My wife, Melanie Sutton, uses my life-saving money to bridge the funding gap of her first love, Fred Grayson's company.

With hatred shining in her eyes, she tells me, "You owe him this much, Edison Clark! I'd have gotten together with Fred a long time ago if it weren't for you!

"People like you deserve to die!"

As expected, I end up dying later on, only to get reborn on the day Melanie confesses to Fred.

This time, I no longer stop her.

At my deathbed, when I was barely clinging to life, Melanie Sutton finally dropped her act.

"Edison Clark, do you have any idea how much I hate you? We grew up together, but I stopped loving you a long time ago. You were the one who forced me to marry you!"

As she spoke, her voice trembled with emotion, and she wiped away tears as if she had suffered years of abuse at my hands.

However, that was not the truth.

Within my means, I had always given her the best I could.

The moment I received my salary, I handed it over to her. I fought hard to get her tickets to her favorite artists' concerts. I never let her step into the kitchen, afraid she wouldn't tolerate the smoke and grease. I even went out of my way to create little surprises for her, filling her life with small moments of happiness.

On the surface, she would smile sweetly and say, "Thank you, darling. You're so good to me."

Behind my back, she had been entangled with Fred Grayson all along.

It was only after I fell ill and became bedridden that she finally tore off her disguise.

"Ed, the money you gave me… I gave it to Fred Grayson to cover the gaps in his company's cash flow. He needs it more than you do! If his company collapses, he'll jump off a building!"

A choked sound escaped my throat. I couldn't even swallow without feeling as if blades were carving into me.

Tears of despair slid from the corners of my eyes, soaking into the white bedsheets beneath me.

Was his life worth more than mine? Did mine count for nothing?

When the last of my tears fell, the jagged line on the monitor flattened into a single, unbroken line.

…

When I opened my eyes again, bright sunlight streamed directly into them.

I stared at my surroundings in a daze. Students in school uniforms filled the classroom.

At the front of the classroom, the homeroom teacher called out my name.

"Edison Clark! Why are you spacing out? Stand up and solve this geometry problem."

I couldn't remember how to solve it, but I knew one thing with absolute certainty.

I had been reborn.

After getting scolded harshly by the teacher, Melanie gave me a puzzled look. "Ed, you're acting kind of strange today."

I looked at her, at the younger version of Melanie. She looked so innocent and pure.

Then she added teasingly, "Today's the day I confess to Fred Grayson. Don't tell me you're jealous."

When she realized that I was watching her, a subtle satisfaction crossed her face.

The student in front of us turned around and laughed.

"Melanie, I think Ed just can't bear to let you go. He's totally jealous."

Melanie's face lit up even more, as if my desperation only fed her ego.

Memories from my past life surfaced.

She had once handed me a love letter and asked me to pass it to Fred.

I gave her my word, but secretly, I held on to the letter.

Fred was nothing but a delinquent who smoked, got into fights, dyed his hair, and picked on younger students.

On the other hand, Melanie and I were the pride of our parents—the model students others looked up to. We consistently ranked at the top, and people often described us as childhood sweethearts destined for each other.

It was true.

I had always liked Melanie.

She was gentle, beautiful, and well-behaved.

However, Fred's appearance shattered everything.

Back when our relationship hadn't completely fallen apart, I once asked her, "Mel, why are you so obsessed with Fred?"

Resting her chin on her hand, she answered without hesitation, "Because he's the only one who makes me feel free. We're both trapped, like birds in a cage, aren't we?"

Free?

Caged birds?

What he had wasn’t freedom—it was pure recklessness, a waste of his youth.

That was the first time we had ever truly argued.

But this time, I simply shook my head and said, "No. I hope you two end up together."

Despite usually opposing their relationship, I said it anyway—but there was something unreadable in Melanie's eyes.

Our classmates around us also widened their eyes, clearly surprised by my answer.

Melanie's expression darkened instantly. As if trying to maintain her dignity, she said, "I know him. Edison always says the opposite of what he means. He's been stubborn since we were kids."

I simply smiled and said nothing more.

When school ended that afternoon, I took the love letter she had given me and went to find Fred. Just as I was about to leave, she grabbed my arm and asked, "You're really going?"

I nodded without hesitation. Wasn't this exactly what she wanted?

She blinked in surprise. A hint of disappointment flashed across her face, but she still let go of me.

I successfully handed the envelope to Fred, completing what I considered a task off my list.

I could still remember clearly what happened in my previous life. I had kept the letter to myself, and when Melanie found out, she lashed out at me.

"Edison! How could you be so cruel?" she had said.

She pointed at Fred, who was playing basketball downstairs. At that moment, a very pretty lady walked over and handed him a bottle of water.

He opened it, tilted his head back, and drank in large gulps.

Bathed in sunlight, with sweat sliding down his face, he looked like a carefree young man full of energy.

Then he smiled, patted the young lady's head, and went back to playing basketball.

Tears welled up in Melanie's eyes as she punched me hard, crying, "It's all your fault! He has a girlfriend now!"

I endured both physical and emotional pain, but I never regretted it. However, after that incident, Melanie deliberately distanced herself from me.

Even though we were deskmates, she never spoke to me again.

Our families lived next door, but she no longer walked home with me after school.

Ultimately, we became strangers who knew each other too well.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the monthly exam results were released.

To my surprise, I ranked first in the entire grade. I had always placed second, with Melanie holding first place. But this time, she had dropped beyond 50th place.

I felt it was necessary to talk to her.

When I offered to help her catch up, she immediately snapped at me. "Are you doing this on purpose? What's the point of showing off your stupid grades, Edison?"

I tried to reason with her. "Mel, I don't care whether you're dating or not, but you shouldn't give up on your studies."

I wasn't sure if she even heard me. She grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and said coldly, "Stop acting so superior."

Then, she walked toward the classroom door.

I looked up and saw Fred waiting there. He naturally took Melanie's backpack from her and slung it over his own shoulder.

They left amid laughter and chatter, which slowly dissolved into the distance. In the end, only I was left in the silence.

A few days later, Melanie's mother, Ms. Eliza Ross, paid us a visit.

While my parents were busy cooking, she pulled me aside and asked, "Ed, have you and Mel been arguing lately? She hasn't mentioned you in a long time."

I shook my head.

Hearing that, her furrowed brows slowly eased.

Before she left, she asked me for a favor. "Ed, Mel has been leaving early every morning and skipping breakfast. Could you please look after her for me?"

I nodded.

From then on, I brought two breakfasts to school every morning.

When Melanie saw the egg sandwich and milk on her desk, she pushed them aside.

After morning self-study, she tossed them straight into the trash.

The next day, I repeated the same routine, and she did too.

On the third day, she finally snapped.

"Edison! I know you like me, but can you stop this? I hate you!"

A strange tightness rose in my chest, but no tears came, no matter how hard I tried.

Vivian Moore, seated in front of me, sneered along with Melanie.

"Some people really don't know their place, blindly chasing someone who doesn't want them at all."

After that, everyone started calling me Melanie's lapdog.

I didn't care.

Every morning, I still brought her different breakfasts, just to keep my promise to Ms. Ross.

One day, Mr. Harry Robertson, our homeroom teacher, called Melanie into his office. I noticed her mother went in with her as well.

The classroom instantly erupted into chatter.

"I heard Melanie's dating thing got exposed to her mom. She's getting lectured right now!"

"Who do you think snitched? Don't tell me it was her little lapdog, Edison?"

"It's definitely him. He kept bringing her breakfast for such a long time, and she didn't even care. He must have gotten desperate and is now resorting to dirty tricks."

I kept my headphones on and focused on my math problems, refusing to let their noise distract me.

A long while later, my headphones were suddenly yanked off.

Melanie stood there, shaking with anger. She had completely lost control of her emotions.

"Are you happy now, Edison? I broke up with him! You're nothing but a coward who snitches behind people's backs!"

She shifted all the blame onto me, without once considering whether her relationship with Fred had ever been solid in the first place.

I looked at her and calmly said, "Melanie, I never snitched. You've got it all wrong."

At that point, no one believed me anymore.

Everyone began to isolate me, but I didn't care. I kept to myself and avoided unnecessary social interactions.

The only thing that didn't change was that I still bought her breakfast every day.

…

When the results came out again, I held onto first place in our grade and maintained it all the way through the SATs.

My routine of bringing her breakfast slowly made Melanie soften.

Her mother even came to find me once more. After learning that her daughter had dropped out of the elite class, she tearfully pleaded with me.

"Ed, our Mel is still immature. Please, I'm begging you to help her again…"

I remembered it clearly.

Back when Dad had an accident at a construction site, Ms. Ross and her family had immediately dipped into their savings to help pay for his treatment.

I had no reason to refuse her. After all, people should know how to be grateful.

I resumed tutoring Melanie again.

On the surface, everything seemed to return to how it once was.

Later, we entered the same university and, with both our families' blessing, married without a hitch.

Yet behind this perfect illusion was Melanie's failure to be grateful.

I had trusted her completely, only to end up betrayed.

...

The next day, while I was memorizing vocabulary, Vivian suddenly laughed out loud.

"Melanie and Fred are together!"

When someone asked her how she knew, she leaned in dramatically and said, "I saw them this morning behind the building. They were hugging and kissing."

She even kept making faces at me, as if she wanted to lean over and whisper it straight into my ear.

The more she tried to provoke a reaction from me, the calmer I became. I continued to study my vocabulary without once looking up.

Finally, she couldn't contain her curiosity.

"Hey, Edison, were you just pretending to like Melanie all this time? Weren't you childhood sweethearts?"

I closed my book and let out a helpless sigh.

"So what if I was? She already has someone she likes. What can I do about it?"

That response immediately piqued her interest. She grabbed my arm and said, "I'll teach you how to win Melanie back!"

Seeing how confident she looked, I found it almost laughable.

Women really did enjoy dramatic love triangles.

Unfortunately, I was no longer interested.

I shook my head and let out a faint laugh.

"I'm not interested. Don't bother me while I'm studying."

When I refused to engage, Vivian quickly lost interest and started muttering to herself.

Not long after, Melanie came and sat beside me.

Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she seemed to be in a good mood. She even grabbed my hand and excitedly said, "Edison, thank you! You have no idea how solid his abs are!"

I quietly shook my head in disbelief, but still offered her one last piece of advice. "Melanie, you should focus on your studies."

Her smile dropped immediately, replaced by a cold look.

"My life is none of your business. You're just someone who always comes in second."

Back then, Melanie held first place without question.

I didn't argue.

After all, people should respect the course of others' lives, or they'll eventually pay the price for meddling with a fate that wasn't theirs to change.