Ashfall: A Wife's Forbidden Stand

Today is my birthday.

But my wife, Talia Ford, tells me that she can't spend time with me today. She needs to accompany her uncle, Adam Ford, to his physical checkup.

I'm about to convince Talia to stay with me when a row of comments suddenly pops up in front of my eyes.

"Stop wasting your breath. Just let her go.

"In your previous life, Talia insisted on keeping her uncle company, so you could only return to your research lab to work. But you predicted that the dead volcano located next to Bareyard Village would erupt tonight. So, you forcibly stopped Talia and made her go back to the village to save her grandpa.

"But when her uncle went for the physical checkup on his own, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Engulfed by despair, he took his own life by jumping off the hospital.

"After he died, Talia pinned the blame on you. She bought some potent rat poison and poisoned your food, thus killing you."

On the day we were about to register our marriage for the ninety-ninth time, I, Joshua Smith, went rigid as I read those words flickering before my eyes.

Suddenly, a sharp pain tore through my abdomen. It was the memory of being poisoned in my previous life, so vivid it felt as though it had just happened.

Talia Ford, my wife, saw me frozen and snapped impatiently, "Joshua, move! Get out of my way! I need to go to the hospital with Uncle Adam!"

I stared at her face, my emotions tangled beyond sorting out.

Would she really end up hating me because of Adam Ford's death? Would she hate me enough to poison me?

Talia and I had worked together at a volcano research institute for years. Day after day, side by side, we had gradually fallen in love.

But she later confessed that ever since she was young, she had been drawn to her frail, sickly uncle, Adam.

Adam was Richard Ford's adopted son, and Richard, Talia's grandfather, had made it clear that any romantic connection between them was off-limits.

Talia never dared to bring it up again, yet her feelings for Adam still went beyond family but fell short of love.

Because of that, she could never fully commit herself to our relationship.

I loved Talia deeply. I was still willing to marry her, doing everything I could for her and hoping my sincerity would earn her heart.

Not long after, she shockingly let Adam move into our home.

She even arranged for him to stay in the master bedroom and told me to move into the guest room, all because Adam was frail and required round-the-clock care.

I could only comfort myself that no matter what, they were just family.

…

"Are you even listening to me?" Talia's shrill voice cut through my thoughts.

I snapped back to reality and quickly turned on my computer.

I pulled up the volcanic eruption forecast, printed it out, and handed it to her. "Canlis Mountain will erupt tonight at midnight at a level-four intensity. The mountain is right next to Bareyard Village!"

Talia took the report, skimmed it carelessly, and then ripped it to shreds.

She slapped me hard across the face, making my cheek burn instantly. "All you care about is rushing to get our marriage certificate! Just to stop me from going to the hospital with Uncle Adam, you'd even make up a lie about a dead volcano reawakening?

"That volcano near Bareyard Village hasn't been active for thousands of years, and now you're telling me it'll erupt tonight? Do you think I'm an idiot?"

I swallowed the anger surging in my chest and explained as calmly as I could, "I'm not lying. Seismic activity beneath Canlis Mountain has intensified recently. Even a dormant volcano can reactivate—"

She cut me off with a cold laugh, her eyes full of contempt. She said, "Your data is all fake! I have to go to the hospital with Uncle Adam! If you keep spouting nonsense, we're breaking up!"

With that, she took my car and drove off unhesitatingly.