In Another Life, I Let You Go

Chapter 1

Renee's POV:

I never thought I would see Ethan Mercer again.

After all, only a few hours earlier, I had watched him die in front of me, old and frail.

We had grown old together and shared more than 50 years of marriage. I should have been devastated by his death.

But I couldn't forget the name he had called over and over with his final breaths.

He had been calling for Vanessa Caldwell.

In that moment, I hated Ethan with everything I had.

'If you loved Vanessa, you could have told me. I would have stepped aside. Why make me waste my entire life with a man who never loved me?'

But there was nowhere for my anger to go. Ethan was dead. He could never answer me.

Just when I thought I would carry that regret to my grave, I saw him again.

He was 20 years old, young and striking, with his entire life ahead of him.

Now he was holding Vanessa's hand and looking at me as though I were a complete stranger.

I let my expression harden and took a step toward them.

Vanessa went pale, grabbed Ethan's arm, and instinctively stepped back.

The sight almost made me laugh. From the way they reacted, anyone would think I was some villain trying to tear apart a loving couple.

"Dad and your mom are home. You two should be careful, or they'll catch you."

With that, I turned and went inside, just like any older sister warning her younger sister not to get caught dating behind their parents' backs.

Then again, Vanessa was already 18. She was hardly too young to date.

Behind me, I heard Ethan ask, puzzled, "Who's she?"

"Oh, that's my older sister. She always wants to take everything I have." Vanessa's voice turned petulant. "I don't like her, so you're not allowed to like her either."

"Okay," Ethan agreed without hesitation, just as he had in my past life whenever he indulged one of my unreasonable demands.

I had barely returned to my room when Vanessa walked in after me.

"Renee, I'm warning you. Behave yourself this time around, and stay out of things between Ethan and me."

My heart gave a jolt.

'She was reborn too?'

Judging from how I had acted downstairs, she had clearly guessed that I had been reborn as well.

She walked closer, her tone full of smug satisfaction.

"Renee, Ethan may have married you in our past life, but I was the one he loved from beginning to end. For more than 50 years, every time he traveled, I was the one beside him. We went everywhere together and saw more places than I can count. Aside from that marriage certificate, he gave me everything else."

My hands curled into fists so tightly that my nails dug deep into my palms.

So I hadn't simply lost to Vanessa in that final deathbed confession. I had been losing to her for an entire lifetime.

The marriage I had believed was loving and happy for more than 50 years had been a complete joke.

It took me a long moment to force down the pain churning inside me. Then I looked up at Vanessa's smug, triumphant face.

"Don't worry. I have no interest in him."

Vanessa clearly hadn't expected me to agree so readily. She froze for a moment, then her lips curved into a smug, contemptuous smile.

She scoffed, turned around, and marched out of my room with her head held high.

I slowly walked to the window.

If Vanessa had been reborn too, then everything in this life was bound to change.

It was time to take my life in a completely new direction.

I remembered that an extremely rare opportunity to study abroad would become available in 1 month.

In my past life, I had missed that chance and regretted it for the rest of my life.

This time, I was going to seize it and build a life of my own.

That evening, I packed a small suitcase. I took only the essentials and the few things my mother had left behind.

But early the next morning, I barely made it downstairs with my suitcase before the three of them blocked my path.

My father, my stepmother, and Vanessa stood side by side in the middle of the living room. Vanessa wore her usual sweet, innocent expression.

My father was the first to speak, his tone cold and forceful. "Where are you going?"