To the public, Maggie Sinise and I are a golden married couple who have lived peacefully with each other for over four decades.

But when Maggie is on her deathbed, she grips my hand tightly while pleading to me, "Aaron, if there ever is a next life, please… please let me and Scotty be together…"

I feel as though I've gotten struck by lightning. The shock lasts for a long time. But since this is Maggie's death wish, I nod in agreement.

"Okay."

Upon hearing the answer she's been yearning for, Maggie closes her eyes in satisfaction.

What I don't expect is that both of us have actually returned to the timeframe that's set 40 years ago.

Just as I'm trying to wrap my mind around the question as to why Maggie has gotten reborn as well, I hear her stating firmly, "I will never marry Aaron! In this lifetime, Scotty is the only man I will ever marry!"

I'm not mad at all. I'm just curious about one thing, though.

How will Maggie ever rebuild Sinise Group and make it great again without my help this time?

In my previous life, I'd given up everything I had—everything my family had—just so I could marry Maggie Sinise.

Together, we took the nearly bankrupt Sinise Group and built it into one of the top listed companies in the country.

In everyone's eyes, Maggie and I were the perfect couple. There were never any scandals about us in the news. In fact, we never even argued.

We spent our entire lives at each other's side, devoted to each other.

On her deathbed, I naively believed that the person she would find hardest to let go of would be me. But as I watched her face briefly regain color in her final moments, I saw her eyes drift into memory. Her frail hand desperately pulled out a photo of Scotty Pipes that had been tucked against her chest.

Those clouded eyes softened with unmistakable tenderness as she looked at the young Scotty in the picture.

I sat rigidly at the head of the bed.

"Aaron," she started. "If there's a next life, please allow Scotty the chance to marry me. Let me have a lifetime with him."

It felt like something was lodged in my throat. I couldn't speak.

Our children, standing by the bed, urged me to agree to her request. It was, after all, her dying wish.

Maggie's gaze didn't waver as she stared right at me.

"Aaron, you come from a prestigious, aristocratic family. You'll have a bright future ahead of you. But Scotty is different. I'm all he has!

"I didn't let you down in this lifetime. I only hope that in the next life, I won't let him down."

I closed my eyes in agony, forcing back the tears that threatened to fall.

Only then did I understand why Maggie had arrived at the end of her life with so much regret. Scotty was the one thing she'd never gotten over, the greatest unresolved regret of her life.

"Okay, Maggie," I said hoarsely. "I agree."

The moment the words left my mouth, a satisfied smile appeared on her face. The hand that had been gripping my wrist slowly loosened and fell away.

After what felt like a long time, I heard Mom's familiar voice next to my ear.

"Aaron, are you really going to give up everything you have just to marry Maggie Sinise?"

When I opened my eyes, I realized I had returned to a day 40 years ago—the very day when I had a falling out with my family in order to marry Maggie.

I didn't know how Maggie knew that she'd be reborn. And despite knowing this, she still made me promise to fulfill her final, dying wish.

Before I could even ask anything, Maggie's voice rang out, firm and unwavering.

"No, I won't marry Aaron. I, Maggie Sinise, will only marry one person in this lifetime, and that's Scotty Pipes!"

Her eyes, bright with longing and excitement, fixed on Scotty standing behind me.

Scotty's eyes reddened with emotion. He lowered his head shyly, not daring to look at Maggie any longer.

Only then did I realize that the two of them had already fallen in love a long time ago.

But in her past life, Maggie had chosen to sacrifice herself and marry me to save her struggling family.

This time, being reborn gave her the courage to face everything head-on.

She turned to me, her eyes carrying guilt, and her voice tinged with apology.

"I'm sorry, Aaron. I know you like me, but I love someone else. Love isn't something that can be transacted.

"Even without the help of the Tilman family, I believe I can still rebuild Sinise Group!"

Even though I'd already guessed in my previous life that she didn't love me, hearing it again still caused my heart to twist in pain.

I glanced down at my wrist. It was as if I could still see the imprint of her tight grip from her final moments in the previous life.

She probably never imagined that I, too, had been reborn.

I lowered my head and said to Mom, "Mom, since she doesn't want to, then let's pretend I never brought this up. From now on, she'll be the CEO of Sinise Group, and I'll be the general manager of Tilman Group. There'll be no other connection between us."

Maggie Sinise—I had promised in my previous life to fulfill your dying wish, so this time, I gave you and Scotty your lifetime together.

And I no longer cared whether you lived or died.

After that day, Scotty left our household and went with Maggie.

He was the son of our housekeeper and was practically a childhood playmate of mine. After the housekeeper passed away, he would occasionally work for our family.

We had never treated him unfairly in the slightest, either.

Before he left, out of our friendship, I gave him a case of his favorite liquor.

What I never expected was that my goodwill only sparked Maggie's anger. This Maggie no longer had the calm and steady demeanor she had once carried in her previous life.

Instead, she had a sharp, reckless arrogance of someone who had returned to her youth and reunited with the one thing she could never let go.

She stormed into my office and coldly accused, "Aaron, I know that you're upset that I chose Scotty the other day, but that doesn't give you the right to ruin him!

"Given our past relationship, I'll let it go this time. I really hope you won't continue to test me!"

Looking at her furious expression, I discreetly bit down on my lip until the metallic taste of blood spread across my tongue.

He truly was the one thing she couldn't get over. The 40 years we'd spent together in the previous life were now worth nothing.

After hastily throwing out a few more threats at me, Maggie stormed back out, not even giving me a chance to ask or explain anything.

Half an hour later, my assistant, Julian Forren, reported what he'd found back to me.

As it turned out, Scotty had drunk the liquor I'd given him and ended up in the hospital from an allergic reaction.

I was very confused. The liquor I'd given Scotty was his favorite brand. How could he suddenly be allergic to it? Besides, in my previous life, he'd secretly drunk from that case of liquor countless times.

And yet, he'd somehow ended up in the hospital only after I gave it to him?

I had Julian prepare the car so I could go see Scotty and retrieve the remaining liquor for testing, as well as to explain things.

However, the moment I stepped into his hospital room, Scotty immediately sank to his knees in front of me, tears welling up in his eyes. He grabbed the hem of my shirt and pleaded in a broken voice, "Sir, I know you like Maggie too, but feelings can't be forced. Maggie and I truly love each other. Please, I'm begging you—don't break us apart!"

I froze, my mind going blank for a second. But quickly enough, I realized what was happening.

Behind those teary eyes, I caught a flicker of smugness. He was framing me on purpose. And the goal was obvious. He wanted Maggie to see how "cruel" I was.

As expected, Maggie burst into the room and violently grabbed my arm. Her eyes blazed with rage as she snarled at me, her words forced through clenched teeth, "I just warned you, Aaron Tilman, and you're already trying to hurt Scotty? Do you really think I won't do anything to you?"

Looking at the woman who now seemed to hate me with every fiber of her being, my chest felt like it was being stabbed by a dozen blades.

I forced down the tears welling in my eyes, took a deep breath, and defended myself.

"I didn't hurt Scotty. I only came here to take back the liquor I gave him so I can send it for testing. If there really is something wrong with it, I'd be happy to compensate him."

Maggie opened her mouth, and for a brief moment, panic flashed in her eyes as she released my wrist. After spending 40 years together in the previous life, she knew exactly what kind of person I was.

But Scotty's sniffles quickly hardened her expression again.

"Stop pretending to be the nice guy here. I'll investigate this myself. You'd better pray that I don't find out you deliberately tried to harm Scotty!"

I nodded calmly and turned to leave without saying another word.

Before leaving, I had someone at the hospital look into the cause of Scotty's allergic reaction.

The purplish handprint on my wrist seemed to overlap with the one from my previous life. It was as if it was constantly reminding me to let go of Maggie. She was no longer my wife who'd spent 40 years by my side.

The next day, I spent the entire morning in the office dealing with contracts.

Julian brought over the investigation report from the hospital that I had requested the day before. The results showed that Scotty's allergens were completely different from any ingredients found in the liquor. His reaction was clearly caused by accidentally ingesting peanuts.

After reading the report, I had my answer.

I thought back to Scotty's strange behavior yesterday. I no longer cared whether he had truly eaten peanuts by accident or not.

Since the liquor I gave him wasn't the problem, from this point on, the two of them would have nothing to do with me.

But just as I was trying my best to cut off all ties with Maggie, it wasn't long before she came looking for me.

I knew why she was here. According to the timeline, Sinise Group would be on the verge of bankruptcy at this point. The company was facing cash flow issues, suppliers were pressing for payment, employee salaries needed to be paid, and bank loans had to be repaid… Everything was hitting all at once.

In my previous life, after Maggie and I got married, the Tilman family lent Sinise Group a large sum of money, helping her survive the crisis. Later, with my help, she secured a major project, and only then did Sinise Group finally turn things around.

But this time, she didn't have my help, so she naturally found herself stuck at every turn.

When she came to see me, she brought me some tacos—my favorite from my previous life—and a cup of lemonade.

"I passed by a taco stand and remembered you loved eating these, so I bought some for you on the way," she said.

I stared at her for a long time. Only when she started to look uneasy did I finally speak.

"You must have remembered wrong. I never liked eating tacos."

Her entire body trembled as if she'd been startled.

At this point in my previous life, I truly had never eaten that kind of food. It was only after marrying her that I started living frugally, trying to stretch every penny. The inexpensive yet delicious tacos then became a staple we had whenever we went on dates.

After a long silence, she forced a stiff smile.

"Then I probably remembered wrong. But Aaron, you should try this. It tastes pretty good."

I remained expressionless and just waved my hand, motioning for her to take it away.

"You should take it back. I can't stand the smell."

She froze, standing there awkwardly with the bag in her hands, not knowing what to do.

In the past, I never would have spoken to her like this. As much as I disliked it, I still would have taken it just to spare her embarrassment.

In my previous life, I had changed all my interests and preferences just to accommodate her and so that we would have more things in common.

But even on her deathbed, the person she cared about the most was Scotty. Only then did I realize how foolish I'd been.

"If there's nothing else, please leave," I said flatly. "After all, you're from Sinise Group. It won't look good if you stay at Tilman Group's offices for too long."

Hearing the dismissal, Maggie stepped right up to me and leaned forward slightly, her expression complicated.

"Aaron, are you mad at me because I chose Scotty?"

I didn't say anything.

After a long pause, she answered her own question, staring at me blankly.

"You must be very mad," she continued. "But Aaron, you don't understand. I didn't want things to be like this either. I just didn't want to miss out on him again. I didn't want to live with regrets for the rest of my life anymore!"

I knew exactly what she meant. She didn't want to sacrifice herself again to be with me this time.

In the previous life, being with me had been a lifelong regret for her.

I plastered a faint smile onto my face, but inside, it felt like my heart was riddled with puncture wounds.

"You don't have to explain anything to me. What's happened has happened—I stopped caring about it a long time ago."

Maggie let out a sigh of relief.

"In that case, why don't we have dinner tonight?" she asked slowly, her tone laced with guilt. "It's been a long time since we've had a meal together, just the two of us."

It had indeed been a long time. Ever since she chose Scotty in this life, we'd never eaten together.

In our previous life, as husband and wife, we basically ate together every day. And because of her sensitive stomach, I would often cook meals that she could digest more easily.

But I had no desire to do anything that meaningless in this lifetime.

"No need. There's a lot going on at the company. I don't want to waste time."

I paused. I recalled her dying wish from the previous life, and the question I had been holding back surfaced again.

"Maggie, how did you know—"

However, just as I started asking the question, her phone suddenly rang. Scotty's voice came through, inviting her to have dinner with him.

Maggie froze for a second, then glanced at me instinctively. After a long silence, she ultimately agreed.

Meanwhile, I swallowed the rest of my question back down.