Love Betrayed

Upon returning to her past life, the first thing Nalani Bennett did was instruct her father to keep a close eye on Raiden Harvey, the mailman, at the entrance of the village every day. In her previous life, Eiden Parker had intercepted her college acceptance letter to give to his beloved, causing Nalani to "fail" her college entrance exams. With no resources to retake the exam, she had no choice but to honor their engagement and marry Eiden Parker.

While he pursued his studies in the city, she stayed behind to care for his widowed mother. For thirty years she worked tirelessly, nurturing the elderly and raising the children, only to be rewarded with Eiden's declaration that they had nothing in common. To marry his true love, he went so far as to poison her.

When Nalani opened her eyes again, she found herself back at the time of the acceptance letter distributions. This time, she vowed, he would have no chance to use her future as a stepping stone for someone else.

Nalani's mind snapped back to reality, and the first thing she heard was the grating chatter of Eiden Parker in her ear, "Nalani, Mr. Gomez said they’ve started delivering the acceptance letters. Do you think I’ll get into the university in the city? With my grades, I definitely should…"

She suppressed the deep-seated hatred in her eyes and cut him off coldly, "I don't know, and I don't care." In this lifetime, her only concern was whether she would get into college herself.

Eiden looked at her in disbelief. "Nalani, what’s with you? I'm your fiancé. Don’t you want me to go to college?"

Fiancé? The kind who uses my future to pave the way for his sweetheart? That's a luxury she couldn’t afford and didn’t want.

Nalani looked at him with a face full of sarcasm. "What's wrong? Is your path to college paved by my wishes? I thought you were getting in based on your own merit!"

Eiden wasn’t pleased. "Nalani, what’s gotten into you? Why are you speaking in such a sarcastic tone?"

Losing patience, Nalani pushed him aside and hurried home. She needed to speak to her parents.

She had no idea which day her acceptance letter would arrive. In her previous life, Eiden had only shown her his acceptance letter a few days before he was set to leave. He claimed he didn’t want to upset her, but now she realized he feared she might do to him what he had done to her—ruin his chance of attending college.

No matter, the acceptance letters were just starting to be distributed. Everything was still within reach.

When she arrived home, her parents were grabbing their gardening tools, ready to head out. Nalani stopped them urgently.

Her mother, Georgina, looked at her with confusion. "Nalani, weren’t you with Eiden? Why didn’t you come back with him?"

Nalani turned to her father, Layton, her expression serious. "Dad, there’s something very important I need you to do."

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Layton's expression mirrored hers. "What is it?"

"Starting today, don’t do anything except keep an eye out at the village entrance for Raiden Harvey. Wait for my university acceptance letter!"