On the high-speed train home for the Independence Day holiday, my boyfriend's childhood sweetheart couldn't get a ticket.

In order to sit with her, my boyfriend directly sat in the seat of the person next to him.

Just before the train departed, a plain-looking middle-aged woman stood beside them and said that was her seat. But neither of them had any intention of giving it up.

I forced my boyfriend to return the seat to its rightful owner.

His childhood sweetheart, sulking in protest, stood the entire journey. She suffered a miscarriage and bled to death.

He calmly arranged her funeral and then married me.

But on the day I went into labor, he bought me standing tickets and forced me to endure three days and nights on the high-speed train.

When he saw me bleeding profusely, he laughed with maniacal arrogance.

"Alice, this is what you owe Daisy Miller. If you had not stopped me that day, she wouldn't have died! Die, you monster! Join Daisy and her unborn baby!”

He stomped on my swollen belly and both my baby and I died on that speeding train.

When I opened my eyes again, my boyfriend was glaring furiously at that woman, ready to lash out. But what he did not know was that the plain-looking middle-aged woman was the wife of the local underworld leader. The local underworld leader was well-known for his affectionate treatment of his wife.

——

"Alice, can you please stop being so sensitive every time I'm with Daisy? I’m warning you—don’t interfere this time! She is pregnant and she must sit here!"

Larry Jones, my boyfriend, warned me in a hushed voice.  His warning snapped me back to reality.

I glanced at the embarrassed middle-aged woman standing next to the seat and at my own hand that had already stretched out to stop him.

That was when I realized I had truly been reborn.

In my previous life, it was at this very moment that I had stopped Larry and allowed this middle-aged woman to sit all the way to her destination.

Only when we got off the train did I discover that this ordinary-looking woman was actually the wife of our biggest local underworld leader.

Because I stopped Larry from stealing her seat, he was able to escape this catastrophe.

And later, thanks to this fateful encounter, he successfully started a business using the underworld leader's influence and eventually became a household name in the business world.

However, his childhood sweetheart, Daisy, was angry and refused to sit down, then stood the entire journey.

This prolonged standing caused her to miscarry. After a day and night of emergency treatment at the hospital, she died from massive hemorrhaging.

Calmly, Larry arranged her funeral and married me.

But on the very day I went into labor, he bought standing tickets and forced me to take a three-day, three-night high-speed train ride.

In the end, with his eyes on my blood-covered body, he stomped on my swollen belly and screamed, "Alice! If you hadn't stopped me back then, Daisy wouldn't have died! You're a jealous, malicious monster! Today, I'll make you and your child pay for Daisy and her unborn baby! Die!”

With one brutal stomp, he killed me and my unborn child on that speeding train.

The horrifying memory made my face turn paler.

“My friend is pregnant. So, why don't you give up your seat for her? You look perfectly healthy and it'll be okay to stand for a while. Respecting elders and caring for the young is a traditional virtue. Don’t be so selfish.”

Larry's words brought me back to my senses.

Daisy, who’d been silent beside us, glanced at me, then gently tugged Larry's sleeve. "Larry, I think Alice is a bit upset. Don’t fight because of me. If it's really too much, I'll just stand the whole way."

She began to put on the same stubborn expression she had used in my previous life and started to rise as she spoke.

Clearly, Larry had a seat. If she truly felt uncomfortable ….

Nancy could have sat in Larry's seat. But she insisted on standing out of spite and using my anger as an excuse, she demanded that Larry vent her anger on me.

This time around, I won't be so foolish.

As I remembered how affectionate the underworld leader was toward his wife after we got off the train in my past life, I couldn’t help but smile.

Then I looked at Larry, who was glaring at me and said calmly, "I'm not angry. Go ahead. You two can do whatever you want. It has nothing to do with me.”

Then I sat down in my seat and put on the earphones.

Larry was too stunned to react, but before long, he lost his energy to care for me anymore. That was because the middle-aged woman had taken the opportunity when Daisy got up to put her bag in the seat.

Instantly, Larry's face darkened. He grabbed the woman’s bag and slammed it hard onto the floor.

“What do you think you’re doing? Didn’t you hear what I just said? My friend is pregnant—can’t you just give up your seat? How can you be so rude?”

Seeing her bag thrown to the floor, the woman grew frantic. Her voice broke with tears.

“This bag holds free-range eggs that I brought from the countryside for my husband, to nourish him. If you threw it like that … the eggs must be all broken…."

She bent down clumsily and when she opened the bag, a pungent, fishy stench assaulted her nose.

Sure enough, the entire bag of eggs had shattered into a yellowish egg soup, which started to leak out of the bag toward the crowded area.

The people around them covered their mouths and stepped aside.

When Daisy saw the scene, she turned away and retched.

“If they 're broken , so be it. They weren't worth much anyway. As compensation, I'l give you some money and we'll buy this seat too.”

As he said that, Larry took out seventy-five thousand dollars from his pocket and threw it into the egg liquid.

The woman picked up the money one by one from the egg liquid, then placed it on the small table in front of Daisy.

“Young man, I don't want your money. I just want my seat back.”

“I just had surgery on my leg and can't stand for long. My husband fought for this seat for three days and nights. I won't trade it for any amount of money.”

When Daisy looked at the seventy-five thousand dollar bills that were now covered with egg liquid, she started retching again.

Pinching her fingers, she pushed the money to the floor and grabbed Larry 's hand.

"Forget it, Larry. I'm not sitting here. It's so dirty and troublesome."

Daisy stood up again.

"Daisy, listen to me. Just sit down."

Larry gently coaxed Daisy to sit down again. His eyes were full of tenderness.

But when he looked at the woman, his eyes burned with fury. Glaring at her, he grabbed her collar and roared, "You said you had just a leg surgery? Show me the proof! I think you just don't want to give up your seat for a pregnant woman! You 're quite old ... is it because you've never been a mother, you're jealous of someone carrying a child in her belly, huh? I don't understand how you can be so heartless!"

Passengers nearby rushed to intervene.

“Auntie, you look like you've done hard labor all your life. Surely, you can stand for a while. The young lady is delicate and she's pregnant—just give her your seats!”

“Yeah, life's tough for everyone out here. Don't be so petty!”

Suddenly, I recalled seeing this woman stumble slightly when she was exiting the station in my past life. Then I realized that maybe she was telling the truth.

When I suddenly remembered the way the little girl next to me offered her seat to my mother when I took her to see the doctor at the hospital last year, my heart softened.

This time, I had not asked Larry to give up his seat, so surely I could give up my seat, right?

When I thought that, I took off my headphones and waved to the woman. "Miss, come here. Sit over here."

She waved her hands repeatedly in refusal, but I pulled her down to sit on my seat.

“Sit down. I'm tired from sitting too long anyway. You rest. I'll tell you when I get tired.”

The woman looked at me, then the tears she'd been holding on for so long finally fell. She wiped her egg-covered hands on her clothes, then took my hands.

“Young lady, I don't have any money. I know I can't repay this kindness with money, but rest assured—when we get off the train and I see my husband, he'll thank you properly.”

I smiled politely in response and turned around to the space between the train cars.

Part of the reason was that I feared she would feel uneasy sitting while I stood there. The other was that I refused to see Daisy's deadpan expression any longer.

Since I was the one who gave up the seat, I thought, even though Daisy was a bit of a jerk, this time, nothing could possibly go wrong.

But just two stops later, another loud commotion erupted in the train car again.

Before I could figure out what was happening, Larry found me at the connecting passageway, grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to the seats.

“Alice, since this is your seat, you decide. Tell me, should Daisy have it, or that disgusting old woman?”

I glanced at Daisy. She was clutching her stomach and wailing in her seat. "Larry, it's hurt ... it hurts so bad.”

Without waiting for my answer, Larry stepped forward and started shoving the woman sitting in my seat.

"What are you still doing here? Get up! Can't you see my friend is in pain? She needs to lie down! Get out! Get out now!"

The woman rubbed her knees and glanced in my direction.

When he saw this, Larry pushed her even harder.

‘What are you looking at? That’s my girlfriend! I have the final say in her affairs! Get up! I'm warning you, I'm losing my patience. Don’t force me to fight you!"

After dating Larry for eight long years, he had never been so considerate toward me.

When I thought about how he had killed me and my unborn child for Daisy in my previous life, I shoved him away from the woman.

“Who told you that you are in charge of my affairs? This is my seat. I decide who sits here. Today, this seat belongs to this lady! No one is taking it from her!"

Larry stared at me in utter shock.

"Alice, are you crazy?  She's just some stranger we met on the train. Are you really fighting me over a seat for a stranger?”

"Let me set you straight, Larry. I’m not fighting you for your seat. This seat was mine to begin with."

A mocking smile touched Larry's lips.

"Alice, what’s the point of playing word games now? Didn’t you see Daisy has a stomachache? All she wants is to lie down."

"If she wants to lie down, she should buy a sleeper ticket. This is a hard seat—you can’t lie down here."

"Not this again? Can you stop acting so angry whenever Daisy gets involved? I’ve told you countless times, we’re just friends. Can you please stop being so petty?”