Chapter 1.

A sudden blast of cold woke me up. Dragging my aching body out of bed, I walked over to close the window.

It was only early autumn, yet I had been reborn, back to the day before my childhood sweetheart, Xu Chen, was set to engage another woman.

My phone vibrated continuously on the nightstand. It was a barrage of text messages from Xu Chen:

[Tangtang, I’m having dinner with Shuyue tonight. You can come too.]
[I know you’re upset, but I’ve made up my mind to marry her.]
[We’ll still see each other in the future. I don’t want to lose someone who means so much to me.]
[For my sake, can we just have dinner together tonight?]

Watching the notifications flood my screen, I let out a cold, bitter laugh.

In my past life, I gave Xu Chen my entire heart. He had promised to marry me the moment we graduated from college. I never doubted his devotion, having grown up believing that one day he would be the one walking me down the aisle in a white wedding dress.

Everything changed when Lin Shuyue appeared.

She loved teasing Xu Chen, making his face flush red, gently tapping his cheek with a laugh: “You’re so cute.”

I could only watch helplessly as he drifted further and further away from me.

He told me that meeting Shuyue made him realize what true love actually was. He said she was the light of his life, his salvation. He declared that she was the only woman he would ever marry.

And me? He threw away every promise he had ever made, abandoning me to the harsh, cruel reality.

In my past life, on the day he engaged Shuyue, I was away on business in Los Angeles. Hearing the news felt like a physical blow. I dropped everything and rushed onto the first flight home, desperately hoping to put a stop to it all.

Fate had other plans.

The plane went down.

Facing death in those final seconds, I didn’t feel heartbroken, only filled with overwhelming regret.

I shouldn’t have died like that. Sacrificing my life for a man who never loved me was the stupidest thing I had ever done.

After I died, my soul lingered near the wreckage. News of the crash spread everywhere, but the only person who came to reclaim my body was Chen Yuzhou, the man I used to despise.

He rushed to the crash site, his eyes bloodshot, digging through the dirt and debris with his bare hands until they bled. He wouldn’t stop, calling my name over and over until he finally passed out from the agony.

The next day, he swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills in his villa. Though someone found him, it was already too late.

His suicide note contained only one sentence: Tangtang, don’t be afraid. I’m coming to find you.

Maybe it was the sheer weight of his devotion that gave me this second chance at life.

I took a deep breath of the crisp air and let out a soft, rueful smile.

This time, I wouldn’t betray him again, the man who gave his entire life for me, who loved me so blindly, so devastatingly.

With that thought, I opened my phone and texted Xu Chen back: [I don’t care who you marry, but lose my number. Don’t ever contact me again.]

I turned off my phone, stood up, and changed my clothes.

The weather forecast was playing in the background: “A heavy downpour is expected at 6:30 PM tonight. Please remember to bring an umbrella…”

I paid it no mind and hailed a taxi straight to the place I remembered him mentioning, Chen Yuzhou’s estate.

The sky opened up into a torrential downpour the moment I stepped out of the cab. With trembling hands, I rang the doorbell, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs. It had been years since I last initiated anything with him…

Footsteps echoed from inside, and the door opened.

Chen Yuzhou stood there in a gray loungewear set, his hair neatly styled. Staring at me, his eyes widened in utter shock.

“Shen Tang?”

Under his intense gaze, my face burned up. The heavy rain pounding on the steps beneath my feet seemed to match the chaotic beat of my heart.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed his hand and looked straight into his eyes. “Chen Yuzhou, let’s get married!”

The air instantly froze into a suffocating silence.

Chen Yuzhou’s bloodshot eyes locked onto mine, searching frantically for any sign of a lie in my expression.

After what felt like an eternity, he let out a low, bitter laugh full of self-derision.

“Shen Tang… does playing with me like this really make you that happy?”

He turned to leave. Panicking, I reached out and caught his wrist. My heart constricted at the sheer coldness in his eyes.

So this was what it felt like to be rejected… the exact same coldness I had so ruthlessly inflicted on him in the past.

I remembered my old self, how I used to call him a pathetic stalker, how I cried and begged him to stay out of my life.

Back then… how much must he have bled inside?

God, I was such an idiot.

I took a sharp breath, my gaze hardening with certainty. “Chen Yuzhou, I know you don’t believe me right now, but I’m dead serious. I’ve thought this through… I want to be with you. I want to marry you.”

His eyes flickered, the deep, turbulent emotion in his gaze quickly hidden as his lashes cast a shadow over his face.

Before shutting the door, he left me with just a few soft words:
“It’s about to pour… go home.”

The door clicked shut, leaving me standing alone in the dark.

The rain crashed down furiously, heavy drops stinging my skin. I huddled under the narrow overhang, but the storm soaked me anyway. The early autumn chill seeped straight into my bones, yet I refused to budge. I wanted to stay, if only to prove that I was no longer the heartless Shen Tang he once knew.

Inside, Chen Yuzhou forced himself back into his study to focus on his work. He had pulled two all-nighters to finish a crucial project, but right now, his mind was an absolute mess.

The image of the girl outside, soaked, freezing, yet stubborn, refused to leave his head.

Her words echoed in his mind like a shockwave.

Marriage?

How could those words possibly come out of Shen Tang’s mouth? Everyone knew how desperately she loved Xu Chen.

He thought he was losing his mind, hallucinating from years of unrequited longing. But when he recalled the raw determination in her eyes, he couldn’t keep his heart from thumping wildly in his chest.

Ten minutes passed…

The security monitor showed her still standing in the exact same spot, completely exposed to the wind and rain.

A heavy sigh escaped his chest.

That foolish girl…

He stood up, grabbed a large bath towel, and ripped the front door open.

My body was completely numb from the cold. As I stood there shivering with my head down, a thick, warm towel suddenly wrapped around my shoulders.

Before I could react, I was pulled into a broad, solid chest. The familiar warmth made me tremble softly.

A low, raspy voice sounded right by my ear:

“Shen Tang… damn it! I am your loyal dog forever… I swore to myself I’d stop caring about you, but I can’t control my own fucking heart.”

My heart pounded violently in my chest. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, he scooped me up into his arms.

The door shut tight, sealing out the storm and pulling me into his warm, private world.