My husband, Francis Zouche, thought we weren't well-off and could not afford to raise a child. So, he forcibly took me to the hospital to get an abortion. Right after the surgery, I discovered that he had transfered 200 thousand dollars to his first love, Heidi Colman, for her birthday.

Out of pure rage, I got into a huge fight with him in the car, which led to an accident that killed us both.

When I opened my eyes, we had returned to the day before our wedding.

In our previous life, we were married for ten years. We weathered storms and supported each other, but Francis never wanted us to have a child of our own.

On the day I died, I finally understood that the one he loved was Heidi.

After getting a second shot at life, I decided to fulfill his wish. We canceled the wedding, blocked each other's phone numbers, and never contacted each other again.

Eight years later, Francis became a top lawyer in Alvren and publicly proposed to Heidi at a law forum.

Seeing that I was still single, he mocked me with a sneer, "Yvette, I know you loved me for two lifetimes. But I am getting married now. Don't keep waiting for me to come back to you."

I glanced at him wordlessly and bent down to pick up my daughter before walking away.

As a shocking realization hit him, his eyes reddened.

He questioned furiously, "Didn't you promise to love me forever and to only give birth to my children?"

I had just stepped into the hall where the law forum was held when I saw Francis Zouche standing on the stage, wearing a sharp suit and speaking charmingly. His every move was filled with confidence and pride.

I froze for a moment, feeling that it was kind of surreal to be seeing him again. It had already been eight years since we parted ways. If I had not seen him that day, I would have forgotten what he looked like.

After Francis was done with his speech about legal matters, he publicly proposed to Heidi Colman, who looked at him with eyes full of admiration from the audience.

The crowd applauded and cheered.

Heidi walked onto the stage, moved to tears. She repeated several times, "I do."

Francis smiled brightly and knelt down. He slid the engagement ring onto the finger of the woman he loved.

In my mind, I could not help but recall the scene when Francis had proposed to me. He had not knelt down like he did now. In fact, he just mentioned it casually. Even the engagement ring was just a ring pull from a beer can. It was uncaring and thoughtless.

But when faced with the one he truly loved, Francis spared no effort to make sure that she got the best proposal possible.

Amid the blessings of the crowd, the two happily embraced.

The people who had crowded around them started to talk excitedly. "Wow, they really are a perfect couple. I'm so jealous."

"Francis is the most promising lawyer in the legal world. He's the kind of man every woman dreams of marrying."

"Stop day dreaming. We stand no chance."

"Exactly, I heard he loves Heidi very much. He has already spent millions by buying her a villa and a luxury car already."

"Heidi's life is perfect now."

Suddenly, someone pointed in my direction and exclaimed, "Look! Isn't that Yvette Quilter? She was Francis' ex-girlfriend that he was once head over heels in love with?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their eyes toward me.

I noticed that Francis' smile froze when he heard my name, and his eyes darkened.

As the forum ended, the two of them walked straight toward me.

"Long time no see, Yvette," Heidi greeted me with a smile.

Her friends stared at me with disdain and started mocking me. "Why did you come here in a sweatsuit, Yvette? This is a law forum. You should at least dress formally!"

"How many years has it been? Are you still working in the countryside?" another friend said.

"Don't tell me you don't even have a job and came here today to get one?" A third person chimed in.

"I can tell you're not doing well just by looking at you," said a fourth.

I knew these people too. After all, Francis and I had attended the same law school. Just because I was dressed simply in casual clothes today, they thought my life was not going well.

I kept my expression neutral and ignored their remarks. Still, I felt uneasy because Francis was staring at me with a complicated look in his eyes.

"It's been so many years since I've last seen you, why are you still so sloppy? What happened to your career drive?" Francis sounded surprised.

I frowned at his words. I was dressed comfortably, yet in his eyes, I was sloppy. I had known that he was somewhat materialistic. However, I had not known he would be so narrow-minded that he would judge how someone was doing solely based on their clothes.

"Yeah, Yvette. You're dressed so plainly, and you're not even wearing makeup," Heidi chimed in.

She leaned against Francis' arm that was wrapped around her, looking at me as if she were showing off that he was hers.

She scrutinized me from head to toe and showed a disdainful expression. "You're already in your thirties. If you keep being so sloppy, no man would want to marry you."

As soon as she said that, the crowd burst into laughter. After all, Heidi was wearing a custom-made gown with expensive jewelry. She looked impeccably exquisite.

In contrast, I had just come from a business trip in a remote mountain area, so I had not slept well for days and looked exhausted. The brandless casual clothes that I was wearing couldn't hold a candle to her glamorous outfit.

I continued to ignore them and turned to walk away, making it clear that I was not interested in responding to them. Sometimes, ignoring someone was the most effective comeback.

However, Francis stopped me and handed me a bank card. "Everyone says you went to work in the countryside because you were heartbroken over me, and that was why your life turned out badly. I should be a little charitable here. This is for you. Take it."

I frowned and looked at Francis in annoyance, refusing him. "I don't need it."

"There is 100 thousand dollars in it. No password needed," Francis continued smugly. "I'm giving you this because of the past we shared. Take it to improve your quality of life. Live better, and learn to love yourself. Don't keep holding on to the past. It's time to let go."

After he was done blabbing, he tried to shove the card into my hand.

I quickly took a step back and said loudly, "I don't need your charity, and I don't know you."

Francis' expression soured. "What's the point of pretending that you don't know me, Yvette?"

I frowned at him and answered sternly, "Do we need to know each other? Also, I don't need your money. I can buy the things that I want myself.

"I'm doing honest work in the countryside, so I don't feel ashamed. I don't think I dress sloppy either. We only live once. What's wrong with dressing comfortably?"

Instantly, Francis' gaze darkened, and his hand that was holding the card clenched tightly.

Heidi glanced at the card with a displeased expression. Then, she suddenly put on a friendly smile and tried to smooth things over.

She offered, "Since you don't want the money, how about I introduce you to a job? The luxury store my friend works at is hiring sales associates. The monthly salary is more than ten thousand dollars. I'll arrange for you to work there.

"As long as you work hard, I think you can make a good living. It would be much more respectable than working in the countryside."

I looked coldly at Heidi and shook my head. "I don't need it."

My repeated rejection ticked Francis off. He exclaimed in an enraged tone, "Heidi recommended a job to you out of kindness. How can you be so ungrateful?"

I looked at him helplessly. In my heart, I silently breathed a sigh of relief and was glad that I had dodged a bullet by being firm in my decision to not be with him in this life. A man like him was not worthy of my love.

In my previous life, Francis and I attended law school together. Our relationship started with love at first sight and lasted through four years of college.

Both of our families were not well-off, so we worked and studied at the same time. Back then, we both wanted to pursue our masters and then PhD. However, we needed a large sum of money to be able to do it.

I loved Francis. To support his dream, I gave up my own plans to pursue higher studies and started working first. I used my income to help him chase his dreams.

He failed again and again, but I stuck with him and encouraged him repeatedly. Even when he lost his temper with me because of his poor exam results, I comforted him like he was a spoiled child. When he was admitted to a PhD program, I even sold my family's only house to pay for his tuition.

I thought he would understand the depth of my love for him. However, when he wanted to study abroad and lacked the funds, he angrily scolded me for being a pauper.

"You're clueless, aren't you? If I had listened to Heidi back then and gone abroad with her, I might have succeeded and wouldn't have had to live such a poor life. I shouldn't have dated you in the first place," he complained.

Later, he gave up studying abroad. Still, I often shed tears when I was alone because of what he had said.

After we got married, we treated each other with respect. Even so, I still felt an invisible barrier between us.

I wanted to have a child to bridge the gap between us. But when I became pregnant, Francis didn't want the baby. He said that we were poor and couldn't afford to raise a child, so we should just be childfree for life.

I wanted to keep the baby, but he said that I was selfish for wanting that. "We are not doing that well financially. Who will raise the child? Besides, I hate children. I don't want to have a child with you!"

Those words completely shattered my expectations of him and destroyed his place in my heart.

He forcibly took me to get an abortion, and after the surgery, I happened to glance at his phone and saw that he had sent 200 thousand dollars to Heidi for her birthday.

He had once sworn to love me for life, and I believed him. But he proved with his actions that it was a lie. If he loved me, why wouldn't he let me have the baby? He had money to celebrate his first love's birthday but somehow had no money to raise a child with me?

I quarreled fiercely with him. During our heated argument, a car accident happened. When I was at death's door, I actually felt relieved because my relationship with him could finally end.

Now, we both had a second shot at life.

After going back to the day before we got married, Francis resolutely abandoned me and chose Heidi. Likewise, I also chose never to appear in his life again.

Some people were never meant to meet again. And even if they did, it was best to remain strangers.

I ignored Francis and turned to leave. I did not want to waste time arguing with him and his posse. I should have never agreed to my professor's invitation to come to the forum. Seeing all those people there was nauseating.

Yet, they refused to let me go. Several of Francis' and my law school friends blocked my way.

"Yvette, we're all old classmates. You're being pretentious if you say you don't know Francis."

"That's right, Francis and Heidi are trying to help you. You're being ungrateful."

"Exactly! They offered you money and a job, and you refused just for the sake of pride."

"You came to this forum to get a job, didn't you? Stop pretending already."

Heidi pretended to be kind and considerate. "Don't say that. Maybe she really likes her current job."

She turned to me and said, "But it's not good for you in the long run if you keep working in the countryside, after all. We mean well. If you let your pride get in the way of you making more money for a better life, that's a big loss on your part."

Francis added unhappily, "Heidi was kind enough to recommend you a job, but you refused it. You really don't know what's good for you."

I felt a headache coming on. Their act of forcing money and a job onto me was just to serve their vanity and prove how successful they were. But if we were to talk about success, I was confident that everyone combined was not as successful as I was.

"I said I don't need it. Do you not understand human language?" I retorted angrily. If I didn't rebuke them harshly, they would keep thinking I was a pushover.

"You're so stupid. We're trying to help you, but you're hopeless! You might as well stay poor forever," Francis said, feeling enraged that I had the audacity to be upset at them.

"Yvette, we're being kind here. But it seems like you don't appreciate it," Heidi said in an aggrieved tone, but her eyes were full of mockery and disdain.

Several classmates, who were holding wine glasses, surrounded me and blocked my way.

"Yvette, you don't want the job, and you don't want the money. But you're so pitiful. How about you drink a glass of wine, and I'll transfer you 10 thousand dollars, okay?"

Someone even mocked, "Call me 'ma'am,' and I'll give you a thousand dollars."

My expression turned grave. It seemed they were not going to let me go easily. They thought that it was very amusing to mess with me and humiliate me.

Sometimes, when people gained a certain amount of power and status, their mentality changed. They believed that they were superior to everyone and treated others like they were dirt. Toying with others became their way of proving their power.

A woman stepped forward, holding a glass of wine up to my face. From her stance, I could tell that she intended to shove the liquid down my throat if I refused to drink it myself.

I was about to call security when Francis suddenly yanked the woman with the wine glass away. His expression was frosty as he warned, "This is a forum, not a cocktail party. Don't cause trouble here."

The woman cried out in pain, "Francis, let go!"

Heidi quickly grabbed Francis' hand and looked at him with innocent eyes and a pitiful expression. She pleaded, "She's my friend. Don't be mad at her."

It was only then that Francis released that woman. Nevertheless, he glared at her and sternly warned, "Don't act crazy here."

The woman stepped back but continued glaring at me like she wasn't done with me.

I was somewhat surprised that Francis helped me. It appears that he hadn't been completely rotten after all.

"I heard the richest man in Alvren is upstairs with his child at the theme park. If we're lucky, we might see him, maybe we will even get a chance to work with him," someone said, diverting everyone's attention.

When the crowd heard about the richest man in the city being at the same location as they were, they all became visibly excited.

"Besides, the richest man in Alvren is handsome and rich. He's only 29 this year and already has a four-year-old daughter. His wife is also a famous lawyer who's very capable. She has won every case she has taken on."

"That's right! If we could meet such a big shot, gain his favor, and get to know his wife, it would greatly boost our careers."

"I'm going to record a video later to get some traffic for my social media page."

Amid their chatter, a commotion came from outside the crowd.

Everyone turned to look as bodyguards escorted a four-year-old girl. They had her surrounded in the middle, forming an impenetrable circle around her. It was a very impressive sight to behold.

Many became excited at the sight of this.

Someone exclaimed, "That's such a big entourage. She must be the daughter of the richest man."

"Sure looks like it," another agreed.

Everyone immediately swarmed over to her. Even Francis, who had been so arrogant earlier, now walked over with an obsequious smile. He even pushed a few people aside to get to the little girl.

"Hello, little missy. What brings you here? Tell me. I can help you," Francis said in a tone that was very obviously meant to please her.

As he offered his help, he reached out to touch the little girl's head.

However the girl stepped aside, avoiding his touch. She looked at him warily, and the bodyguards immediately pushed him away.

The little girl searched the crowd with her eyes.

"Yvette, you're lucky to get to see the richest man's daughter. But it won't make a difference for an insignificant nobody like you. She likely won't pay you any attention," someone said to me.

"I think you'd better be sensible. You should take the job Heidi recommended for you. Take the money and leave. Don't keep embarrassing yourself," said the woman who had harassed me earlier.

She sneered contemptuously, taking pleasure in mocking me.

I didn't bother responding to her.

The moment my eyes met the little girl's, she smiled with joy and ran straight to me. "Mommy, I missed you so much! You finally came back!"