After my hundredth disastrous blind date, my best friend and I made a bold decision: we would have children without husbands.

She chose sperm from a brilliant PhD donor.

I chose a donor with an eight-nation mixed heritage.

Later, the PhD donor from Kingsford University was diagnosed with low sperm motility and decided he wanted to marry my friend, Melissa Shaw. She agreed.

Whenever she saw me going to my prenatal checkups alone, Melissa would wrap her arm around her husband and mock me.

"You're destined to be alone," she sneered. "You can't even find a man to marry you. My husband just launched a major national research project. His future is limitless."

What she did not know was that the father of my child was the Prince of Dubaria. He took me back to his country and made me his princess. The jewels I wore were so heavy they practically weighed me down.

However, after she saw the yacht I posted on social media, Melissa suddenly called me in tears.

"I don't know what happened," she sobbed. "My husband's project was suddenly suspended. We can barely afford baby formula for our child."

She said she wanted to make up and even asked if I would be her child’s godmother.

However, the moment I stepped through her door, she raised a chainsaw and hacked me to death.

"Why do you get to live a better life than me?" she screamed. "Just because you chose better sperm?!"

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my best friend and I first decided to have children without husbands.

"Laura, who needs marriage! Let's head to the sperm bank and be the heroines of our own stories!"

My best friend Melissa Shaw was shaking me with excitement.

As I looked around the familiar lab, I suddenly realized that I had been reborn.

After a string of weird blind dates, Melissa and I had decided to pick some top-notch sperm at a private clinic for IVF.

Melissa's voice buzzed in my ear like a bee as she urged me, "Laura, look. There's a PhD holder from Kingsford University here. If you choose his sperm, the kid will definitely be super smart. Go for that one!"

Then, without waiting, she pointed to another profile showing the mixed-race sperm options: "I prefer this sperm from the man of eight national lineages. Laura, you better not go after the same one as me!"

Right then, I knew that she must have been reborn too. She was in a hurry to grab the prince's genes for herself.

Melissa pretended to be looking out for me: "This PhD holder has amazing genes. If you pass him up, you'll regret it."

Her pitch was totally different from our previous life. I looked at her and gave a slow nod.

The second I nodded, Melissa's eyes sparkled, and she got all worked up.

"Just don't come crying to me later!"

What would I regret? I wondered.

She was so eager for me to choose the sperm of Jay Lowell from Kingsford University because she had her sights set on becoming a princess in Dubaria and living a fairytale life.

Back in our previous life, she had chosen Jay's sperm first, wanting a genius baby.

However, when Jay ended up with a low sperm count, he turned to her, and they got married.

At their wedding, I showed up, pregnant and ready to celebrate, but she shut me out coldly.

Back then, Melissa strutted around like a peacock, her eyes full of scorn as she looked me up and down, and then she let out a mocking laugh.

"You're still dreaming like a little kid. I'm about to live the high life because of my kid!

"My husband's been picked to lead a big space project for the nation! And you? At best, you're carrying a fetus of eight national lineages, and at worst, just a mutt. Who even knows what kind of bloodline that child will have?”

However, what I did not see coming was a shiny gold invitation that arrived a month after the wedding.

A super tall butler, almost six feet two, handed it to me himself and said, "Beautiful lady, the prince knows about the baby you're carrying. He wants to whisk you away to Dubaria to tie the knot!"

That was when it hit me. The sperm I had chosen belonged to a prince from Dubaria.

Once I was off to Dubaria, Melissa started to spill all her troubles to anyone who would listen online.

She ranted about a female PhD holder who did not know her place, trying to charm her husband.

She posted pictures and videos of herself spying on the lab every single day.

Then she bragged about how she had given that PhD holder a piece of her mind, and the other woman did not even fight back because Melissa was pregnant. Melissa thought that gave her the upper hand.

As it turned out, Melissa's tantrums tanked the whole space project, but she did not feel the slightest bit sorry. Instead, she blamed her husband for not being good enough.

Their constant fights became the talk of the town among our friends.

Eventually, with Melissa's temper being so well-known, no one wanted to work with Jay, leaving him jobless for ages.

When the baby came, money was tight.

With Jay out of work and Melissa never one to pitch in, they fought all the time. Jay started staying out late, night after night.

I was always showing off to my friends with pictures of royal parties, fancy cruises, and the huge diamond ring on my finger.

As such, when we got a do-over, she did not think twice about picking the prince's sperm and told me to pick Jay's.

I acted clueless and asked, "However, it’s a mix from eight national lineages. What if the mix isn't great?"

Melissa had already signed the papers and cut me off sharply, "That's not your problem. My son will be a royal heir, but your kid might not even have enough for baby formula!"

I just laughed to myself.

Anyone with half a brain would know who to choose: a promising PhD from Kingsford University with a genius son, or that aggressive father-and-son duo who resorted to violence at the drop of a hat.

I wonder if Melissa could still smile if she were stuck in a room with a lioness!

In my previous life, I really was taken back to the Dubaria royal family.

However, that man was so big and strong. He threw me into a room and shamed me right away.

If I fought back, he would hit and kick me. I was covered in bruises and cuts.

Their women's clothes were so thick that no one could see my injuries.

He was extremely aggressive and could not control his temper.

He would throw heavy, fancy decorations at me, and I would get hurt.

I was so close to dying from losing too much blood, but their fancy doctors always fixed me up.

Even when I was pregnant, he did not stop.

I had no one to help me, and everyone looked at me like I was just a slave.

As for that child with eight different nationalities in his blood?

I had the test results before I even left the country.

He was a child born with XYY syndrome who would have a negative impact on society.

The Dubaria royal family would not let me end the pregnancy. While he was still inside me, he would kick so hard that I could not sleep all night.

Just thinking about it made me shiver.

Melissa was relieved to know the procedure would happen in a few days. She kept touching the IVF consent form she had signed, a gleeful look in her eyes.

"Having a PhD sounds impressive, but watch out, you might end up with someone who's totally clueless. And who knows, the kid might turn out to be not so smart either!"

When she tried to tease me, I did not get upset. I just smiled at her kindly.

"I heard that too much mixed heritage might lead to mental health issues. You should be careful, Melissa."

Melissa always thought she could change her destiny by starting over. However, she really did not get it.

It was not about the choices that had been made, it was about what could be done.

My words made Melissa blush with anger. She stomped her foot and pointed at me, her fingers shaking.

"Just wait and see whose kid ends up with the better genes!"

Half a month after our IVF, Jay was found to have the same issue as before: a low sperm count. He used the information from the IVF clinic to find where I lived.

He was wearing a nice suit, with sharp, handsome features, and he smelled like fresh cedar.

His voice was as soothing as a mountain stream. "Are you Miss Laura?"

I was caught off guard and, as I hesitated, his ears turned red. He asked in a rush, "This might be sudden, but will you marry me?”

"I won't get in your way after we're married..."

"Sure, I agree. Should we go get the marriage license now?" My calm answer left Jay speechless.

Then I heard Melissa's laughter coming from my phone.

We were on the phone.

Melissa knew Jay was coming over today and she was itching to make me feel as bad as she once did.

"Ha ha ha, Laura, you can't wait to tie the knot, huh? Well, with the way you look, if you wait any longer, no one will want to marry you!

"I'll get you a huge wedding gift since you won't have many happy days ahead!"

Jay heard the mean, teasing voice on the phone and frowned. He whispered, "I won't let you go through hard times..."

However, Melissa cut him off with even meaner words.

"What good can come for a poor couple like you? You probably can't even afford kids and will just fight all the time, living on handouts!"

I ended the call, smiled at Jay, and said with all the confidence in the world, "I believe we won't end up like she says. We just won't!"

We picked a date and got our marriage license.

The wedding was set for two weeks later.

Jay was there for every step, helping me pick out a wedding dress and to plan the reception.

I felt so lucky looking at him. He was kind, gentle, and treated women with respect. Wasn't that way better than being with some so-called "top guy"?

Melissa kept sending me messages, trying to get under my skin, saying I was marrying a loser.

However, the tough times before were all because of her. If that project had worked out, Jay would have been the youngest top expert in the world, making a million a year, easy.

However, Melissa's crazy need to control everything messed it all up. She made such a fuss at the lab that the big shots did not want to work with Jay anymore.

Thinking about all that, I told him, "If you're busy with work, I can take care of everything else on my own."

Jay's eyes sparkled with emotion as he suddenly dropped to one knee and presented a ring.

The diamond was not big, but it was the perfect shade of sky blue that I loved.

It reminded me of a cloudless, clear blue sky that would cheer anyone up the moment they saw it. "I know I was pretty sudden the other day, so I wanted to give you a proper proposal.”

"Laura, will you marry me?"

I nodded, my smile wide, and held out my hand for him to place my very own ring on my finger.

It was not as grand as the prince's huge diamonds, but my heart felt completely warm.

In that place, jewels were just for showing off wealth.

They had hurt me, then tried to make it better with a gift.

The more jewels I had, the more scars I carried.

They even put me, eight months pregnant, in a cage with a lioness for fun, and drenched me with a perfume that big cats love.

‘So, Melissa, you ignore love that's free and true and, instead, you choose pain.’ That's what I thought to myself.

I could still recall the agony of being cut by a chainsaw in my previous life like it was yesterday.

Remembering Melissa's angry face, I just wished her "luck".

Before I even started sending out wedding invites, Melissa came looking for me, unable to wait.

"I'm your best friend, shouldn't I get a wedding invite first?”

"I want to see what your wedding's like. You probably won't get to see mine! It'll be way better than yours anyway!”

"What's the future for a poor PhD holder? Laura, you're just not seeing the big picture. You'll see what I mean later!"

I gave her the invite, keeping my cool, but I could not stop myself from saying slyly, "I hope you really enjoy your life ahead."

After the proposal, Jay was swamped with work, and I got busy with the wedding plans.

He was always busy, but he made sure to send me updates every day.

He said his project was going really well and it would not be long before it kicked off.

"Thanks for being so cool about this, Laura. I was really worried you'd be mad that I couldn't hang out with you."

I quickly replied with a message: [Just be there on your big day, okay?]

After I checked the money that had come in on my phone for the project, I split it up and put it into some funds.

On the wedding day, Melissa showed up looking even more stunning than me, the bride.

She was all dressed up in a fancy fairy dress, holding the newest designer bag, and wearing a shiny diamond crown.

Anyone who did not know better would have thought it was her party.

Melissa walked right past the people welcoming us, her head held so high it was almost in the clouds. It was as if she was saying, "As if you're good enough to touch me! My presence here makes this whole wedding shine!"

Jay took a big step forward and called for the security guys.

"Please take the person causing trouble outside. We only want friends here who really want to celebrate with me and my wife."

Melissa's face turned stormy when she heard Jay. She could not believe her ex was scolding her for another woman, and she felt super jealous.

"You think you've found someone special? I've known her for years. Do you think I don't get her?

"She loves attention, she's all about looks, and the minute you're not useful, she'll dump you and laugh behind your back!"

Whack! I slapped Melissa.

I took a deep breath, looked straight at Melissa, who was holding her face in shock, and said firmly, "You're not my friend anymore!

"What kind of friend would say such mean things? And on my wedding day, of all days!

"Don't take out your anger about going to the doctor alone on me. Go find the dad of your baby!"

Melissa was so shocked by the slap that she did not say anything for a bit.

Then she got it, laughed angrily, and tried to slap me back.

However, Jay was quick. He stepped in and kept me safe, giving Melissa a look that said that she’d better not try anything.

"Laura and I are not going to let anyone unimportant ruin our wedding day! "

Melissa looked around. Finding herself alone, she was so mad she was shaking. She spat out her final mean words.

"If you're brave enough, go ahead and end our friendship. When you're broke and struggling, don't come crawling back to me!

"You'll never be able to match my new status. You might as well spend your life with that useless PhD holder. Just wait and see!"

With that, she stomped off in her little high heels.

The wedding went on without a hitch, and I kissed Jay with my parents watching.

Three days later, Melissa tagged me in a post showing off a shiny gold invitation.

The caption said: [Showing some mean friend what a real invitation looks like.]

I turned off my phone and snuggled into Jay's shoulder while we watched a show.

Melissa was finally living her dream life, or so she thought. I just hoped it would not all come crashing down on her first day.