Chapter 1 I Only Wish You the Best

I was woken up by the commotion downstairs early in the morning. Downstairs, Samuel Stafford yelled, "Julia Sinclair, I know you're listening to me! Tell me what you like about me. If you do, I'll change it right away!" This conversation happened before my college entrance exams. But I had already died in the psychiatric hospital, so how did I get back here? I quickly got out of bed. When I saw a younger and livelier version of myself in the mirror, I was shocked. I had gone back in time to the day Samuel came over to my house to cancel our marriage engagement before my college entrance exams. This was great! I hurriedly changed my clothes. When I went downstairs, I heard my mom say, "You brat! Did you purposely choose to come here the day before Juju's college entrance exams to provoke her? Why couldn't you wait until her exams were over?" "Aunt Helen, Maddy's having her college entrance exams too. You can't be so selfish. Why should Maddy suffer just so Julia can focus on preparing for her exams?" After Samuel finished his sentence with a roll of his eyes, I heard a car outside. Mr. and Mrs. Stafford had rushed over. "You brat!" Francis Stafford's face was red with fury, and he was holding a golf club. After entering the house, he chased Samuel, intending to beat him up. Samuel glared at Francis and snarled, "Beating me to death won't change the fact that I don't like Julia. "Besides, we got engaged when we were children. We don't harbor any feelings for each other, so why can't we cancel the engagement?" When Samuel's mother, Wendy Jenkins was about to step forward as well, I quickly cried out, "Mr. and Mrs. Stafford, stop!" Samuel started hating me after he was beaten up on this day. Since I was given a second chance, I had to make a different choice. First, I walked up to my mother. "Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you." Yes. Today was also my mom's birthday. Upon going back in time and seeing my beloved mother again, I suppressed the overwhelming waves of sorrow in my heart and kissed her on her cheek. "Trust me. I'll take care of everything, okay?" When she nodded at me in response, I smiled and turned around to face Francis and Wendy. "Mr. and Mrs. Stafford, can I talk to you two for a moment?" Then, I walked out the door without sparing Samuel a single glance. The change in my behavior shocked Francis and Wendy. When they approached me, I saw the familiar look of guilt on their faces. I got engaged to Samuel when we were kids because my dad saved Francis from drowning. To show his appreciation, Francis visited us from time to time. As time passed, Samuel and I slowly got to know each other. Seeing that we got along well, our parents decided to get us engaged with each other. Because of this life debt, after I got married to Samuel in my previous life, they tried everything to force Samuel to sleep with me. Sometimes, they even prepared aphrodisiacs. Samuel never took them, but he would force me to take them and watch me suffer. No matter how much I begged him, he wouldn't do anything. If I was going to change my fate, I needed to calm Francis and Wendy down first. "Mr. and Mrs. Stafford, our college entrance exams are tomorrow. You know Samuel's temper well. "The more you force him, the more stubborn he becomes, so why don't we agree to cancel the engagement first and let him focus on his exams?" My words gave both of them a huge shock. Everyone knew that I, the daughter of the Sinclair Family, was head over heels in love with Samuel after all. Whenever Samuel got close to another girl, I would cry for days on end, much less if our engagement got canceled. Yet, I said something like that. "Juju…" "Mrs. Stafford, I beg you, just follow his demands." "Alright." Seeing that I had already made my decision, Wendy turned to Francis. Francis sighed and glared at Samuel. "What are you still standing around for? Didn't you want to cancel the engagement? Then hurry up and prepare for it!" Samuel was stunned. When he passed me by, he growled, "Julia, what are you planning this time? I'm telling you right now, no matter what you have planned, Maddy is the only person I'll marry!" Watching Samuel's back as he left coldly, I felt like cracking open my skull from my previous life to see what was inside. He was utterly infatuated with Madison Locke, yet I had tried so hard to make him see her true colors. Well, even if Madison was a player and staged the accident so she could pretend to save his life, it wasn't any of my business. I couldn't believe I stupidly chose to give up on my entrance exams as well after Samuel submitted his exam papers blank because he was angry. I even repeated the year with him and followed him around like a mindless devotee, running his errands and doing his dirty work for him. I thought he agreed to marry me because my sincerity touched him, but it was only because Wendy threatened to take her own life if he didn't. After our marriage, he pretended to be an exemplary husband in public, but in private, he would sleep around with other women while I watched. I used to foolishly believe that if my sincerity managed to touch him once, it could happen again… Not wanting to fall into despair, I remained in denial. In the end, I got severe depression and killed myself in the hospital… The memories kept flooding in. I forced myself to stop reminiscing and left to buy Mom a cake. After taking a long walk outside, I finally accepted that I had gone back in time. Seeing that the next day was my college entrance exam, we only had a small birthday celebration for Mom. After the exam on the first day, Madison stopped me outside the exam hall. She flaunted the diamond ring on her middle finger. "Oh my. I didn't want it, but Samuel insisted on buying it for me. I couldn't stop him. Julia, you're not angry about this, are you?" "Why would I be angry?" I smiled. "I only wish you the best." When I turned around to leave, Samuel rushed forward and shoved me aside. "Julia, you shameless woman! Both our families are already discussing canceling our engagement, so why are you still harassing Maddy?" I felt like I was struck by lightning. I really wanted to ask if he was blind. This was my exam hall, yet he accused me of harassing Madison. But before I could speak, Samuel had already left with Madison. I pulled out my phone to call Samuel. I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding and set clear boundaries between us, but, to my surprise, he had blocked my number! Whatever. Samuel wouldn't believe anything I said, so I would let my actions speak for me instead. My college entrance exams were over in the blink of an eye. I planned to do something drastic. I told my mom that I was going back to our hometown and staying there for a couple of days to keep Grandma company, but I didn't go back to our hometown. Instead, I went to Stafford Group. I wasn't waiting for Francis or Samuel, but Evan, Samuel's uncle. In my previous life, he was the first person who discovered that I had killed myself in the psychiatric hospital. Despite Samuel's objections, he still insisted on burying me in the Stafford Family Cemetary as daughters who were married off could no longer be buried with their families. If her husband's family refused to accept her, she could only be buried in public cemeteries as a nameless corpse. That was the local tradition. Samuel refused to acknowledge me as her wife, so I was buried as Evan's wife. Because of this, Evan never got married in my past life. Now, I finally understood that the reason Evan occasionally visited me in the psychiatric hospital wasn't because Samuel asked him to, but because he was in love with me. I could tell he was a great man through the memories of him in my previous life, yet I wasted all of my time on Samuel. Now that I had a second chance, I had to muster up the courage to confess to Evan. The weather in June was always unpredictable. The sunny skies turned cloudy in an instant. Then, it started raining heavily out of nowhere, and it was even a hailstorm. Worst of all, I didn't bring an umbrella along. The red dress I wore especially for Evan was immediately soaking. Through the rain, my figure was barely visible. Just when I thought Evan wouldn't show up, I was suddenly shielded by a black umbrella which granted me solace from the pouring rain. "Samuel isn't here." It was Evan. His voice was as deep and attractive as I remembered. Tears immediately welled up in my eyes when I heard it.