But he seemed to have forgotten—my parents also had only one child. Me. And I was their late-in-life miracle at that.

My name is Freya James. My parents said they hoped I'd carry virtue in my heart and treasure in my hands—that my name held every ounce of their love.

Who isn't the apple of their parents' eye?

Even now, I didn't dare imagine what my parents—both nearing seventy—would do with their remaining years if I died.

After dinner, Victor made an excuse about going downstairs for a cigarette to clear his head. I stood silently by the window and watched him hail a car and disappear into the distance.

In the hollow emptiness of the hotel room, the news broadcast rattled off the daily death toll. "Twenty-one confirmed fatalities from the virus today..."

The anchor read the numbers in a flat, clinical tone, but I knew all too well the agony each life behind those numbers endured while waiting for death.

Day one of infection brought unbearable itching across the entire body. Day two, the skin erupted in sores.

Those sores burned and oozed pus, and by day three, your organs felt like they were being gnawed apart from the inside. That bone-deep, flesh-tearing pain didn't stop until the moment you drew your last breath.

The thought made me press my hand to my stomach. "Sweet baby," I whispered. "Next time around, pick a good mommy and daddy, okay? I can't... keep you. Mommy doesn't want you born into a broken family."

After all, Mommy grew up in a home that was whole and full of love—double the love. I want that for you too.

Before I knew it, I'd drifted off. When I woke, it was to the shrill ring of my phone. I glanced at the screen. Dad.

The second I picked up, his choked voice came through. "Freya, sweetheart—I saw on the news that Estara has a virus outbreak, and all the flights have been grounded. Don't be scared, baby girl. Daddy's buying a ticket right now. I'm coming to you."

Then Mom's voice broke through on the other end, thick with tears she was trying to swallow.

"You're buying mine too, old man. You think you're the only one who misses her?"

"Your health isn't good. Just stay home and wait for good news. I'll bring our girl back safe and sound."

"Absolutely not. We go together or not at all. And if we can't come back—then at least we die together."

Listening to my normally gentle, soft-spoken parents argue because of me, my eyes quietly burned. To keep them from worrying, I swallowed the tremor in my voice and rushed to say, "Mom, Dad—don't worry. I called the Embassy. The government arranged a return ticket for me. I'll be home tomorrow."

The moment Mom heard that, she snatched the phone. "Really? Oh, thank God! Your father and I will be at the airport to pick you up."

I wiped my tears and managed a smile. "You can't. I have an assignment when I get back. Just stay home and wait for me."

After I hung up, I realized Victor had come back at some point without me noticing.

He was staring at me, face lit up with barely contained hope. "Freya—you got a ticket?"

I'd called the Embassy while he was around. Thinking back on it now, the calm confidence he'd shown while reassuring Ina was probably because he'd already calculated that I could secure a ticket.

Since he already knew, there was no point hiding it. But when I opened my mouth, I said it deliberately:

"I did get a ticket. But there's only one."

The hope in his eyes guttered out instantly. He was silent for a few seconds, then his brow furrowed and his voice turned urgent. "One? How can they only give you one? Didn't you tell them you have family with you?"

"Talk to them again. Get them to make an exception. Someone like you—a national hero—there's no way they'd refuse you a second ticket."

He wasn't wrong about that. Life-saving tickets were allocated for spouses and family members too.

So when I'd explained the situation to the Embassy, they hadn't hesitated for a second.

They gave me two return tickets.

But faced with Victor's suspicion, I held firm.

"The more dire things get, the harder tickets are to come by. The people boarding these flights are mostly top-tier professionals serving the country."

He listened without committing one way or another. Seeing his silence, I pressed deliberately.

"Honey, don't you want me to go home? You know how many lives someone with my expertise could save."

He snapped back to attention and forced a smile. "I... of course I want you to go back."

In the middle of the night, I pretended to be asleep. Sure enough, he crept out of bed and started rummaging for the ticket.

I hadn't made it hard to find—it was right in the box on the nightstand. But I'd hidden my real one. Since Victor already believed I'd only managed to get a single ticket, he didn't suspect a thing.

The moment he had it in hand, he slipped into the bathroom and dialed a number.

"Ina, I got the ticket from Freya. You can go through the special channel and board the plane tomorrow."

"Really? Oh, Victor, thank God—my baby and I aren't going to die after all."

Her laughter spilled through the receiver, and he couldn't help but smile along with her.

After the initial rush of excitement faded, Ina seemed to remember something. Her voice turned urgent.

"Victor, are you coming with me? I want... I want you to be my baby's father."

In my previous life, he would have jumped at those words—it had been his greatest regret, the thing he'd never gotten to have. But now, knowing there was only one ticket, his voice turned bitter.

"Ina, don't worry about me. If I survive this, I'll come back and marry you."

"Someone as valuable as Freya couldn't have only gotten one ticket, right? Just talk to her—get her to give you hers. Once you and I are out, the government will recognize her skills and issue her another one."

I lay in the dark, listening to every word. So that was her plan.

The same scheme as last time—the two of them flying off together, leaving me to die alone in a foreign country.

Victor could only sigh. "She really did only get one. But don't worry about me. Maybe I'll get lucky. Maybe I'll hold out until they develop a cure."

Ina burst into tears. Victor murmured soft reassurances until she calmed down, then finally came back to bed.

After the lights went out, he wrapped his arms around me from behind and whispered, "I'm sorry, Freya. I'll... stay with you. Even if it means dying—consider it my way of making it up to you."

A chill crawled across my skin. My heart stung like it was being pricked by a thousand needles.

Victor and I had met through a matchmaker, nothing more. But after we married, he'd been attentive, gentle, romantic—everything I'd ever wanted in a husband. I'd fallen for him, slowly and completely. When all flights were grounded, I'd been ready to live or die by his side.

But his love—his real heart—had never belonged to me. Not even a sliver of it.

Fine, then. In this life, the agony of being separated by death could be his burden to bear alone.

The next morning, Victor was already gone when I woke up.

I let out a cold laugh, packed my bags in silence, grabbed my ticket, and hailed a cab to the airport.

Half an hour later, I stepped out of the car with my luggage—and froze.

Victor and Ina were locked in an embrace, their lips pressed together.

"If you can't bear to let her go, Victor, why not just have her stay and keep you company?"

My voice cut through the air like a tripwire. They sprang apart as if electrocuted.

"Freya—how—what are you doing here?"

Victor's eyes went wide, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides as he stared at me.

I folded my arms and looked right at him.

"If I didn't come, how would I get to watch this little show?"

Ina's expression shifted instantly to one of fear, and she tugged at Victor's sleeve.

"Victor..."

He snapped back to his senses and patted her hand reassuringly, then turned to me with a frown.

"Freya, this is all my fault. It has nothing to do with Ina. I'm the one who stole the ticket."

"I'm sure you can tell—Ina's pregnant."

I followed his gaze to her belly. She was indeed pregnant—six or seven months along, by the look of it.

Victor noticed where my eyes had landed and rushed to explain, as if afraid I'd get the wrong idea.

"Don't misunderstand. There's nothing between Ina and me. The baby isn't mine. I just felt sorry for her, being alone in a foreign country with no one to look after her. That's the only reason I took your ticket."

His voice softened then, and he looked at me with those gentle eyes of his.

"Freya, I've always known you're a kind person. You understand why I did it, right?"

"Think about it—you only had one ticket. If you board that plane, that's one life saved. But if Ina takes it, that ticket saves two lives. You're in medicine. You know what it means to have a healer's heart. I think you'd be willing to make that choice."

The words nearly burst out of me: What about me? I'm pregnant too!

But I swallowed them. In my last life, he'd already proven that even knowing I was carrying his child, he would choose Ina and her baby without a second's hesitation.

"But Freya, don't be scared. I'll stay with you. Life or death, I'll be right here beside you. Just give this chance to Ina and her child, okay?"

Listening to his plea, I smiled faintly.

"Sure. She can have it. Consider it my good deed for the day."

Relief flooded both their faces. Victor let out a breath and reached for my arm. I stepped out of his reach.

He faltered for a moment, then dropped his hand. "Freya, let's go. I'll explain everything when we get back."

He turned to Ina with an aching look. "Go on, get on the plane. Take care of yourself when you get home."

Ina cradled her round belly, eyes rimming red, voice thick with tears.

"Victor... when the baby's born, I'll give him your last name. Your mother will be his grandmother. I'll treat Mrs. Delgado like my own mother."

"Thank you, Ina. That puts my mind at ease. Tell my mom... I'll repay her for raising me in the next life."

I watched this little performance with cold eyes. The irony was suffocating. Thank God I'd been given a second chance. This time, I wouldn't put my parents through that kind of grief again.

Just as Ina wiped her tears and started toward the gate, glancing back every other step, I picked up my luggage and walked in the same direction.

Victor froze. He grabbed my arm. "Freya—you're going the wrong way."

I shook him off, my voice ice. "You want to die? Die alone. I plan on living."

"You don't have a ticket. How are you going to get through?"

Seeing the confusion on his face, I stopped pretending. I reached into my bag and pulled out a boarding pass.