While preparing for euthanasia abroad, a reporter suddenly asked me: "Miss Miller, what is the biggest regret of your life?" I thought for a long time before slowly speaking: "When I was a child, my parents went to an orphanage to adopt a child. I chose a quiet boy, and in the end, despite everyone's objections, I insisted on marrying him." My words piqued the reporter's curiosity, and she continued to ask: "Did you end up marrying him?" I touched the scar on my wrist, the wound long since healed into a scab. This was a rare moment of clarity for me. "I did, but then we divorced. He got together with my best friend of twenty-five years. I heard recently that they had a second child. That's good." The afternoon the interview aired, Julian Vance rushed from back home and stopped the procedure. He looked at me, his eyes filled with uncontrollable joy: "Jane, it's so good you're not dead! Your mother talks about you all the time, she misses you, we all miss you." I pulled my hand back from his grasp and said softly: "Sir, do we know each other?" Chapter 1 Julian looked as if he had been hit over the head with a club, freezing in place for a full two seconds. "Jane, even if you hate me, you don't have to pretend not to know me, right?" I looked at the face in front of me with confusion. It did look somewhat familiar. The foreign nurse beside me leaned in and whispered a reminder. "Miss Miller, have you forgotten? You showed us photos. This is your ex-husband." Ex-husband? It dawned on me. I fished a yellowed notebook out of my hospital gown pocket. I flipped through a few pages seriously, my finger stopping on a certain line, finally matching the face. "So it's you. You came just in time. You can collect my body. After I die, remember to bury me next to my dad." Julian snatched the notebook from my hand and threw it hard on the ground: "Jane, are you crazy! How long are you going to keep this up! Five years ago, you faked your death and left, leaving everyone in pain and guilt. Isn't that enough?" I lowered my head and said nothing. The brain tumor was pressing on my nerves. I had forgotten too many things, and I didn't even have the energy to argue. Because of Julian's arrival, I didn't die. Maybe because I wanted to die closer to my dad, I agreed to go back with him. On the way back, Julian kept talking: "After you disappeared, everyone went crazy looking for you." "When the car was pulled out of the sea, the driver's seat was empty. Everyone thought you were dead." "Your mother cried for a whole month, almost going blind. She asked me to bring you back this time too. When we get back, have a good talk with her. There's no deep hatred between mother and daughter." My head hurt listening to him, so I interrupted his chatter: "Mr. Vance, my notebook says the reason our marriage broke down was that you cheated with my best friend. Is that true?" Screech! The sound of tires rubbing against the ground was piercing, and the car lurched violently. Julian pursed his lips tightly and said nothing. The topic ended there. Chapter 2 The car pulled into the driveway. Sarah Reed was supporting my mother at the door. Seeing me get out of the car, my mother snorted and turned her head away. My heart ached, but I didn't speak. Although the memories in my head were fragmented, my body had muscle memory. I subconsciously walked through the living room and pushed open that familiar door. My desk, my piano, they were all gone. Replaced by Lego blocks and Transformers scattered all over the floor. Julian blocked my way, trying to hide the scene inside. "Jane, I'll clear the room for you right away." Before he finished speaking, a five-year-old boy suddenly rushed out from the corner. He spread his arms to block the door, glaring at me viciously. "This is my toy room! Don't touch it! Bad woman, get out!" The boy threw the toy car in his hand hard at me. The hard metal hit my kneecap, a piercing pain. I groaned, swaying, almost falling: "Leo!" Sarah rushed over to cover the boy's mouth, her face full of panic. I didn't get angry. I just felt the pain in my knee travel along my nerves straight to my heart. It was too crowded here. I even found it hard to breathe. I turned and dragged my painful leg outside. Julian chased after me. He forced me into the car and took me to a high-end hotel. The moment the room lights turned on, those forgotten memories flooded back. When I was seven, my parents took me to the orphanage, saying they wanted to adopt a brother for me. Among the children trying to show off, only Julian shrank in the corner. My parents didn't like him, thinking he was too solitary and couldn't be tamed. But when some older kids pushed me down to steal my candy... Julian shielded me, refusing to move even when beaten black and blue. That day, I cried and threw a tantrum in my parents' arms, pointing at his bloodied face. "I want him! I want this brother!" Just like that, Julian came home with us. For over a decade, we went to school together and grew up together. He protected me in the palm of his hand, never letting me suffer a single grievance. Later, we got married. But on our first wedding anniversary, I had booked a restaurant but couldn't contact him. Afraid something had happened to him, I followed his phone's location. It was a high-end hotel like this. Sarah opened the door in a sexy nightgown, and Julian lay asleep on the bed. One was the husband I had loved for over a decade, the other was my best friend of over a decade. In that moment, my world collapsed. Chapter 3 I didn't even have the courage to rush in and question them. Instead, I ran away like a deserter. Despair, shame, and nausea filled my mind. I stood on the bridge, looking at the dark, churning river water, and jumped. The cold river water poured into my nose, and suffocation surrounded me. My dad was worried about me and had been following me. Seeing me jump, he jumped in without hesitation. He used all his strength to push me ashore, but he struggled in the turbulent current and finally sank. Later, when my dad's body was fished out, my mom cursed me madly, punching and kicking me. "What couldn't you get over? I told you long ago, men are like this. If you can accept it, stay. If not, divorce! Why did you have to cause trouble!" For a long time afterwards, whenever my mom saw me, she would say: "Why wasn't it you who died?" Yes, I wanted to know why too. Why could she forgive Julian, forgive Sarah who destroyed my family, but not forgive me? The moment the memories returned, the intense pain made my whole body spasm. I clutched my chest, squatting on the ground, gasping for breath: "Jane, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Julian looked at me curled up on the ground, his tone tense. A knock on the door sounded. He stood up to open it. The door opened, and Sarah's gaze quickly swept over Julian. Seeing his clothes were neat, her tense shoulders quietly relaxed. She sidled into the room, her gaze falling on me, putting on the airs of the hostess. "Jane, since you're back, you should come home." "I've had the room cleared. Leo is young and doesn't know better. You're the elder, don't hold it against him." Five years later, I looked at my once-best friend this closely again. The question I couldn't ask five years ago, I finally had the chance to ask today. "Sarah, why did you betray me?" This question was not only about Julian's change of heart, but also about Sarah's intrusion. They clearly knew what the other meant to me. Chapter 4 The fake smile on Sarah's face could no longer be maintained. The so-called decency was torn open, so she stopped pretending. "Yes, it's all my fault. But Jane, can I control my feelings?" "I just wanted to fight for my own happiness. Is that wrong?" What a righteous reason. To fight for happiness, one could shamelessly climb into their best friend's husband's bed. "Enough!" Julian suddenly roared, interrupting her tearful complaint: "The past is in the past, why bring it up!" "Now that Jane is back, I will do everything I can to make it up to her. I will return the Miller family's company to her." At these words, Sarah's crying stopped abruptly. "Julian, you're giving everything to her, right? What about me and Leo?" Julian's silence ignited Sarah's anger. She looked at the man in front of her with disappointment and slowly backed towards the door. "Fine! Since you want to make amends so much, let's divorce!" With that, she turned and ran out of the room. Julian stood there, his gaze shifting between the direction Sarah disappeared and me. One second, two seconds, three seconds. In the end, he made his choice. "Jane, rest well here. I'll come pick you up tomorrow." Leaving this instruction, he turned and chased after her. Looking at the empty doorway, I suddenly laughed out loud. Jane, oh Jane, your return this time is simply humiliating yourself. Curling up and coughing violently for a while, I looked at the blood on my palm and suddenly missed the childhood days snuggled in my parents' arms. Before I die, let me take one last look.
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