The Fire

My descent into hell began after I married Flora.

After I started my new job as a hotel inspector, I completed every task assigned to me.

As expected, my parents were finally pleased with my existence.

One evening, I was in the middle of writing up my report for a hotel I had just inspected.

Richard had a grin on his face as he sauntered into my room.

He placed a gift box on my desk. "I haven't congratulated you on joining a great company, have I? Here's a gift to celebrate your new job. I hope everything goes well."

I peeked into the box and found a bottle of perfume inside. This was the perfume that was found to cause the consumers to faint in my last life.

I looked at him with a bland smile on my lips. "Thanks, Richard. I'll put it to good use."

He smirked in barely concealed contempt before leaving my room.

As I watched him strut away, I was suddenly hit with an epiphany. I now knew why he gave me the perfume.

That fire will be happening in two days.

When I checked in, I swiftly approached the hotel manager.

"Excuse me, but I smelled something burning in my room. Can you get a technician to check it out?"

The manager knew this would be a major safety hazard if left unchecked, so he didn't dare dally.

After a quick inspection of the room, the technician found that the wiring of the air conditioning unit had aged badly.

He gasped in shock. "How did it get this bad? Thank God, we found out before it got worse. It's the height of summer right now. The air conditioner would be blasting 24/7! There's a high chance that a fire would spread!"

Everyone gasped in horror upon hearing his words.

Soon, the news reached Jenna Close, the hotel's owner.

Jenna was a famous entrepreneur in the city. At the beginning of her career, she made it big through real estate. Then, she struck gold by riding the coattails of the new wave of media boom.

She was a woman of extraordinary judgment and had more than enough ambition to spare. As a result, she soon became one of the top three richest individuals in the nation.

She knew that something was off. So, she looked into it and discovered that her competitor was behind the faulty wiring incident.

Apparently, the competitor knew that she was busy setting up the company's new project's funding. Therefore, they wanted to use this opportunity to ruin her hotel's reputation by creating an incident through damaged wiring.

When Jenna knew the truth, she immediately mailed all the evidence to her lawyer. That competitor would find it hard to escape the jaws of the law.

Jenna called out to me just as I was about to return to my room.

"Mr. Lane, you have no idea how thankful I am. I'm staying in the presidential suite just above yours. If you hadn't noticed that something was off, my hotel wouldn't be the only thing up in flames. Heck, I might have perished in that fire as well!"

I was taken aback by her words and the bitter smile on her face. Still, her words of gratitude managed to remind me that there was indeed a female entrepreneur who was injured in the fire in my last life.

I was pleasantly surprised. After all, I never imagined that I'd be able to save another person's life when I was so focused on saving my own.

I smiled at her, but did not seize the chance to ask for more. "You're too kind, Ms. Close. I'm glad you're alright. Your hotels are among the best in the industry. I'm honored to have helped you."

Jenna gazed at me with eyes full of gratitude and a trace of admiration.

She was about to say something else when she was interrupted by a rude voice coming from behind us.

"Why are you still okay, Hank?" Richard gaped at me.

However, he soon snapped back to his senses.

Richard glanced at Jenna, who was standing beside me, and swiftly donned a face of concern. "Hank, I heard something went wrong at the hotel. I was so worried! Are you okay?"

Jenna scrutinized him for a few seconds before saying lightly, "He's fine. It's fortunate that he was here today. I have yet to properly thank him."

His face twisted into an ugly scowl, but he swiftly tried to turn it upside down as he did his best to mask the jealous glint of his eyes. "I've long heard of you, Ms. Close. I'm Hank's younger brother, Richard. I'll be celebrating my birthday in a few days.

"Would you be available, then?"

Jenna glanced at me before nodding.

Since the wiring in the hotel had been repaired, Jenna left after exchanging a few more pleasantries. After all, the life of a successful entrepreneur was never an idle one.

Richard's Birthday

Richard watched Jenna's car leave before turning to look at me with fire blazing in his eyes.

I could tell that he never expected me to survive the fire. He certainly didn't expect me to be so lucky to cross paths with a legend of the business world. If looks could kill, I'd definitely be dead once more.

I stared right back at him. Richard had always lived the life of a pampered brat. So, there were now dark bruises under his eyes despite it having only been a few days since we last saw each other. It seemed he was exhausted from running a pasta shop.

"Why did you come here all of a sudden? Did you have something to say to me?"

His eyes were turning bloodshot from fury. He was about to say something when his phone suddenly rang.

When he glanced at it, he found it to be a call from the pasta shop's staff.

Apparently, a drunk customer had started a brawl in the shop, and he was urgently needed to sort things out.

"You're all so useless! Why do you even need me to handle something so trivial? God, why did I even hire you? Alright, I get it! I'm heading back right now."

He hung up the call after yelling at his staff and drove off in a huff.

Before he left, he didn't forget to shoot me a glare full of disdain and resentment.

Soon, it was Richard's birthday.

Amelie proudly sang his praises at the banquet hall, "Richard is such a sweet boy. He inherited his grandma's pasta shop just to spend more time with me. He truly is my greatest pride and joy!"

After she said that, a commotion broke out.

Everyone turned to stare in shock at the woman standing at the entrance. They whispered and chattered amongst themselves.

"Goodness! Isn't that the legendary Jenna Close?"

"It really is her! Why is she here?"

"I hear Jenna keeps a low profile. Even the journalists are hard-pressed to take a proper picture of her face!"

"Since when has the Lane family been connected to the Close family?"

...

Jenna elegantly scanned the hall before slowly walking toward me.

"It's been a while, Hank. How has work been treating you?"

"Hello, Ms. Close. Everything has been going well. Thanks for asking," I replied with a smile.

My parents had been busy bragging about their outstanding son, but they still managed to swiftly make their way to us upon spotting Jenna.

Theo had a dazed look on his face as he greeted her. "Hello, Ms. Close. I'm Hank's father. We didn't know you'd be coming today. Apologies for not greeting you sooner."

Jenna replied with a bland smile, "Well met, Mr. Lane. There was a minor incident at my hotel a few days ago. Luckily, Hank was there to stop things from progressing past a point of no return. I'm here to talk to him about working for me in the future.

"After all, he's quite the talent. I really wish that he'd work under me."

Theo's eyes went wide in shock. He couldn't believe that I could ever be hired by a legend like her.

After a few moments of silence, Amelie spoke up with a sly smile. "Oh, Hank truly is honored by your recognition. Ms. Close, this is Richard, my youngest son. He's always been smarter than everyone else and much more mature than his brother.

"I'm sure Richard would be able to deliver great results if he worked for you!"

I felt my heart sink as I stood on the sidelines.

I should've known that I could never compare to Richard in Amelie's eyes.

Jenna calmly gave Richard a once-over. "You seem to be healing well, Richard. I heard you got into an argument with a customer a few days ago and even had the police called in. As someone who once worked in the food and beverage industry, I have some advice for you.

"One should learn to resolve all issues peacefully. The number one priority in this industry is to ensure the customer is satisfied. You still have much to learn."

There was an awkward look on Richard's face as he reached up to hide his wound from view.

Richard had charged back to the stop in anger that day. He started arguing with the customer as soon as he stepped through the door. Their altercation spiraled out of control, and they ended up fighting.

After all, he was a pampered and spoiled brat. Naturally, he was never taught rules such as "The customer is always right."

Richard's Wedding

Theo and Amelie awkwardly smiled in response and hastily changed the topic.

Jenna only stayed for a few minutes before leaving.

Not long after that, Richard approached me with a glass of wine in hand.

"I've underestimated you, Hank. You managed to latch onto someone like Jenna so quickly."

I had no intention of getting into a squabble with him. "Happy birthday, Richard. It's getting late, and I should head home."

He darted forward and grabbed my arm.

"None of that matters, you hear me? You've seen it yourself, haven't you? It doesn't matter what you do because I will always be our parents' beloved son! You'll forever be the useless loser in their eyes!"

His grip around my arm tightened, and I could feel my bones creaking in protest. I became annoyed with him and shrugged him off with a scowl.

I didn't expect him to use the momentum and fall backward.

Amelie immediately noticed the commotion and frantically ran over.

"What's going on?" she exclaimed.

Richard placed his hand on his ankle as he looked up to her, his face pale. "Mom, Hank pushed me. He even said that he'd make me pay now that he's curried favor with a great benefactor like Ms. Close! Mom, I'm scared..."

Amelie's eyes widened with anger. She was so incensed that she blindly reached for something nearby to throw at me.

I instinctively held my arm up to defend my face, which resulted in my arm being sliced open. The item she threw was a knife from the restaurant.

The blood dripped onto the floor.

She pointed at me as she shouted with a trembling voice, "You scoundrel! Do you think you can do whatever you want because you have connections with someone rich and powerful now? You have no right to throw a fit in this home! Get out now!

"You are never to show yourself at home until I say so!"

After I was kicked out of the hall, I checked the date with my phone.

It seemed Richard would soon meet Flora.

All I had to do was bide my time and wait.

I soon received a job offer from Jenna and joined the Close Group.

During that time, I worked hard to learn and improve my skills, hoping to catch up to my seniors as soon as possible.

I was working on the quarterly report when my phone buzzed with a notification from the newspapers. "Breaking news! The long-lost heiress of Wayne Group has been found!"

I put my phone down after reading that. It seemed that Richard would be married to Flora soon.

Sure enough, Richard made a post two weeks later. "Ms. Wayne, I look forward to the rest of our lives."

There was even a photo of them holding up their marriage certificate in that post. Both of them looked like a match made in heaven with wide smiles on their faces.

Shortly after, Wayne Group announced Flora's upcoming wedding.

As soon as it was posted, every media outlet began speculating on the marriage.

Everyone was wondering just who the new husband could be. Someone who knew the couple exposed that Richard had dated Flora before she was found by her family. Soon, stories of their romance spread everywhere.

Flora announced their wedding to take place in Adoraland as a show of their love, expressing that she would forever be with her husband.

I received a message from Richard on the day of the wedding.

'Hank, you miserable worm, I was going to invite you to my wedding since I know you've never left the country before. Unfortunately for you, Mom and Dad refused to let me do it. They said you'd definitely humiliate us if you're there. Hahahaha! Suck it, Hank!

'Now, I'm part of the Wayne Group. Who cares if you can do a job well? Who cares if you have a great job? In the end, you'll never amount to anything! You'll forever be trampled under my foot!

'Once I return, I'll have Mom and Dad officially disown you so you'll be nothing but an unloved beggar of an orphan!'

I could not resist letting out a snort of laughter upon reading that.

I truly hope that his smugness would still burn strong after his wedding night.