Chapter 4

I was about to retort that Sullivan was exactly who I intended to marry.

But the words caught in my throat as I suddenly remembered what Sullivan's mother had said not long ago.

"I don't know why you suddenly changed your mind and chose Sullivan, but he's about to have surgery. Let's not announce this yet—keep it confidential for now? We can announce it at the engagement party, so no one disturbs him while he's recovering."

I instinctively looked toward Sullivan sitting in his wheelchair in the distance.

His face was pale and his frame thin, but his spine remained straight, his refined features softened by a sickly fragility.

He really couldn't be disturbed.

Sullivan and I hadn't interacted much—we'd been rivals since childhood.

But in my past life, after I died, he too died alone in his apartment not long after.

If I was going to marry him in this life, I needed to make sure he lived well.

Sullivan gazed at me, a complexity I couldn't read flowing through his eyes.

I smiled reassuringly at him, then spoke. "You'll all find out in due time."

With that, I turned and left.

After the party ended, Melody followed close on my heels.

She held out her hand toward me, the silver ring refracting colorful light.

"All you have left is your sharp tongue."

"Lucas said that even though he'll marry you, I'm the one he truly loves in his heart. He'll only ever buy rings for me in this lifetime!"

In everyone's eyes, Melody was a well-behaved, sweet-talking child who knew gratitude.

I only learned at the moment of my death that she'd been interfering in my marriage all along, and that Lucas had even faked his death to be with her.

So after my rebirth, I decided to help them be together.

I wanted to see if their love really ran that deep.

With this in mind, I suddenly patted Melody's shoulder.

"No need to go through all this trouble, Melody. If you want to be with him, I can make it happen."

"If you two get married, I'll definitely wish you a lifetime of happiness together!"

Melody froze, then sneered.

"Don't say one thing and do another. I know you—you'll never stop pestering Lucas. But give up now. He only loves me!"

I nodded indifferently and headed home first.

Since I'd decided to marry Sullivan, I should prepare some gifts for him before the engagement.

For three consecutive days, I focused on preparing gifts.

And for those three days, Melody didn't return to the apartment I'd rented for her.

During those three days, she posted on Instagram an average of once every two hours.

The latest post showed Lucas wearing an apron in the kitchen, pan-frying steak.

Just as I was about to close my phone, Melody's chat window popped up.

"You've never tasted Lucas's cooking, have you?"

"These three days, Lucas has taken such good care of me, whether at the dinner table or in bed..."

Reading that sentence, images from my past life instantly flooded my mind—after my death, I'd seen them celebrating my fatal car accident by having sex in bed.

A wave of nausea churned in my stomach.

I suppressed the urge to vomit and replied with a single word: "Fuck off," then blocked Melody.

Immediately after, Lucas called.

"Claire, are you sick? Melody just said something wrong—why the hell are you blocking her?"

"Do you know how hurt she is right now? Get your ass to the party and apologize to her!"

Lucas's furious, shrill voice exploded in my ear.

I laughed coldly.

"Fine, I'll come right now."

But not to apologize—to announce my engagement to Sullivan!