Chapter 3

Daniel's face stiffened, but he quickly regained his composure.

He calmly pulled a gold necklace from his bag, chuckling, "Oh, I forgot to give it to her. It's better this way, you can give it to Mom yourself, it feels more ceremonial, doesn't it?"

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. As she busied herself putting the necklace on me, her thoughts started again: "Danny is so careless, he actually forgot about this. Good thing Auntie asked, otherwise, what kind of person would I have looked like?"

I frowned. Chloe in this life didn't match the one from my previous life either.

Could it be that she had prepared the gold necklace in my last life too, but because Daniel forgot, and I didn't feel right asking for a gift on our first meeting, it created a misunderstanding?

Then why didn't Daniel ever give me the gold necklace later?

Something else must have happened in between.

And later, she still held onto our family's assets, which led to my tragic death. I definitely need to investigate this thoroughly.

Once the necklace was on, Chloe took my hand, smiling brightly as she admired it: "Auntie, gold really suits you, it matches your elegant demeanor beautifully."

I lowered my gaze to the necklace, a strange mix of emotions swirling in my heart.

In my previous life, because our first impression of each other was so terrible, Chloe and I had very little contact afterward.

I never knew she could say such sweet things.

Chloe then turned to playfully scold Daniel: "When will you ever take my matters seriously? Last time I bought skincare products, I got a set for Auntie and asked you to deliver it to her. But you completely forgot and ended up using it yourself. Now you even forgot something as important as this?"

I remembered the skincare incident very clearly.

A month ago, I accidentally appeared in Daniel's FaceTime call with Chloe. I was applying face cream at the time.

Chloe saw the brand of cream I was using and chatted with me about it for a few minutes.

But as soon as Daniel hung up, he claimed Chloe was angry.

Because the face cream I used was apparently more expensive than hers.

Daniel said, "Chloe thinks you're too old to be using such expensive brands; you should save that money for your future grandson. Just stick to drugstore brands, she said."

At the time, my blood boiled. I immediately told Daniel that this girlfriend wasn't suitable.

Now, it seemed many things weren't as I had understood them.

Daniel nervously glanced at me, then wrapped an arm around Chloe, maintaining his playful grin: "I know I messed up, babe. Next time, I'll make sure your and Mom's matters are my top priority."

My heart sank deeper and deeper.

All those things I'd once believed Chloe had done to me, she seemed completely unaware of them.

Then what about taking all our family's assets?

Could that have had nothing to do with her either?

Filled with questions, I finished dinner.

Daniel drove Chloe back to school, and I immediately booked a full body check-up at the hospital.

The doctor pointed to my test results and told me that a tiny lesion had been found in my stomach. A biopsy confirmed it was stomach cancer.

However, thankfully, I had caught it in time. It was in a very early stage, with a very high cure rate.

They just needed to surgically remove the affected stomach tissue and booked me for an operation.

I sighed in relief; thankfully, I'd made it in time this life.

On the way home, my steps felt lighter than air.

When I arrived, I found Daniel back home, sitting on the couch with his head down, looking glum.

The moment he saw me, he put on a tearful face and said, "Mom, Chloe said she wants a two-hundred-thousand-dollar wedding settlement. What do we do?"