Foolishly In Love

After my stepsister, Jennifer Nichols, died in a tragic accident, Julian Asher hated me for ten whole years.

He was the youngest star attorney in Vaxton Bay. He was always calm and composed, yet he never once hid his disgust toward me.

I gave up everything for him: my education, my family, my friends, even the inheritance I was meant to receive. I stayed by his side through the grueling bar exam and the brutal early days of his career.

But all he ever said was, "Miley, if you really want to please me, go ahead and die."

The only woman he ever loved in this lifetime was my stepsister.

And I realized that far too late.

It wasn't until a fire broke out unexpectedly in the courthouse archives and I was trapped upstairs that something changed. Julian ran in to save me.

The blaze devoured everything in its path. In the end, he shoved me out of the rubble.

The collapsing steel beams crashed down on him. Blood spilled everywhere.

Outside the operating room, I fell to my knees, begging the heavens to let him live. Before he died, he left me one final message with the doctor. "Miley, I hope we never meet again in the next life."

At his funeral, his mother slapped me hard across the face—again and again.

"You're a cursed wretch. Killing Jennifer wasn't enough for you; now you've killed my son too. I never should've agreed to let Julian marry you."

His father dragged me to my knees by my hair, forcing me to kneel.

"This is all my fault. I was too soft-hearted. Julian saved you three times, and all you ever brought him was misery!"

Everyone believed I was the reason Julian died. And deep down, I believed it too.

In the end, I slit my wrists and took my own life—only to awaken back in university, at the very moment we was supposed to get engaged.

This time, I made a choice. I would not chase after him again.

I would step aside and let him be with the one he loved most—my stepsister, Jennifer.

Miley's POV

"Miley, you used Asher Ventures as bait to force me into this engagement. Do you really think marrying me will bring you happiness?"

Julian Asher's cold, detached voice echoed in my ears as I stared at him.

He stood in front of me in a white shirt and sweatpants, his features youthful and untamed. He was nothing like the composed, sharp-tongued star attorney he would become in the future.

This was Julian at eighteen—the boy I traded my life to save.

I gulped, holding back my tears. "You don't want to marry me because... the person you truly love is Jennifer, isn't it?"

Julian let out a mocking laugh. "Yeah. You gonna make me marry her?"

I nodded solemnly. "I can."

My grandfather was a titan in the business world—one word from him could determine the fate of the Asher family. It was he who had arranged our engagement in the first place.

Though Jennifer Nichols was only my stepsister, as long as I asked, I knew Grandpa would agree to let her be with Julian.

The scorn in his eyes deepened. "First you used your grandfather and Asher Ventures to force me into this marriage. And now you're saying you'll hand me over to Jennifer? Miley, you really do have a lot of tricks up your sleeve."

"If you're so desperate to marry me," he sneered, "then go get the engagement document yourself. I'll wait here."

The loathing on his face pierced straight through me.

In every lifetime, I loved Julian with all I had.

He had saved me three times, risking everything each time. I'd mistaken that for love. Joyfully, foolishly, I begged my grandfather to seal our engagement, believing that marrying him would make us both happy.

It wasn't until my stepsister Jennifer died in an accident that I finally saw the truth. Julian's heart had always belonged to Jennifer.

Ten years of marriage with me became the greatest torment of his life.

Before I was reborn, a voice in my head whispered, "Within a day of rebirth, you must fulfill his three regrets. Once you do, leave immediately. From that moment on, you'll have no ties to him. He will live, and you will no longer be his downfall."

If Julian could live happily, I was willing to pay any price.

I went to my grandfather and begged him to annul my engagement, and to grant it instead to Julian and Jennifer.

I already knew the three regrets that haunted him.

Regret one: Marrying Miley.

Regret two: Never standing up to his parents.

Regret three: Failing to save Jennifer.

Today, at least, the first regret had been resolved.

I handed him the newly signed engagement document.

He looked at me with disdain, as if I had finally succeeded in coercing him, and reached out to open it.

I stopped him, pressing my hand over his. "Look at it tomorrow. This time, your wish will come true. Whatever you want—if I have it, it's yours."

Julian let out a cold laugh.

"My wish will come true? Miley, this is exactly what you wanted. Don't act like this wasn't your plan all along. Forget it. Let's just go home."

He slammed the car door so hard that the sound rattled my chest.

The radio came on.

"Tonight at the Polaris rooftop restaurant, you'll witness a once-in-a-century meteor shower. Legend says couples who watch it together will be bound for all eternity!"

I suddenly remembered the past—how I once begged Julian to take me.

Back then, he frowned and snapped at me.

"A lifetime isn't enough for you? Now you want eternity? Miley, enough already. I'm sick of you."

That expression of pure disgust—it still shattered me, even after another lifetime.

I switched off the radio. I had no hopes this time.

But unexpectedly, Julian spoke, his voice calm, "Want to go? I can take you to Polaris tonight, as an apology for not going home with you to visit your grandfather after our engagement."

I looked up, startled. But the indifference in his eyes made me lower my head just as quickly.

Why did this life feel different?

But Julian had always been considerate, regardless of who he was dealing with.

He didn't love me, and yet he had still risked his life to save me—three times.

The first time, I was mugged on the street. He shielded me with his own body, and a thug slashed his right hand with a knife. The injury damaged his nerves. That hand, capable of crafting the most brilliant legal arguments, couldn't write properly for a long time.

The second time, I was diagnosed with a rare blood disease. He scoured the globe for specialists. In securing a spot in a clinical trial for me, he nearly missed the most important exam of his legal career.

The third time, when a fire broke out in the courthouse archive room, he died in front of me to save me.

Julian was perfect in every way… except that he never loved me.

I knew that after today, there would be no more ties between us.

Even if we watched the meteor shower together and wished upon it, we were never meant to last across lifetimes.

Still, I couldn't hold back the tears that welled in my eyes.

"Julian… thank you. Let's go."