Reborn into this world, I've managed to avoid any encounters with Kolton Long this time around.

When he got transferred to the Southern Military District, I decided to apply to the University of Chicago instead.

He had submitted our marriage paperwork, but I secretly retrieved it.

He bought a house for us down there, so I chose to settle in the north.

All of this because, in a previous life, his true love dedicated her life to him, living alone. He felt he owed her and quietly adopted a child with her.

In our later years, even our child was touched by their deep bond and became part of their family.

After pulling back the marriage paperwork, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. No one knew I had been given a second chance at life.

At the last moment, just as the marriage certificate was about to be finalized, I rushed over and reclaimed it under the pretense of incorrect family information.

Tucker Robertson, the clerk, looked quite puzzled: "You both came in this morning to submit it, and now you're here to take it back this afternoon? You don't want to go through with it?"

Not wanting to complicate things further, I shook my head and said, "There was a mistake in the details. I'll fix it and bring it back."

Relieved, Tucker told me to make the corrections and submit it as soon as possible.

I nodded. Once I left, I tossed the marriage paperwork directly into the trash bin.

In this lifetime, Kolton and I are never getting married.

In a previous life, Kolton Long and I submitted our marriage papers, yet his demeanor toward me became increasingly distant. I thought that was just his nature and didn’t give it much thought. Little did I know, as my final days approached, that Bailee Diaz had always been the unreachable dream beside him. She remained unmarried throughout her life for his sake.

At last, when Kolton was forty, he was moved by Bailee’s devotion, and they adopted a little girl together. Even my son, Cayden, was touched by the sincerity of their relationship. He secretly kept in touch with them, and it wasn’t until my deathbed that he accidentally revealed that his dad and Aunt Bailee had finally come together. Until then, I had been oblivious.

That's when I realized my entire life had been a mockery. Kolton’s aloofness and every job transfer—everything had a reason. It was all because of Bailee. His every assignment took him far away from me. Despite being his lawful wife for six decades, the days we actually spent together probably added up to less than a year.

When I went into labor and nearly lost my life, he wasn’t there. When Cayden fell ill in the middle of the night, I carried him in the pouring rain for three hours before finding a doctor. Even when our parents became sick and passed away, he remained absent. In contrast, Bailee was always by his side.

Bailee started as an ordinary nurse and then became his personal doctor. He felt he owed her for her silent dedication and companionship. So, he agreed to adopt a child with her, allowing Bailee’s child to call him "Dad." Even my son seemed to wish for my early passing to fulfill this tragic love story.

Bailee would brew coffee in the mornings, the rich aroma filling the room, while I clung to memories of once-treasured tea rituals. The Thanksgiving table, meant for family unity, echoed with their laughter, the kind I never heard. Instead of dumplings, ravioli was served—a comfort I never truly embraced.

While I wore Victorian-style dresses, feeling out of place in their elegance, they celebrated each moment with an authenticity that always eluded me. Every mountain retreat they took in the Alps was another reminder of my solitude, places I once longed to visit but never did.

As the years passed, technology intertwined us in a world where gifts were seldom exchanged face-to-face, and WhatsApp messages carried more meaning than any personal touch. Yet, that was how Cayden maintained his bond with them, sending messages that shared warmth I hadn’t experienced in years.

Returning home, I gazed at the old house, my emotions a tangled mess. In a previous chapter of my life, Kolton Long and I had exchanged vows here, just a month later. After the wedding, he was reassigned to a military post down south. I wanted to accompany him, but he insisted that the conditions were too harsh and urged me to stay behind. This became my home for the next thirty years.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, less than six months after Kolton’s transfer, a woman named Bailee Diaz followed him there. From that point, they were inseparable, their lives woven together in a complex relationship.

The cruel twist was that I worried about Kolton being alone, with no one to look after him. I wanted to be by his side, yet every time, he turned down my company. His reasons were always the same—our parents and our child needed me nearby.

Thus, while he enjoyed the companionship of another, I was left confined within these four walls, my world reduced to the boundaries of this house.