The night I sleep with Graham Rowland, he has just broken up with his girlfriend, Leanna Sandoval.

Out of responsibility, he marries me. Our marriage is calm and steady. I once believe this is forever.

But then, Leanna dies of illness.

When he goes to mourn her, he learns that Leanna discovered what happened between us that night. That is why she loses hope and leaves him.

At the same time, he discovers my secret diary of unrequited love. He becomes convinced that I deliberately destroyed their relationship and comes to hate me deeply.

He divorces me, leaves me with nothing, and makes my life difficult at every turn.

At the brink of death, I hear him say in an icy voice, "Your love disgusts me."

When I open my eyes again, I return to two hours before the fateful event that night—when he is about to get drunk after the breakup.

I grab my coat, rush out of the room, and knock on Leanna's door.

Gwyneth's POV

Leanna Sandoval was stunned when she saw me. Her eyes were red and puffy, and it was obvious that she'd been crying earlier.

"Gwyn? What are you—"

"Leanna," I said, trying to sound calm. "Can I come in and talk?"

The living room was a mess. There was also a half-eaten cake on the table.

I smiled at her and went straight to the point. "I'm here to apologize on behalf of Gram. He forgot your birthday, and that's entirely his fault."

Leanna bit her lip and said nothing.

"It's not that he doesn't love you; he just doesn't know how to show it. He's never been good at that. You broke up with him, and he's now drinking his sorrows away at the bar."

I paused for a second before saying, "Leanna, I think you should go after him."

In my previous life, Graham Rowland would also go drinking at the bar all night long on Leanna's birthday. He had never gotten over her.

Leanna looked at me and smiled all of a sudden. Yet, the tears in her eyes continued streaming down her face even more.

"How could such a cold, aloof person like Graham have such a kind and thoughtful person like you as his sister? I'll head to the bar now. Thanks, Gwyn."

After telling her which bar Graham was at, she changed out of her home clothes and went out the door.

I heaved a long sigh of relief as I stared at her back. That night wasn't going to happen again in this life.

I went home and dug out my old diary that I'd hidden in a deep corner of my wardrobe.

I was ten years old, homeless and wandering the streets at night when Graham—18 at the time—took me in. He was cold and aloof with everyone else, but he was very gentle with me. I knew that I had fallen in love with him when I was old enough to realize it.

However, it was a secret that I could never reveal to anyone else.

I grabbed the diary and tore it to pieces, shredding every page. Then, I threw the scraps into the toilet and flushed them down.

About half an hour later, the door opened. Leanna walked in with a very drunken Graham in her arms.

Graham was clutching her tightly in his arms as he kept calling out her name and mumbling, "Anna… Please don't leave me… Let's not break up… I was wrong… I'm sorry…"

Leanna just had a helpless look on her face as she said, "Alright, alright. We're not breaking up."

She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw me. "Can you get him a glass of warm water and some pills, Gwyn? I'm going to take him back into his room."

"Okay."

She then helped him into the bedroom.

I stayed in the kitchen, waiting for the water to boil on the stove, hearing the sounds coming from the room. Graham was talking to her like a baby, and she was chuckling the entire time.

In my previous life, I knew from the first moment Graham introduced Leanna to me that they were a perfect match.

Leanna was bright and easygoing, and she also came from a well-to-do family. She had impeccable manners, and she also treated me just like family.

In short, she was a very good person altogether.

She would never have died if it weren't for me. They would have ended up together, happily ever after.

This time, I was going to make it up to them entirely.

Leanna ended up taking care of Graham in the room for the entire night.

When I woke up the next morning and came downstairs, I saw Graham bustling about in the kitchen.

He made scrambled eggs, warmed up some milk, and cut the crusts off the sandwiches before arranging them neatly on the plate. Then, he brought them over to Leanna and said gently, "Here. Eat while it's still hot."

She grinned at him and teased him, asking, "Since when have you learned to take care of other people like this?"

He simply gazed at her for a while without saying anything, but the corners of his lips curved upward.

In my previous life, he used to cook a lot for me too. And when I was on my period, he would bring me ice cream and hot chocolate whenever I needed it.

I paused at the stairway, a little hesitant to interrupt their moment.

"Gwyn? Come here and have breakfast," Leanna said, waving at me.

Graham looked up at me expressionlessly.

I walked over to the dining table and sat down. He immediately got up and sat in the next seat, so there was an empty spot between us.

Graham looked at me as if I were nothing but a stranger. It reminded me of the cruelty he showed me when he divorced me and forced me to leave without a penny to my name in my previous life.

After stuffing a sandwich into my mouth, I got to my feet and said, "I'm full. I've got morning classes today, so I've got to go."

Leanna protested, "But you haven't touched your milk, Gwyn—"

"I'm late."

I then grabbed my bag and escaped through the front door.

I stayed at the library the entire day, researching information for studying abroad and filling out application forms where necessary.

I had given up on furthering my studies in my previous life just so that I could stay with Graham. But in this life, I was going to go as far away from him as possible. I was going to live for myself, and no one else.

That night, I considered staying overnight at the dorms, but Leanna called and said, "Hey, Gwyn! Come home for dinner, alright? I've got big news!"

When I got home, it was Graham who answered the door. He frowned when he saw me.

"What are you doing here?"

Obviously, he wasn't the one who told Leanna to call me back for dinner.

"Leanna said that she wanted to tell me something," I answered in a low voice.

Leanna then stuck her head out of the kitchen and exclaimed, "Gwyn! You're back!"

She hurried over and pulled me to the couch, sitting me down eagerly and pressing the remote control into my hands. "Stay here and watch some TV, alright? Dinner will be ready soon!"

Graham helped her out in the kitchen.

Through the glass partition, I watched him lean down to whisper something in her ear. There was a slight curve on his lips, and the look in his eyes was so affectionate I thought I was going to see flowers sprouting in them soon.

He used to cook for me in my previous life too.

When I was sick and running a high fever, he stayed up the entire night and made me some chicken noodle soup to help me feel better. When it was my birthday, he skipped his company events and came home just to cook a birthday feast for me.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Leanna asked, seeing me in a daze. She then pushed Graham out of the kitchen and said, "Go keep Gwyn company. I can finish up here."

Graham wiped his hands awkwardly and went into the living room, sitting down on the single-seater couch diagonally opposite me.

There was a noticeable distance between us both.

Silence descended in the space.

Some boring variety show was playing on the TV, and their shrill laughter was jarring and annoying.

Suddenly, he called my name. "Gwyn."

I looked at him.

His dark eyes met mine. "Study hard, stay down-to-earth, and stop thinking about things you shouldn't."

My heart felt like it was being squeezed in my chest.

Things that I shouldn't be thinking about?

In his eyes, he thought that the feelings I had for him were things that I shouldn't have and therefore shouldn't be thinking about.

When he discovered my diary in my previous life, he told me, "Your love disgusts me, Gwyneth Rowland."

He thought that I had purposely gotten between him and Leanna and ruined their relationship because I was greedy and wanted him all for myself.

However, the only thing I did was have a crush on him. I never spoke a single bad word about him to Leanna, nor did I ruin their relationship on purpose. Still, he didn't believe me.

"Got it," I heard myself saying calmly. "I won't."

During dinner, Leanna announced shyly, her cheels flushing bright red, "So, Graham just proposed to me today!"

She extended her left hand, and the diamond ring sparkled brilliantly under the lights.

"Congratulations," I said, smiling sincerely at her. "I wish you both all the happiness in the world."

Graham's hold on the fork tightened for a bit as he looked up at me.

I lowered my head and kept eating, pretending not to notice.

After dinner, I offered to clear the table and wash the dishes. I could hear the sound of laughter coming from the living room. Leanna was excitedly talking about preparations for the wedding, and Graham was indulging her, agreeing to everything she said with a low, gentle voice.

I dried my hands after I was done with the dishes, thinking that I'd tell them I had to head back to campus. However, I'd only just made it to the entrance of the living room when I heard Graham say, "I'll ask her to move out after she's graduated from college.

"I already bought a place for her near her campus. It's not right for a young woman like her to continue living with us."

Yet, Leanna didn't agree with him. "But it's dangerous for Gwyn to be living on her own! And you're both siblings, anyway. What's the matter with living together under the same roof?"

Graham's voice was faint. "She's an adult now, and she needs to have her own life. We also need a private space that we can call our own, Anna."

I stopped walking and froze on the spot.

I didn't bother listening to the rest of their conversation. I silently went back upstairs to grab my bag and left the house.

I only sent Leanna a test message after I was long gone.

"Sorry I had to leave early, Leanna, but I need to finish an assignment for tomorrow. Good night!"

I took a deep breath and sighed.

Maybe it was a good idea to move out after all. The farther away from Graham I was, the safer it would be for me.

…

Three days later, I was in the midst of researching something at the library when something suddenly hit me.

Leanna had passed away in my previous life because of bone cancer. By the time it was discovered, it had already been too late.

In other words, she might already have the cancerous tissues in her body as of now.

I got up in such a hurry that I knocked my chair over. Everyone in the library looked at me at once.

I didn't even bother apologizing as I rushed out of the library while calling Leanna on the phone.

"Leanna? Do you have time in the afternoon? I'd like to meet you for coffee."

When we met at the cafe, and she found out that I was just asking her to accompany me to get a full-body checkup, she couldn't help chuckling out loud.

"Why did you suddenly think about getting a medical checkup? Are you feeling sick?"

I made up an excuse and said, "It's for some college event. I'm too afraid to go on my own, Leanna. Can't you please come along with me?"

She stared at me a little suspiciously. "Really?"

I tried to make myself look as sincere as possible. "Really. And maybe you could also get one since you're already there? Just… Just think of it as a premarital checkup. You're marrying Gram soon, aren't you?"

Leanna's face turned red. She pursed her lips and lightly chided, "How could you—"

Just then, her phone rang. It was Graham.

"Where are you?"

"Having coffee with Gwyn."

There was a short pause on the other end of the line before he said, "Come back soon."

After hanging up, Leanna chuckled slightly and called him clingy.

The corners of my lips tugged upward. Then, I excused myself, saying I had class and that I would meet her again on the weekend for the medical checkup.

I'd only just reached the campus entrance when I saw Graham's car parked by the gate. He got out, grabbed me by my arm, and dragged me into a corner.

Before I'd even managed to get a sense of what was happening, he'd already flung me off. I lost my balance and stumbled, falling to the ground on all fours.

A sharp sting flared in my knees and elbows. I looked down and saw that I'd scraped them on the ground, and blood was seeping out of the wounds.

Graham looked down at me, his eyes as cold as ice.

"I'm warning you, Gwyneth Rowland. Stay away from Leanna if you know what's best for you. Don't you dare say or do anything that you shouldn't. And keep your mouth shut."

I braced my arm against the ground and got up, my voice shaky. "I never did. I just asked her to come to a medical checkup with me."

He froze. "Are you sick?"

He seemed to have blurted that out instinctively.

I stared at him blankly for a while before shaking my head. "No. Just a routine one required by the college."

He stared at me for a long time, his expression slowly changing. It was as if he'd just thought of something or was confirming something in his head.

A short while later, he crouched down and inspected the cuts on my knees.

"Get in the car."

He drove me to a pharmacy, where he bought gauze and iodine before kneeling by the roadside to bandage my wounds. He wasn't exactly gentle, but he was very careful.

He spoke in a low voice. "I'll bring you both for the medical checkup this weekend."

I just kept my head down as I stared at my shoes, my vision turning blurry.

…

Leanna wouldn't stop crying and trembling on the day we got our results back.

She had stage-one bone cancer.

The doctor said, "Since it was discovered very early on, she has a very high chance of recovery."

Graham hugged her tightly, his hand trembling with fear as it finally dawned on him.

Leanna looked at me with tear-filled eyes. "Thank you, Gwyn… Just… Thank you so much…"

I shook my head and patted her on the back.

Graham looked past her shoulders, his gaze landing on me. It was deep and unreadable.

I recalled the day when Leanna died in my past life. It was raining very hard.

When he found out that she had left in disappointment after learning that we'd slept together, he stayed up all night before her grave in the thunderstorm. And when he got back, he smashed everything he could get his hands on before discovering my diary hidden away in a corner.

That was when he decided that I had deliberately told Leanna about our night together.

I tried explaining myself to him, but he wouldn't listen. He divorced me, made me leave without a penny to my name, and even blocked me from ever finding a job in the city.

Ultimately, I died alone in my rented apartment, with no one by my side.

But now, everything could still be salvaged.

Leanna would live.

Graham wouldn't blame me for her death.

And I would leave.

I felt a giant weight being lifted from my shoulders.

By the time we left the hospital, the sun was setting. Graham had gone to handle the paperwork, and I was keeping Leanna company as we waited in the hospital lobby.

She leaned against my arm and said quietly, "I'm scared, Gwyn."

I patted her arm. "You don't have to be scared. Gram is still there for you. He'll always be by your side."

…

Leanna was hospitalized after that.

The operation was a success, and the next step was chemotherapy.

Graham canceled his work appointments and kept her company at the hospital every day. Meanwhile, I was kept on my toes as I ran between college and the hospital while also preparing to further my studies abroad.

One day, while coming back from the hospital, Graham suddenly called out to me.