Part 1The Cushion

To save my husband, Ethan Vance, from a fatal fall while he was working on a high-voltage line, I disregarded my own safety and acted as his human cushion.

He walked away with a few scratches. I shattered my right arm and suffered severe internal bleeding.

Later, pressured by the town's gossip about how he owed me his life, he reluctantly married me.

But Ethan never loved me. One night, in a drunken stupor, I heard his true feelings.

"If I had known I'd be shackled to Clara for the rest of my life, I would have been better off dying in that fall!"

I felt like I had been plunged into an ice bath.

It turned out that for all those years, Ethan never got over his first love, Sarah. He even told our children stories about their "epic romance" behind my back.

Even my own kids grew up believing I had trapped their father with a debt of gratitude, ruining his chance at true happiness.

They dumped me in a desolate nursing home where I died alone, consumed by depression.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back.

Back to the day Ethan climbed that utility pole.

This time, I didn't catch him. Instead, I stood far, far away.

In this life, I'll let him get exactly what he wished for.

1

"Ethan, be careful up there! Double-check your safety gear!"

"Yeah, that pole is over thirty feet high. Falling isn't an option."

"Take your time, don't rush it!"

Ethan was fully geared up, safety belt around his waist, climbing spikes on his boots, slowly ascending the wooden pole.

I was jolted awake by the shouting around me. It felt like the fog in my brain suddenly cleared.

Villagers surrounded the scene. Without realizing it, I had walked to the base of the utility pole, staring up at Ethan who was already halfway up. My palms were sweating.

Seeing this incredibly familiar scene and hearing the familiar warnings...

It hit me. I had been reborn!

I was back forty years in the past, to the very day I sacrificed my body to be Ethan's cushion!

In my previous life, when Ethan suddenly fell, I didn't hesitate to break his fall with my own body.

With me as his cushion, Ethan only suffered minor scrapes. I suffered internal bleeding and a comminuted fracture of my right arm.

It was only because I was rushed to the hospital that I survived.

Because of this life-saving act, a huge stir was created in our small town.

The neighbors knew Ethan and I grew up together. We were childhood sweethearts, seemingly a match made in heaven.

Everyone gossiped, joking that saving a life should be repaid with marriage.

Under the pressure of public opinion, Ethan felt forced to marry me.

It wasn't until after the wedding that I learned he didn't love me at all.

On our wedding day, he hid in the power plant office and called Sarah on the landline, crying his heart out.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. I can't marry you in this life. If there is a next life, I will never let you down again."

After marriage, I buried this secret deep in my heart, telling no one.

Although I knew he was forced to marry me, I firmly believed that love could grow over time.

I didn't believe that decades of living together wouldn't melt his heart.

For forty years, I took care of every aspect of Ethan's life.

To let him work without worry, I took on all the household burdens, big and small.

But it wasn't until that drunken confession that I woke up from my dream.

You can't warm a stone.

He had told our children countless times about his tragic romance with Sarah, never mentioning my sacrifices.

This led the children to resent me for using gratitude to trap him, ruining his lifelong love with Sarah.

Thinking back, it was absurd and pathetic.

My thoughts were interrupted by a shout.

"Hey, look! Why is Ethan climbing down?"