After Being Reborn, I Decided Not to Love Him Anymore Chapter 02

After Being Reborn, I Decided Not to Love Him Anymore Chapter 02

Three days later, I was in the library researching when something hit me like a freight train.

In the past life, Lily had died of bone cancer.

They’d found it too late—already stage four.

Which meant right now, cancer cells might already be growing inside Lily.

I shot up so fast my chair tipped over. People stared.

I didn’t bother apologizing. I ran out of the library, calling Lily as I went.

“Lily, you free this afternoon? Let’s grab tea.”

At the café, when I said I wanted her to come with me for a checkup, she laughed. “Nancy, what’s with the sudden health kick? You feeling okay?”

I made something up. “The school’s organizing it. Lily, I’m kind of scared. Will you come with me?”

Lily gave me a skeptical look. “For real?”

I tried my best to look sincere. “For real. And hey, you should get checked out too. Think of it as… a pre-wedding physical? Since you and Marcus are tying the knot.”

Lily’s cheeks went pink. “Oh, you…”

Just then, her phone rang. Marcus.

“Where are you?”

“Having tea with Nancy.”

A pause on the other end. “Come home soon.”

After she hung up, Lily laughed. “He’s so clingy.”

I forced a smile, made an excuse about a class, and asked her to meet me on the weekend.

The second I got to the school gate, I saw Marcus’s car parked there.

I stumbled and hit the ground hard.

My knees and elbows were on fire. I looked down—skinned them good. Blood beading up.

He pushed his door open and stood over me, his eyes cold as ice.

“Nancy Monroe, let me make something crystal clear. Stay away from Lily.”

“Don’t say things you shouldn’t say. Don’t do things you shouldn’t do.”

I pushed myself up, my voice shaking a little. “I wasn’t—”

“I just wanted her to come with me for a checkup.”

He paused. “Are you sick?”

It slipped out before I could think.

I froze, then shook my head. “No. School requirement.”

He stared at me for a long time. His expression shifted, like something was clicking into place, like he was trying to figure something out.

Then he crouched down and looked at the scrapes on my knees.

“Get in the car.”

He took me to a pharmacy, bought iodine and gauze, and squatted by the curb to clean me up.

He wasn’t gentle about it, but he was thorough.

His voice was low. “I’ll take you both for checkups this weekend.”

I stared at my shoes. Everything went blurry.

When the results came back, Lily was shaking so hard she could barely stand.

Early-stage bone cancer.

The doctor said, “We caught it very early. The cure rate is excellent.”

Marcus held Lily tight, his hands trembling with leftover fear.

Lily looked at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Nancy… thank you. Really… thank you.”

I shook my head and patted her back.

Marcus’s gaze traveled over Lily’s shoulder and landed on me.

Deep. Heavy.

I remembered the day Lily died in the past life. It was pouring rain.

Marcus had found out that she’d left because she’d witnessed our night together. He stood at her grave all day, soaked to the bone.

When he got home, he smashed everything he could get his hands on. And then he found my diary, hidden in the bottom of my drawer.

He decided I’d told Lily on purpose.

I tried to explain. He didn’t believe me.

He divorced me. Left me with nothing. Made sure I couldn’t find work anywhere.

In the end, I died sick in a rented room, completely alone.

But now? Everything could still be okay.

Lily would live.

Marcus would never blame me.

And I would leave.

A huge weight lifted off my chest.

As we left the hospital, the sun was setting. Marcus went to handle the admission paperwork. Lily and I sat in the lobby waiting.

Lily leaned her head on my shoulder and whispered, “Nancy, I’m scared.”

I patted her hand. “Don’t be. Marcus is here. He’ll stay with you the whole time.”

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