year-old version of himself, Liam, would cheat on me with his childhood friend in the third year of our marriage.

He said that they had grown to despise each other, bound together for a decade only because of their child.

He said that he and the other woman, Sophie, also had a child together.

And his first demand, now that he was back in his twenty-five-year-old body, was that I abort our unborn twins and divorce him.

* * *

The next morning, Liam discharged himself from the hospital and brought Sophie straight to our home.

I was summoned by my in-laws, and when I rushed back, I found him holding Sophie’s hand, declaring to his parents, “Sophie and I grew up together. She’s the one who truly understands me, the one I can spend my life with. I have to marry her!”

He glanced at me, his voice devoid of emotion. “As for Thea, I’ve wronged her. I’ll compensate her after the divorce.”

His parents were livid, their faces pale with rage, muttering about what a disgrace this was to the family. My husband, always so devoted to his parents, was now defying them for another woman.

I looked at him, a bitter taste filling my mouth. “Liam, were you serious last night?”

He had been in a coma for nearly a month. When he woke up, it was like he was a different person, insisting he was the Liam from ten years in the future. I thought it was amnesia, that he was talking nonsense. I didn’t believe him.

But now, seeing his resolve, my hope faltered.

Liam’s gaze was just as it had been the night before—no love, no warmth, only a chilling emptiness. “Thea, how many times do I have to say it? I don’t have amnesia. I remember everything. But I really, truly don’t love you anymore.”

The revulsion in his eyes was a physical blow. “But we just got married three months ago. You said you only loved me…”

Before Liam could reply, Sophie dropped to her knees before my in-laws and me. “Thea, I know your family is better off than mine, that you’re a better match for Liam. I never meant to compete with you. But he loves me now. Please, I’m begging you, let us be together!”

I suddenly remembered what Liam had told me. He said he would meet Sophie three years from now during a vice squad raid. He’d learn that after college, her family’s poverty made her an easy target for a group of wealthy men who assaulted her, and she’d ended up working in seedy clubs. His sympathy for her would blossom into love.

But by then, I would have already given birth to his child. Because of that, both our families would refuse to let us divorce. We would be trapped in a miserable marriage for a decade.

In the end, Sophie, in despair, would take their child and jump from the eighteenth floor.

He was back now to prevent all of that from ever happening.

I could pity Sophie’s story, but I couldn’t bring myself to like her.

Liam helped her up, his eyes filled with tenderness, and then turned to his parents. “Mom, Dad, if you still don’t agree, I’ll quit my job and kill myself right now.”

He was using his own life as a weapon. His parents had no choice but to concede.

Liam immediately took Sophie and left, heading to her parents’ house to propose.

After they were gone, my in-laws unleashed their fury on me. They demanded to know why Liam had changed, why their son’s heart had turned cold only three months after his wedding.

I had no answer. How could I tell them?

How could I explain that the Liam who had walked with me from college classrooms to the wedding altar was gone, and that his body was now inhabited by his thirty-five-year-old soul?

And the thirty-five-year-old Liam didn’t love me.

I stumbled out of the house. The early winter wind bit at my face, but none of it felt real.

How could Liam not love me?

We met at eighteen, in our freshman year of college. After a painting competition, he approached me, his face flushed, and asked for my number. I remember looking at his handsome profile and feeling my own ears burn. He’d quoted a line from a movie then, “Some people are like a rainbow. You don’t know they exist until they appear.”

We started dating at twenty. We traveled to countless cities, and in every single one, he proposed to me. He said he’d keep proposing until we were a hundred, until I finally said yes.

At twenty-four, we were on a snow-capped mountain when I collapsed from hypothermia. He covered me with his own clothes. When the rescue team found us, he was barely breathing, but his arms were still wrapped tightly around me.

I finally agreed to marry him. He was so happy he spun me around a dozen times. The very next day, he was on a plane to meet my parents. At our wedding, he promised to love only me for the rest of his life.

Even in the moments before our fall, as the kidnappers pushed us, he shielded me with his body and whispered, “Thea, if there’s a next life, let’s be together then, too.”

I had walked away without a scratch. He had suffered multiple fractures.

I had sworn that when he woke up, I would spend the rest of my life repaying his profound love.

I never imagined that one day, Liam would tell me he didn't love me.

I wiped away a tear and started walking toward Sophie’s house. I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe the man who loved me that much could ever cheat. I was going to get the thirty-five-year-old Liam out of his body and bring my husband back.