Chapter 2

Ten years ago, in my original world, I got into a horrific car crash while on a road trip right after college.

I was placed in the ICU, comatose, diagnosed as a permanent vegetable.

My fierce will to survive triggered the System. In that critical moment, I made a deal: if I completed the System's mission, I could reclaim my real life.

The mission was simple: raise the male lead of this world, Caleb Vance, to one hundred percent happiness.

Back then, he was just a penniless, broken young man.

His parents were gravely ill, and he couldn't find a job after college.

When he stood alone on a pedestrian bridge, ready to jump, I found him.

I sacrificed years of my own lifespan to buy divine medicine from the System store to cure his parents. I traded every hard-earned reward point to open doors for his career.

Eventually, he rose to become the most powerful billionaire in New York. The moment he reached the top, his happiness score hit one hundred percent.

By then, I had completely fallen for his gentleness. I gave up going home and chose to stay in this world for him.

Our love had been so simple, so genuine.

Caleb’s favorite book was The Little Prince.

Even from this hospital bed, I knew that copy we bought together was sitting on our study bookshelf, with a faded movie ticket from our very first date tucked between the yellowing pages.

I could almost see the young man who used to love me unconditionally.

I weakly reached out my trembling hand into the dark, trying to touch that memory, but my fingers only grazed the cold metal rail of the hospital bed.

Tears broke free, dripping silently onto the sheets. The sharp stench of disinfectant burned my nose.

I used to crave his scent—that calming sandalwood cologne he always wore, the scent that made me feel safe in his arms.

Now, the smell of sterile bleach mockingly reminded me that he was gone.

I had dreamed countless times of building a real family with him here.

I didn't care about going back anymore. I just wanted to grow old with the man I loved.

Only now did I finally wake up: the man I loved, the man who once worshiped me, didn't love me anymore.

Serena Cross. That name was a black cloud hanging over our marriage, pushing us further apart each day.

One day, Caleb brought her home, claiming she was his closest childhood friend.

He even admitted they had once made a silly childhood promise to marry each other.

At first, I brushed it off, thinking he was just happy to reconnect with an old friend. I trusted him, and I knew how much we loved each other.

I believed in him.

Soon enough, their meetups became constant. He started ditching me for her over and over.

I confronted him more than once, telling him how uncomfortable Serena made me feel.

Caleb always dismissed me:

"She's just a childhood friend, Chloe. I see her like a little sister. She has no family left in this city, I'm just looking out for her."

Eventually, her excuses became more ridiculous by the week.

A slight fever, a sudden thunderstorm making her scared, a tiny problem at work.

Every little thing required my husband to drop everything and rush to her side.

Caleb grew colder toward me with every passing day:

"Can you grow up, Chloe? Serena has no one else to depend on. I have to help her."

"Why are you so cold-blooded and bitter?"

What about me? I was the one who had no one else in this entire world.

I tried to understand him. I tried to be patient. But my heart froze over, shattered by endless disappointments.

When he abandoned me for the third time during my miscarriage just to play hero for his childhood sweetheart, I finally snapped.

He had made his choice.

And his choice wasn't me.