After my wife got pregnant, I applied to join the Polar Expedition Team.

Midway through the mission, my wife's first love and I both fell into an ice crevasse. Death was seconds away.

When my wife threw down a lifeline, I gave up any chance of saving myself and handed the rope to Bryan Harding.

Because in my last life, I was the one who'd been pulled out alive. Bryan was swallowed by the ice. They never recovered his body.

After he died, Georgina Gilbert showed no grief. She quietly withdrew from the expedition and settled in to carry her pregnancy to term.

It wasn't until the baby was born that she gave the child Bryan's last name.

Then she drove a knife into my chest, her face twisted with hatred.

"This is mine and Bryan's child. You're the reason he never got to meet his own baby."

"He's dead, and you're still breathing? You don't deserve to be alive. Go to hell and beg for his forgiveness!"

She pushed me off the rooftop and staged it as a suicide. Then she held her baby and smiled.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment of the rescue.

……

"Grab the rope!"

Georgina stood at a distance and hurled the rope down. It landed right beside my hand.

Clarity hit me like a freight train. I turned my head and saw Bryan Harding behind me.

Twenty below zero. Both of us clung to the edge of the crevasse with nothing but our hands, an abyss yawning beneath our feet.

The lifeline was closest to me, but Georgina only had enough strength to pull one person up.

My hands were shaking. I gritted my teeth and shifted so Bryan could see the rope.

"Bryan, grab the rope! I'll pull you up!"

The next second, Bryan seized the line and held on tight.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Georgina sag with relief. She hauled him up onto solid ground.

"You're hurt. Let's get back to base!"

Watching Bryan make it out alive, I exhaled.

Through the driving snow, the two of them clung to each other, stumbling away together. On her way out, Georgina tossed the rope aside.

"Humphrey Simmons, I'll send someone else for you!"

I clenched my jaw and held on. Every ounce of strength drained from my body. After they disappeared into the white, my grip gave out and I plunged into the crevasse.

By sheer luck, the tool in my hand jammed into a crack in the ice wall and stopped my fall.

I didn't know how long I hung there. Cold air poured through the tear in my thermal suit. My fingers had gone completely numb, but I kept holding on. Finally, voices drifted down from above.

"Think that Simmons guy is already dead?"

"Once you fall in, there's no coming back. His own fault for playing hero and insisting on going out."

I screamed for help. Eventually the people up top noticed the crevasse. I craned my neck, and my eyes met theirs.

The moment they saw me, every member of the expedition team went silent.

Not one of them reached down. They just watched me slip further.

"Learned your lesson yet, Simmons?"

"You're the one who deliberately led Bryan this way. Tried to get him killed and nearly got yourself killed instead."

Someone let out a scoff and dropped a chunk of ice. It struck my visor.

That tiny impact sent my nerves screaming. Cold sweat broke out across my back. I begged them to pull me up.

They stared down at me like I was a circus act, mockery plastered across every face.

"Don't be pathetic. Be a man for once. You made your bed, now climb out of it yourself!"

A man's life hung in the balance, and they were cracking jokes.

My fingers were dead. My core temperature was dropping. I couldn't last much longer.

After they'd had their fill of watching me suffer, someone finally tossed a rope down. I reached for it. Couldn't quite get there.

"Climb up yourself. We're leaving."

Every muscle locked tight. I could barely believe it. But when I looked up, the face staring back at me was Georgina's.

"Babe, please. Just hand me the rope."

The word babe made her recoil. Not only did Georgina refuse to help, she actually stepped back. Then her voice came down, cold as the ice around me.

"Why would I help you? If I hadn't been here today, you would've gotten Bryan killed!"

"Climb out yourself. If you manage to survive, you'd better apologize to Bryan. And if anything happens to him, we're getting a divorce!"

"You don't deserve to be a father!"

My strength gave out. The voices above went silent. No matter how desperately I begged, no one reached down a hand.

I couldn't wait any longer.

I was going to die.

I couldn't wait any longer.

I took the gamble. I let go and threw myself toward the lifeline.

I caught it.

I hauled myself over the edge with every ounce of strength I had left, my heartbeat hammering so loud it drowned out the wind.

Nothing but white in every direction. Not a single figure in sight. They really hadn't come back for me. Every last one of them had left.

Whether I lived or died, they couldn't have cared less.

Base camp was still more than ten miles away. I'd survived the fall, but I felt no relief.

Even with the GPS locator on me, walking that distance in these conditions could kill me just as easily.

But now there was no other choice.

I clenched my jaw and plunged into the blizzard.

In extreme cold, the instruments at base were prone to malfunctions. Wearing gloves made equipment repairs difficult, so when I'd fallen into the crevasse, I'd already lost mine. Between the strain and the freezing temperatures, my fingers had gone completely numb.

As a meteorologist, I understood environmental shifts better than anyone. The snow was falling harder. Wind tore through the rips in my thermal suit. Visibility had dropped to less than thirty feet, the world reduced to a wall of white.

Cut off from the base station, starving and frozen, I ground my teeth and kept walking.

I'd given up my research position back home for Georgina and her pregnancy, applied to join the Polar Expedition Team.

I'd been afraid she'd suffer out here, so I'd volunteered to shoulder the hardship myself.

And in the end, I'd been building a life for someone else to enjoy.

The baby I'd looked forward to more than anything wasn't mine.

The woman I'd trusted most in this world had chosen to abandon me.

My legs were numb. My whole body shook uncontrollably.

If I can just survive this...

Clinging to that single thread of will, I walked for what felt like an eternity. When the lights of the base station finally appeared through the snow, something inside my chest loosened.

I staggered to the door and pulled the handle. Once. Twice.

Locked. No matter how hard I pounded, it didn't budge.

The wind cut through me like a blade. Inside, the crew had heard me. They sat in a circle, watching. Georgina handed Bryan a mug of hot tea, then draped another blanket over his shoulders.

"Lucky bastard. He actually made it back alive."

"I knew nothing good would come from him joining the expedition. We absolutely cannot let him off easy this time."

Georgina glanced down at the scrape on Bryan's leg, her expression full of tender concern. Then, in front of the entire team, she gave the order: no one opens that door.

My fingers were dead. My legs had stopped registering the cold. I locked my eyes on that door, jaw clamped shut, and kept knocking. I didn't stop.

Finally...

"You want to come in?"

Bryan coughed twice and looked at me. Something mean flickered behind his eyes.

"You want in? Then get on your knees and apologize."

"Oh, come on. Letting him off with just that? Isn't that a little too easy?"

Georgina frowned, swatting Bryan's arm with a playful pout, not sparing me a single glance as I called out from the other side of the door.

Bryan reached over and rested his hand on her stomach, his tone light and easy.

"It's fine. I won't hold it against him. He's the baby's father, after all. And your husband."

"I don't blame him. It was my fault. If I hadn't gone abroad back then, you wouldn't have had to..."

He trailed off. Their eyes met, and the tenderness between them filled the silence. There was no room in that gaze for anyone else.

My heart seized like a fist was crushing it. I'd already lived through this once. But standing here again, watching it unfold, the pain was no less unbearable.

The happiest moments of my life could be counted on one hand.

After my parents died young, I grew up on scholarships and charity. The first time I met Georgina was in college.

From that very first meeting, I felt an inexplicable pull toward her.

But Bryan was always at her side. I stayed close to her in silence, convinced that what I felt would remain buried forever.

Then one day, Georgina came to me.

"Humphrey, let's date."

In twenty years of living, it was the first time I felt like I'd won the lottery.

I threw myself into making her happy, pouring every ounce of effort into helping her chase her dreams. She wanted to join a polar expedition, so I took care of her family back home and supported her with everything I had.

When she got pregnant, I gave up my own career and volunteered to come to the Arctic with her, just so I could look after her.

The happiest moments of my life were dating Georgina, marrying her, and the promise of a new life growing inside her.

But now I finally understood how staggeringly foolish I'd been. How catastrophically wrong.

The people inside were laughing. A single door separated two worlds.

Kneeling on the ground, I heard Bryan and Georgina pouring their hearts out to each other.

"If I hadn't been trying to spite you, why would I have ever agreed to date Humphrey, let alone marry him?"

"Georgina, I regret it. If I hadn't gone abroad back then, we never would have..."

Bryan's hand rested on Georgina's belly, his expression tender.

A layer of snow had settled over my body. I watched the softness on Georgina's face, a warmth she had never once shown me, and let out a bitter laugh.

Well, it wasn't too late for them to be together now, was it?

After all, the child in her belly was Bryan's.

I could die anywhere, but I refused to die at the door of this base.

With nothing but a final thread of breath left in me, I was finally allowed inside. I staggered to my feet. Those last few steps, I practically crawled through the door.

The sight of me only deepened Georgina's disgust.

"Stop with the pity act, Humphrey. You make me sick."

I didn't bother defending myself. I dragged myself toward a heat source, and the snow melting off my clothes dripped onto the floor, leaving a spreading puddle.

"Disgusting. Make sure you clean that up."

I was shaking too hard to answer. Several fingers on my left hand still had no feeling.

Georgina left. She was worried about the scrape on Bryan's shin and insisted the base doctor examine him.

When she saw me heading toward the doctor, she planted herself in the doorway and refused to let me take another step.

"What do you think you're doing? You're not coming in here!"

"The doctor is busy. He doesn't have time for your little problems. Stay away from Bryan. Get out!"

Her face was a wall of hostility. She told me I wasn't acting like a man and ordered me back to my room.

I changed into dry clothes, but my fingers still had no sensation. The skin had started to discolor. I frowned and tried to push past her.

"I just need to see the doctor for one minute, you—"

Slap!

Before I could finish, her palm cracked across my face. She glared at me, eyebrows drawn sharp, and blocked my path completely.

Amid the jeers of the onlookers, she shot me a smug glance, then quickly looked away.

"Quit faking it. What could possibly be wrong with you? You climbed out of a crevasse and walked all the way back to base. You're built like a cockroach. Bryan isn't like you."

"You can see the doctor tomorrow. Tonight, you stay away from the infirmary!"

My cheek burned. So did my temper.

I opened my mouth to argue, but the others shoved me away from the infirmary door.

"Enough, enough. Go back to your room and sleep it off!"

"Your own wife is pregnant and you want to start a fight? Go tomorrow."

"The gorgeous Miss Gilbert already told you how it is. What more do you want, you spineless wimp?"