My fiance, Derrick Lodge, chooses to save me during the typhoon, instead of his first love, Victoria Rayne.

My life is saved, but Victoria dies after being struck by flying debris before the rescue team can find her. They aren't even able to find the rest of her body afterward.

After going home, Derrick doesn't attend Victoria's funeral and immediately holds a grand wedding for me instead.

For the next three years of our marriage, Derrick doesn't stop torturing me because he says that I caused Victoria's death.

When I reach my limit and finally ask him for a divorce, Derrick kills me with a gun before killing himself.

I open my eyes again and realize that I have traveled back in time. It is the day the typhoon happened, threatening our lives. This time, however, I tell Derrick to save Victoria's life instead.

The typhoon swept around us. There was only one space left in the rescue truck, and my fiance, Derrick Lodge, reached out for me without hesitation and hoisted me into the car.

I was saved. However, his first love, Victoria Rayne, died on the spot after getting struck by flying debris whilst waiting for the next rescue truck.

Derrick never brought up the incident again after we returned home safe and sound. In fact, he didn't even attend Victoria's funeral. Instead, he held a grand wedding and married me.

For the next three years of our marriage, Derrick wouldn't stop torturing me whenever he had the chance. He kept blaming me for indirectly causing Victoria's death.

Finally, I reached my limit and asked him for a divorce. However, he killed me with his gun before taking his own life after that.

…

"Cassandra Schmidt! Come up, quickly!"

Derrick's voice was warped by the howling winds as he yelled at me.

I could feel the wind sweeping me off my feet. Suddenly, I realized that I had somehow been given a second chance at life.

It was the day when "Typhoon Seahorse" invaded the city, and we were all stranded at Quayside Bay.

A rescue truck stopped before us. However, there wasn't enough space for all of us. They could only afford to bring two more people with them.

Amongst the three of us, as a doctor, Derrick was needed to help save other typhoon victims, so he took up one of the spots. As for the last spot on the truck, he had to choose between saving my life and saving Victoria's.

Derrick's eyes were red and bloodshot. He kept glaring at me, having an entire debate in his head. Ultimately, he still reached his hand out toward me.

This was how Derrick had chosen me in my past life. I had survived the typhoon, but Victoria ended up dead waiting for the next rescue truck because she'd been struck by a huge roof that had torn off somewhere.

Derrick had married me right after that. Then, he proceeded to torture me for three years because he thought of me as Victoria's murderer.

When I finally had enough of his bullshit and asked him for a divorce, he pressed the barrel of his gun against my chest and yelled at me with a crazy look in his eyes.

"You killed Victoria, Cassandra Schmidt! You owe her your life! It's about time you went to hell to keep her company!"

I felt myself shuddering as I recalled the pain and despair I felt after getting shot in the chest and dying from the wound. Then, I looked at his outstretched hand and took a huge step backward, shoving it away.

"Take Victoria with you instead, Derrick."

I didn't want to owe anyone my life again this time.

Derrick was stunned when he heard what I said. However, a split second later, I could see that his tense body relaxed immediately. He heaved a long sigh of relief, as if he'd just managed to shrug off a huge burden from his shoulders.

He then quickly turned to Victoria and grabbed her shivering body, forcefully dragging her into the rescue vehicle.

"You're my fiancee, Cassandra, and I should be saving you first. But you don't have to worry. Since you gave up your spot for Victoria, I'll be right back with another team to save you as soon as I've settled her down. Wait for me!"

With that, he immediately shut the door in my face, as if worried that I would change my mind.

What a joke. Did he really think that everyone else was as fake as he was?

In my past life, as soon as we got to the safe area and the signal returned to our phones, Derrick immediately contacted the rescue team like an anxious maniac, trying to get them to save Victoria. However, it was too late.

When news of Victoria's death reached him, Derrick remained silent and showed no traces of emotion on his face.

He calmly arranged for Victoria's funeral and gave the Rayne family a huge sum of money to choose the best burial plot for her.

I'd asked him then if we should postpone our wedding. However, he pulled me into his arms and said with reddened eyes, "I don't want to upset you, Cassie. Don't worry. I'll plan the grandest wedding of the century, just for you."

It wasn't until after the wedding that I learned he'd been forced to marry me.

He brought me home as his wife and started treating me with hatred and malice, cornering me and forcing me to make up for Victoria's death for the rest of my life.

But what did her death have to do with me?

I watched as the rescue truck sped off in the distance. Then, I turned around and tried thinking of a way to save my own life. After all, I couldn't guarantee that Derrick would be coming back with help to save me.

Derrick had only nearly gone berserk trying to get a hold of rescuers to return to this spot in my past life because it was Victoria, his precious first love, who had been left behind.

Now, with Victoria safe and secure by his side, he might not even remember that I was still struggling to save myself in the typhoon.

After all, the only person he truly wanted to save in both lives was Victoria.

They had grown up together, and it was only natural for him to have feelings for her. Derrick had only gotten engaged with me because I saved his life once, and his parents forced him to marry me as a form of gratitude when they were simply eyeing my family's power and influence.

I had also been stupid enough to believe that he was in love with me back then. But now that I thought of it, I realized that he seemed to just be checking off items on his list whenever he treated me well.

That was because the person he was truly in love with was Victoria.

He'd only gone against his instincts and saved me last time because he didn't want to be picked apart and called an ingrate for not saving my life. And he had regretted that split-second decision he'd made for the rest of his life after the tragedy.

He should be thanking me now for helping him fulfill his innermost thoughts.

The sheeting rain continued to pick up, and raindrops the size of pebbles wouldn't stop pummeling painfully against my face.

I grabbed my drenched jacket and pulled it tightly against myself as I ran against the wind to a place I could recall. I remembered that there was an abandoned hut somewhere nearby.

The hut was made of bricks and concrete, and it could protect me from the storm. It had been the only structure left standing last time, while the rest of the building around it collapsed or was pried up from the ground.

That was my only hope for survival.

The observation platform behind me let out a shrill creak as the entire roof was torn off by the wind. Then, it landed right in the middle of the spot where I'd just been standing with a loud, deafening crash.

Victoria had been killed like that last time.

I could still feel the tremors in my chest as I gritted my teeth and hurried forward without daring to look back.

When I finally reached the little concrete hut, the floodwaters had already reached my calves. There were pieces of trash, broken twigs, and branches floating in the muddy water.

I pushed the heavy metal door open and hurried inside, leaning heavily against the icy-cold walls and sliding to the ground in relief. I couldn't stop myself from shivering the entire time.

At least, I was safe for now.

However, a while later, water began seeping in through the door.

I felt my heart drop into my stomach. The flood was happening a lot more quickly than I thought it would. The hut was situated too low to be safe. If I continued staying in the hut, I would only end up dying here.

So, I pushed against the door with all of my might. However, the heavy door was locked in place by the debris pushing against the outside and refused to budge.

Just as I was about to fall into despair, I suddenly heard a loud siren coming from outside.

Instantly, I was filled with hope once more. I grabbed a loose brick and started hammering it against the iron door, making it clang loudly.

Soon, I heard a man's voice at the entrance. "Is anyone inside here?"

I cried out in my hoarse voice, "Yes! Yes, there is! Save me!"

The door was quickly pulled open from the outside. A bright, piercing light immediately shone into the hut, and I saw a huge figure standing in the doorway, his face covered in shadows.

The man waddled over to me, draped his jacket over my shivering body without another word, and picked me up in his arms, bridal style.

A familiar woody scent infiltrated my senses. I was stunned.

"Cassandra. It's me."

I tilted my head up to look into a pair of dark eyes, worry and concern clearly written in them.

It was none other than Xander Tarantino. He was the heir of the Tarantino family, which ran the mafia organization in the country. He was also the man who had been secretly in love with me but never dared to confess his entire life.

He held me tightly in his arms as he took firm, steady steps toward a modified Jeep parked outside.

Just as I thought I was finally safe, I suddenly felt a numbing, cramping pain in my abdomen.

What the hell? Of all days, I had to start my period today.

The cold seeped into my bones as the cramps spread out from my lower stomach to the rest of my body. I curled up in great pain and couldn't stop shuddering.

Xander carried me into the warm car and rummaged for the first aid kit. Then, he quickly found a pack of painkillers and handed them to me with a bottle of warm water.

"Take the painkillers for now."

I swallowed the pills with the water and felt the warmth spread in my stomach.

He then retrieved a thermal flask from the back of his car and poured me a cup of hot chocolate. "This might help lessen the pain a little."

I cradled the cup in my hands and watched him move with familiar ease around me, feeling the warmth spread into my heart.

I suddenly recalled the first winter I spent with Derrick after our wedding in my past life.

I had also suddenly gotten my period that day, and I was in so much pain that I was rolling around in bed. I had asked him to get me a glass of warm water, but he just grabbed a bucket of ice-cold water before pouring it all over my body.

The look in his eyes was colder than ice.

"It hurts? Do you think you even deserve to talk about pain, Cassandra Schmidt? Have you ever thought about how much pain Victoria had been in when her bones were shattered from getting struck?

"That's what true pain feels like! But she never even had the chance to scream before she died! You're a murderer who killed her! You have no right to act pitiful with me!"

I was drenched from head to toe as I stared at his twisted face in pure disbelief. I felt my hope slowly dimming in my chest.

After a long time, I finally managed to get up on my feet. I laughed.

"Derrick Lodge! The typhoon was a natural disaster, and you were the one who pulled me into the rescue truck! How could you blame me for her death now?"

Derrick's face turned even colder. "Cassandra Schmidt! I never wanted to marry you! If you never saved my life, if my parents never forced me to repay you, I would never even have gotten engaged with you in the first place!"

I laughed hard, suddenly realizing that I couldn't recognize him anymore. He was just being ridiculous at this point.

"So, in the end, it's all still my fault? You're not stupid, Derrick Lodge. You're just plain evil! You and your family have your eyes on my family business, but you hadn't wanted to give up on your first love. You're weak and greedy, and that was what killed her in the end!

"You refused to blame yourself for it, and you didn't dare blame your parents, either. So, you ended up pinning the blame on me, the person who saved your life! You're such a pathetic being!"

That night, I bore with the pain and pulled myself all the way to the pharmacy to get myself some painkillers, and finally got over the worst of it.

Ever since then, our relationship had never been the same. It was thoroughly wrecked. I also refused to show him any moment of weakness.

But now, Xander was taking such good care of me, even though I was going through the same cramps and pain during my period.

I felt my nose tingling with emotion and quickly looked away, forcing my tears back.

"Thank you."

Xander looked up and smiled innocently at me. "You don't need to be so polite."

Just then, a rescue doctor poked his head into the car. "Mr. Tarantino, you called us just now because you said that you found a survivor. Were you referring to this young lady?"

Xander nodded and turned to me. "This is Dr. Jessica Sanders, the medical doctor on our rescue team. Let her have a look at you."

I nodded, so Xander immediately shifted aside and let the doctor in.

After a quick preliminary checkup, she said, "There's nothing terribly wrong with Ms. Schmidt. It's just that she'd been caught in the flood for a while, and her period cramps were acting up simultaneously, which is causing a slight fever now. She'll be fine after a good night's rest."

Xander hummed in acknowledgment and saw the doctor off before returning to my side. He said in a gentle tone, "The rescue truck will be sending you to a temporary shelter in a bit. You can rest there for a while before I send you home later when the typhoon is over."

Home?

Suddenly, I didn't want to go back to that cold, cruel place I'd been calling "home" anymore.

My parents had always wanted a son of their own, and they were disappointed with me because I was a female. They only cared about molding Derrick into the perfect company heir and wouldn't even care if I never went home for a whole month.

In their eyes, their son-in-law was a lot more reliable than their own daughter and was therefore more suitable to inherit their company and other assets.

As for Derrick, since we'd died together in my past life and I'd traveled back in time to relive my life, I figured that it was also the same situation for him now. He was most probably happily hugging Victoria in his arms and celebrating the fact that he'd finally made the right choice this time.

In my past life, we'd been married for three years, but he never acknowledged his relationship with me in public and also refused to sleep with me in the same bed.

He even managed to convince my parents to chase me out of the company to be a stay-at-home wife, locking me up at home and refusing to let me out.

Every time anyone brought my name up, he would give them a pitiful look that said I'd betrayed him. So, eventually, people started hating me because of my reputation as a promiscuous woman.

Furthermore, my parents were even more determined to hand over their company to him instead of me, also as a way to make it up to him.

This time, however, I would rather that Derrick get forever entangled with Victoria than come after me to destroy my life again.

I turned to look at Xander and said in a beseeching voice that even shocked myself, "I don't have anywhere to go. Can you please… let me stay with you for a few days?"

When Xander didn't reply, I tugged on the hem of his shirt anxiously, looking at him with pleasing eyes.

He had been the only one who believed me when I insisted on getting a divorce from Derrick in my past life. He didn't attack me like the other people in my life did.

It was also that time when I realized he had had a crush on me for a long time.

Xander remained quiet for quite a while. Suddenly, he leaned forward, his breath ghosting against my ear, and said, "I'm not a good person. What if you get dragged into my mess just by staying with me?"

His voice was low and gruff, with an underlying concern. He was so close to me that his woody scent began invading my senses. He smelled so good that I nearly lost my mind.

"I'm not afraid. I don't care about the consequences."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

I looked at him and saw his eyes twinkling very briefly as his face turned red. Finally, he said, "Okay."

The rescue vehicle finally dropped us off at the temporary shelter. I was already beginning to burn up even worse than before.

When Xander carried me out of the car, I suddenly heard a familiar voice cry out next to me.

"Cassandra! Is that really you?"

It was Derrick. He was leading a team of firefighters with an anxious look on his face, like he was trying to form a team of rescuers.

He immediately ran up to me with a look of surprise on his face. "Cassandra! You're alright! I nearly went crazy trying to find you!"

I slid down from Xander's arms and steadied myself. Then, I looked at Derrick's lying face with an icy glare.

"What does it matter to you whether I'm alright or not?"