When my husband learns of his first love's death, he jumps from the cruise ship where we are spending our honeymoon, ending his life. Only then do I realize he has never gotten over Clara Levine.

Reborn back to his teenage years, he resolutely lets go of my hand and walks toward his first love. I watch them leave together, then turn and walk away. From that moment on, our lives become nothing more than two parallel lines that will never meet.

Ten years later, we run into each other at a banquet in Oceanus City. He has become a rising star among the elite, with Clara appearing on his arm, intimately holding onto him. When he sees me accidentally wander into the banquet, he can't help but give me advice.

"Stop obsessing over me. Even if you wait for me for ten years, I still won't fall in love with you."

I ignore him and pull my son out from the corner where he's sneaking cake. His eyes suddenly turn bloodshot as he grabs my hand tightly.

"How dare you try to make me jealous on purpose? Didn't you say you would only love me for your entire life?" he says.

I never imagined there would come a day in this lifetime when I would encounter Nathan Finch again.

At the elite banquet in Oceanus City, he stood in the crowd with Clara Levine on his arm. His smile was elegant and refined, showing no trace of his youthful awkwardness from years past. The people surrounding them wore ingratiating smiles and spoke in flattering tones.

"Mr. Finch truly has unlimited potential. So young and already securing high-level projects!"

"The lady beside you must be your beloved. What a perfect match. Everyone here's filled with envy."

Clara looked at Nathan with deep affection and said softly, "We're planning to get married at the end of the year. If everyone's free, you're welcome to attend our wedding."

Another round of congratulations erupted around them. Then, someone asked, "I heard you two have been together for ten years. Why are you only getting married now?"

I was somewhat curious about this question myself. In my previous life, Nathan loved Clara so deeply that he was willing to die for her.

After being reborn, he immediately broke up with me. I thought they would get married right after graduation, but apparently, they still hadn't obtained their marriage certificate.

Upon hearing this, Nathan's face showed an almost imperceptible stiffness before he covered it with a smile. "I was focusing on my career before marriage. I want to give Clara the best life possible."

He looked at Clara, his eyes overflowing with tender affection. In my previous life, when we were together, I asked him countless times when we could get married. It wasn't until his family pressured him that Nathan reluctantly agreed to be with me.

The difference between being loved and not being loved was painfully obvious.

I was about to turn and leave when I caught sight of a small figure out of the corner of my eye. My body instinctively followed.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and champagne spilled everywhere. The server holding the tray looked at me with clear displeasure.

"Where did you come from? Can't you see where you're going?" he snapped.

His voice wasn't quiet, drawing everyone's attention. When Nathan saw my face, he looked stunned.

"Vivian Warner, what are you doing here?" he demanded.

I lowered my head to apologize to the server and explained, "I came here looking for someone."

Someone curiously asked Nathan, "Do you know her, Mr. Finch?"

Nathan's grip tightened on his wine glass, his expression growing somber. "Yes, just an ex-girlfriend."

Someone nearby said thoughtlessly, "You two were together for ten years. I thought you were each other's first love."

Clara's smile faded slightly. She took Nathan's hand and said casually, "We were young then and broke up briefly after a fight. Everyone makes mistakes when they're young, right?"

Nathan said nothing, his gaze sweeping past me to the server. "Put the damages on my tab and let her go."

He stood there with a calm expression. Aside from that initial moment of recognition, he didn't spare me a single extra glance. It seemed he wanted to make it clear to Clara that I was nothing more than a mistake from his past.

The server quickly pushed me toward the exit. "Mr. Finch was kind enough to help clean up your mess, but there won't be a next time."

He glanced at my wrinkled pajamas with disgust. "This isn't a place for someone like you. Get out now."

I broke free from his grip and explained patiently, "I'm here looking for someone. Once I find him, I'll leave on my own."

The server scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I've seen plenty of social climbers like you. Do you even have the qualifications to enter a banquet like this? If you keep refusing to leave, I'm calling security!"

"Wait," Nathan said from behind him.

He looked at me and sighed helplessly. "She's here to see me. Let me talk to her."

Clara stood beside him, draping her arm over his shoulder in a possessive gesture. "Vivian, Nathan and I are about to get married. I would think anyone with a shred of dignity wouldn't come looking for their ex at a time like this."

Nathan's expression darkened as he couldn't help but lecture me. "Stop obsessing over me. Even if you wait for me ten years, I still won't fall in love with you.

"Being with you back then was just a mistake. Now that I finally have a chance to correct that mistake, I hope you can let go of the past sooner rather than later."

Clara looked me up and down, mockery flashing in her eyes. "I can understand why you'd want to come find Nathan. After all, he's a well-known entrepreneur now, and there's no shortage of people trying to curry favor with him."

Perhaps my wrinkled pajamas gave her confidence, because Clara continued arrogantly, "You graduated from a prestigious university too. How did you end up like this? If I were you, I'd be too ashamed to show my face in public!"

Nathan frowned and pulled out his phone. There was a hint of impatience in his voice. "If you think I wronged you when we broke up, I can give you a breakup settlement now. Would 50 thousand dollars be enough?"

His finger moved across the screen twice, then suddenly froze. "You blocked me?"

I was somewhat puzzled by his intense reaction. Wasn't blocking an ex after a breakup perfectly normal?

Besides, I had someone at home who was particularly jealous. If he knew I still kept my ex-boyfriend's contact information, he'd probably give me grief for ages.

"Wasn't it you who said you hoped I wouldn't come looking for you after we broke up?" I retorted.

Nathan's expression turned cold. He looked like he wanted to say something, but held back.

I added in a flat tone, "The breakup money isn't necessary either. I don't need it."

After being rebuffed repeatedly, Nathan's expression grew even worse. He said coldly, "Who are you pretending for? If it weren't for seeing how pathetic you look now, I wouldn't even bother talking to you."

Clara immediately began soothing him gently. "Oh, she did graduate from a prestigious university after all. Seeing her in such a sorry state now, we should think of it as helping her out."

"Clara, you're still so kind-hearted. If you ask me, what's the point of caring about a woman like this? Look at how wretched she looks. Just get lost already."

His tone was contemptuous, as if he'd forgotten that ten years ago, he was in an even worse state than I was.

In my previous life, Nathan's family disapproved of their son being with Clara precisely because she was a shady woman who liked taking shortcuts.

When I first met Nathan in university, he had just picked Clara up from a club and was being forced by his family to break up with her.

During Nathan's most depressed period, I was the one who stayed by his side, helping him get through it. He loved photography, so I used the money I'd planned for starting a business to buy him equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Even with my small build, I carried dozens of pounds of equipment behind him through freezing winters and scorching summers, hoping he might genuinely smile again.

Who would have thought that Nathan was the one who confessed to me first?

I was aware of his past with Clara, and I had occasionally seen him staring blankly at photos of them together in his album. So when Nathan confessed his feelings, I asked him very seriously if he had truly gotten over Clara?

At the time, he held me tightly, his voice firm. "Actually, I never loved her. I just thought of her as a good friend. I love you, Vivian. Let's be together."

We dated for seven years. Even his close friends couldn't help but be surprised.

"He liked Clara so much, I thought you two wouldn't last long."

But no one knew that Nathan had privately refused to answer my questions about marriage countless times.

"Vivian, I don't believe in marriage. Isn't it good for us to just stay like this for the rest of our lives?"

It wasn't until Nathan's parents pressured him intensely about marriage that he finally agreed. During our honeymoon, news came of Clara's fatal car accident. He leaped from the cruise ship, leaving only a suicide note behind.

The entire note was filled with his love for Clara, without a single word left for me. At the end, he had written in his own blood, "Clara, in this lifetime I only wanted to love you. Now, I'm coming to find you."

My love for him died completely in that moment.

So when Nathan wanted to break up with me after being reborn, I didn't try to stop him. It's because I knew there was no point in trying.

As I watched them get back together, I deleted and blocked all of Nathan's contact information, thinking we'd never have a chance to meet again in this lifetime. I never expected to encounter them here.

I wanted to leave, but Clara wouldn't let it go. She insisted on humiliating me in front of everyone.

"You don't even deserve to talk to me. Look how you're dressed. It's so embarrassing!

"Tell you what, I'll get you a job here as a server. If you learn how to serve people properly, you just might scrape by on the wage."

Someone nearby, wanting to curry favor with her, added with a laugh, "This is a hotel in the prime district of Oceanus City. Being able to work here would be a stroke of incredible luck for you. Why don't you thank Ms. Levine?"

Surrounded by people, I couldn't leave immediately and said helplessly, "Thank you, but I already have a job. I'm a photographer."

The moment I mentioned photography, Nathan immediately looked at me. A flash of complexity crossed his eyes, and his lips moved slightly.

He turned his head away from me, his tone cold. "How much money can photography make? You can't survive on a hobby. For old times' sake, I can arrange a job for you."

I was taken aback, immediately realizing he had misunderstood. My interest in photography wasn't because I still had feelings for Nathan.

In fact, when I saw that suicide note in my previous life, I had already given up completely. It was just that when I was reborn, I discovered the money had already been spent on photography equipment.

I couldn't sell it on used goods platforms, so I had to pick it up and use it myself. As it turned out, I really did fall in love with photography. This time around, I didn't do it to please him, but for myself.

I politely declined Nathan again, my tone courteous but distant. "My hobby provides enough to cover my living expenses. Thank you for your concern."

Upon seeing that I was still ungrateful for his help, a flash of anger crossed Nathan's face. "If you don't want the opportunity I'm giving you, don't come crying to me later!"

I said nothing and didn't tell him that nowadays, my photography work was exclusively supplied to several national-level publications and top international journals. Various licensing fees, when calculated together, weren't any less than Nathan's income.

But if I told him, he'd probably think I was bragging. After all, I did look rather shabby in my wrinkled pajamas.

I really had to blame my son. He insisted I accompany him to play in the sandbox, and then, when I had turned around, he had slipped downstairs again.

I hadn't had time to change clothes before chasing after him.