There was a half-hour warning before the earthquake. My husband insisted on waiting for his childhood sweetheart, Jessica Ledoyen, to finish her shower and put on her makeup before she would go downstairs.

With only ten seconds left, I made up my mind, called my friend and pushed my husband, Damien Arrowsmith downstairs.

We survived and somehow, we were given a resettlement house in the city center for free as compensation. But Jessica was left disabled. She then had to marry an old bachelor in the village with yellowed teeth.

She died from excessive bleeding during her eighth pregnancy trying to have a son. And her body was never properly disposed of. 

My husband appeared calm on the surface. But at night, while I was asleep, he used a pillow to cover my mouth and nose.

“If it weren’t for you, Jessica wouldn’t have become disabled! All her misfortune is because of you. How dare you live without a shred of guilt like this?”

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the earthquake happened. Watching my husband embrace Jessica’s back, I turned and went downstairs. I swore at this time, that I would let them be a pair of unfortunate lovers.

——

“Why are you in such a hurry? It's just a warning, not a real earthquake, right?”

Damien locked the door and put the key in his pocket. “By the way, the key is in my hand right now. So you all have to listen to me.”

A loud argument erupted inside the house. I felt a bit dazed at this time. The pain of being suffocated to death still haunted me. I didn't expect that I would be reborn half an hour before the earthquake.

Someone stepped forward to grab the key. But Damien stiffened his neck, pulled out the key and threatened.

“If you disturb Jessica, I’ll eat the key. So no one of you will be able to leave!”

Hearing this, everyone was scared into a cold sweat. Everyone’s mobile phone sounded a warning about the earthquake at the same time. It was clearly not a prank, but a real earthquake was about to happen.

“Damien, if you want to die, don't drag us down with you! Give us the keys quickly!”

Amid the anxious persuasion of everyone, he stood in front of the door without any ripples. When someone tried to grab the keys, his eyes flashed with ferocity. He put it directly in his mouth.

“Take one more step and I'll swallow this key! None of you will survive!”

Instantly, all the friends froze in their place. They glared at Damien with anger, but they didn't dare to act rashly.

Damien snorted coldly. “We’re all friends who grew up together. Are you going to abandon Jessica alone and run away?”

“If we all leave, what if she comes out and can’t find us, she will get scared?”

Today was Jessica’s birthday. And we had all come to attend her birthday party. I didn’t expect such a ridiculous and absurd thing to happen. Now, everyone was regretting it deeply.

One of my friends grabbed my hand and said, “Eugenia Joubert, please talk some sense into your husband! If he keeps making trouble, we will all die!”

I lowered my head and rubbed my eyes for a moment. How could he possibly listen to me? Damien loved Jessica so much. I had never been in his heart.

***

My dad was a laborer. When I was born, he got into an accident in a machine. When he was pulled out, only his hands were intact. When my mom heard the news, she jumped off the building due to depression before her postpartum period was over.

As an orphan, I was entrusted to the village chief. I always thought Damien and his family were kind-hearted people who didn’t expect anything in return. But after nearly dying, I realized they were only doing it for the exorbitant compensation money in my hands.

Damien glared at me threateningly. “Eugenia, won’t you even listen to me?”

“No.” 

I shook my head and suppressed the hatred in my heart. I then agreed with him.

“We should indeed wait for Jessica, guys.”

Seeing that I changed sides at the last moment, my friends were unhappy.

“Eugenia, have you lost your mind? Even if he is your husband, you can't be so unclear about the situation!”

“If an earthquake really happens later and something goes wrong, can you afford the consequences?”

The reproaches of our friends made Damien roll his eyes in annoyance. He glanced around at everyone and said coldly, “We're all friends. So why are you rushing off when something happens?”

“Now the key is in my hand. So if you keep barking, none of you are going out.”

He held up the key. His eyes were full of arrogance.

Seeing that I had been standing aside obediently, Damien praised me. “Look at my wife. She is more loyal than any of you.”

I rolled my eyes and didn't respond. He sure knew how to make excuses in front of us. It was clearly just him trying to impress Jessica. What did it have to do with friendship?

Damien had packaged himself as a loyal friend to Jessica. Using that as an excuse, I didn't know how many times he rolled in bed with her behind my back.

In my previous life, I chose to swallow my anger for the sake of family harmony. This time around, that wasn’t going to happen.

The warning sound of the countdown on the mobile phone was like a death warrant.

“Damn it!”

Lorenzo Humphrey, who was standing next to me, had a bad temper. He was unable to tolerate it anymore. Lorenzo suddenly kicked Damien to the ground.

“You’re the one who’s lusting after Jessica. Don’t bring us into your mess!”

Damien clutched the key tightly. And before anyone could react, he put it in his mouth. Under everyone’s horrified gaze, his Adam’s apple moved slightly.

“Damien, I'm ready now.”

Jessica carried her carefully matched bag over her shoulder and had delicate makeup on her pretty face. She also didn't forget to spray perfume on her wrists and behind her ears.

Seeing everyone's impatient expressions, she smiled indifferently. “What's there to be afraid of? There are so many junk apps out there. Who knows if they're real or not?”

At that moment, Damien also spat out the key from his mouth. He wrapped his arm around Jessica’s waist and leaned down to inhale the scent of her hair deeply.

Damien then said, “Alright, we can go downstairs together now.”

Lorenzo was so angry that his face turned red. His teeth clenched with a grinding sound.

When Jessica linked her arm with Damien’s, she deliberately gave him a flirtatious glance. In my previous life, I was too busy running away to notice that the two of them were actually close childhood friends.

Now it seemed they had been secretly hooking up behind my back for a long time. The countdown ticked down to one minute. And the warning sound became more and more urgent.

Lorenzo quickly grabbed the key, opened the door and rushed downstairs. He reminded us by the way, “Hurry up, there’s no time!”

The group scrambled downstairs in a panic. I was at the back and was the last one to run out the door.

As we descended the stairs, Jessica deliberately turned her head and admonished me, “Eugenia, why are you running so fast? Are you trying to hold us back?”

“Whoever is holding us back knows it in their heart.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the ground began to shake violently under my feet. The staircase from the tenth to the eighth floor had completely broken. When I looked down it was terrifyingly dark.

We stood on the eleventh floor and stared at each other in silence. As the shaking disappeared, our group was completely trapped upstairs. Everyone’s faces were filled with panic, but no one spoke for a moment. 

I was the first to break the despairing silence, “Well, we might as well just die here.”

A few timid girls huddled in the corner and started crying. Lorenzo was so angry. He grabbed Damien's collar tightly and punched him.

“You bastard! You want to die and drag us down with you!”

“And you, Jessica! You bitch! You take a shower and put on makeup, right? Are you waiting to have your funeral makeup done?”

Jessica was so upset she started crying. She sobbed as she helped Damien, who was lying on the ground, get up.

“I... I don't know if it was real either.”

Damien covered his face, which had a handprint on it. He then scolded me, “Eugenia, don't curse people. We're all responsible for this!”

I let out a soft laugh and replied, “I didn't curse anyone. The facts are right in front of us.”

Lorenzo saw that I was being sarcastic and pointed at me. He said angrily, “Your husband is about to be seduced by that vixen Jessica. And you're still acting like it doesn't matter to you.”

When life and death were on the line, the bad nature of human nature was exposed. There was no room for previous friendships anymore.

On the other side, Damien was beaten so badly by his friends that he couldn't stand up straight. Meanwhile, Jessica's carefully combed hair was also messed up.

Seeing Jessica's eyes turn into red eyes, my husband was completely enraged. He pulled out an electric baton from his pocket and threatened, “If you touch Jessica again, I won't hold back.”

He was the leader of our neighborhood. It made him often carry an electric baton during safety patrols.

I didn’t expect it turned out to be just what he needed. Seeing him press the current switch with red eyes, the group of people quieted down again.

Jessica threw herself into Damien's arms. Her high heels were stomped on the ground. 

“Damien, they messed up my hairstyle!”

He comforted Jessica while speaking confidently, “Even if the stairs are broken, I have a way to get you all down safely.”

Hearing this, Lorenzo was so angry that he laughed. “How do we get down? Fly down?”

Damien snorted disdainfully. He glared at Lorenzo with disdain.

“Lorenzo, of course, you’d say that you are really a brainless person who dropped out of elementary school.”

He replied, “If the stairs are broken, there's still the elevator. We can just take the elevator down, right?”

Someone immediately raised an objection. “The power in the building has been cut off for a long time, not to mention that we don't know if the elevator can still be used normally. You’re basically telling us to jump into a fire pit!”

Damien proudly lifted his chin. “I’m the property manager of this neighborhood. I just took the maintenance worker to inspect the elevator yesterday. It’s really perfectly safe. And there won’t be any issues again.”

“There will be workers passing by here in ten minutes. We can ask them to restore the power for us.”

Upon hearing this, I fixed my gaze on Damien. I could confirm that he had also been reborn. In his previous life, there had indeed been workers who escaped from the factory and passed by the neighborhood. 

But unfortunately, the workers didn't recognize Jessica and weren't willing to risk their lives to save her. After hearing Damien say this, everyone's eyes were full of hope. Only Lorenzo was still holding back his anger.

“If it weren’t for you, we would have escaped long ago. Why would we have to wait for someone to rescue us?”

Damien glared at him fiercely. Jessica sat in his lap and took out a small mirror.

She wanted to touch up her makeup while sarcastically saying, “If you have a better idea, then go ahead and leave. We’re not stopping you.”

Lorenzo was flustered. His face looked increasingly red. I didn’t stay there but walked straight toward the broken staircase.

Damien reached out and grabbed my hand. “Where do you think you’re going?”

I replied calmly, “I’m going to jump down. Those workers don’t know you, guys. So why should they help you?”

Damien glared at me angrily. “Do you think everyone is as cold-blooded as you? So many people are trapped here, I believe that they'll definitely help us!”

I shrugged and said with a smile, “I hope so.”

After saying that, I bit the bullet and jumped down. As soon as I touched the ground, my legs felt a sharp pain. My entire ankle swelled up.

Jessica looked down at me. Her eyes were full of provocation and gloating.

“Eugenia, are you okay?”

Damien snorted coldly, “It must be a fracture.”

“Why don't you just stay where you are and wait for someone to come and rescue you? You had to be a hero.”

They didn't know that there would be another wave of aftershocks before the workers arrived. That was also the main reason Jessica became disabled.