Chapter 2

Ethan sneered, feigning lighthearted amusement. "Seriously, Sean, if you were struggling over the last five years, all you had to do was ask. Even if you were too embarrassed to face Vivian, you could've just come crawling to me!"

"A grown man with no money, no steady career, and still single—it's honestly pretty pathetic!"

His sharp jab brought a round of enthusiastic applause from the fans.

I casually reached out to hold the side door open for a passing pregnant woman, then turned back and coolly declined his offer.

"No thanks. I can provide for myself just fine."

Having coordinated three weddings in a single day at this venue, my back was screaming in protest. All I wanted was to rest my feet.

Since my heavy-duty work pants were meant to take a beating anyway, I casually sat cross-legged right there on the floor.

The fans stared in utter disbelief, as if they wanted nothing more than to kick me out the front doors.

"Look at this doorman acting like he's somebody! If Ethan wasn't being generous, who the hell would even look twice at him?"

"He just had to park his ass right next to our meet-and-greet! He's definitely playing the victim to get Vivian to pity him and toss him some spare change! What a disgusting creep!"

Vivian's eyes flared with suppressed turmoil, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

She unzipped her designer purse, pulled out a dazzling emerald necklace, and hurled it straight into my lap.

"Hock it. The money you get will easily buy you a decent condo. Whether you live in it or rent it out, at least you won't be so broke that you have to work security!"

"Sean, you don't need to make your life look this miserable. No matter how incredible I am, or how deeply I touched your heart, we're done. That chapter is closed."

"I don't hold a grudge against you anymore."

"Can't we just live our own lives in peace? Did you really have to show up here just to humiliate us both?!"

Leaning against the wall, I stared at her, completely baffled by her sudden outburst.

I couldn't fathom what I could have possibly done in our previous life that warranted her holding a grudge—what could have made her so determined to draw such a hard line the second we were reborn.

In our past life, Vivian had carried the heavy burden of paying for her mother's terminal cancer treatments.

Yet, she had always been ambitious, dreaming of nothing but becoming a glamorous movie star on the silver screen.

To give her my unconditional support and be her rock, I hadn't hesitated to sell the house my late parents left me, handing over every single cent to her.

When she wanted to move to another state to attend elite acting classes but worried about her hospitalized mother being left alone, I didn't think twice. I quit my high-paying corporate job just as I was up for a major promotion, working day and night around the clock to care for her mother so she could chase her dreams without looking back.

Back then, I gave her everything I had.

I only wanted her to know that I loved her, that she could always lean on me.

Yet, when Vivian was preparing for another audition and couldn't even find a decent designer dress in her closet, she completely lost her mind.

She lunged at me in a hysterical frenzy, digging her sharp nails into my arms until bloody scratches tore down my skin.

"I've lost my damn mind! Why did I ever tie myself down to a loser like you?! You can't give me a single thing! If I had just swallowed my pride and taken Ethan's financial backing, my life wouldn't be this endless uphill battle!"

"I hate myself for ever choosing you!"

From that day on, Vivian became a completely different person.

She never talked about acting with sparkling eyes again. She never went to another audition.

The rift between us grew wider with every passing day.

Remembering the vicious words she had spat at me made my chest ache with phantom pain.

Seeing how utterly depressed I was, a friend gifted me two first-class tickets for a weekend getaway.

Terrified of losing her forever, I dropped to one knee mid-flight and proposed.

"Vivian, you're the only woman I'll ever want to marry. Let's get married!"

I could never forget the sheer disgust dripping from her eyes.

She smacked the modest silver ring right out of my hand, screaming at the top of her lungs, "No money, no house, and you want to get married?!"

"Do you seriously have zero self-awareness? How did your pathetic brain even cook up this idiotic idea?"

"Let me make one thing crystal clear: I could marry literally anyone in this world, but you? In this lifetime, not a chance in hell!"

Her icy glare and venomous words finally shattered my delusions. She was gone, and there was nothing left to save.

I slumped back into my seat, entirely hollowed out.

Even when the plane began to pitch and shake violently in severe turbulence, I didn't feel an ounce of fear.

As the nose plunged toward the earth in a terminal dive, I closed my eyes and silently prayed in the dark:

Let it end. Just let all this madness end.