Fifty Years Of Lies Ended On Our Second Wedding Day

The last gift my wife of fifty years gave me was her suicide note. It was our golden anniversary. I had cooked a table full of all her favorite dishes, but when I pushed open the study door, Camille was lying in a pool of blood, her wrist deeply slashed. An open will rested beside her. My hands trembling, I picked it up. The last line of text, written with terrible force, seemed to cut right through the paper: The biggest regret of my life was testifying falsely for Jesse at our wedding and sending Ronan into prison, ruining his entire existence. For fifty years, I have been tormented by regret. Now that my beloved is gone, I do not wish to live alone. After I die, please bury me with Jesse. As for Ronan… I only pray we never meet again in the next life.

A violent buzzing filled my ears. It was Jesse who had attacked me with a knife at our wedding, nearly costing me the ability to have children. Yet my wife called him her beloved, and died for him? At the funeral, my children had urged me: “Dad, just honor Mom’s last wish. We’ll buy you a better plot.” “Yes, you made Mom and Uncle Jesse miserable for a lifetime. Are you going to keep them apart even in death?” Miserable? What about me? A knot of pure, desperate shock choked my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I was, quite literally, killed by the sheer force of the betrayal. When I opened my eyes again, the officiant’s booming voice rang out: “Bride, Camille Wallace, do you take Ronan Burke to be your husband?” A sudden, tearing pain shot through my lower abdomen, and I looked down— Jesse was there, his eyes red, plunging the knife deep into my gut. “Ronan!” As the blinding agony exploded, Camille rushed forward in a panic. I watched her, a knot of confusion and hurt tightening inside me. Even if she had later turned away, the terror in her eyes right now wasn’t faked. I crumpled in pain, waiting for her to rush to me, to hold me, as she had in the previous life. But she ran straight past me, sweeping Jesse into her arms. “Jesse! Are you okay? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” “Camille, I didn’t mean to, I’m so scared…” Jesse cried, his voice trembling. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. No one will ever hurt you again.” Camille patted his back gently. My vision blurred from the searing pain in my abdomen, but the wound in my heart felt deeper than any knife cut. “Ronan! Camille, what are you doing? Call an ambulance!” Mrs. Wallace frantically tried to press down on my wound, afraid to touch the hilt of the knife. Mr. Wallace’s face was ashen: “Camille! What in God’s name is going on here?” It all happened too fast. Jesse had his back to the guests, so only Camille, standing beside me, had seen the truth. The arm she had wrapped around Jesse tightened. “Ronan took the knife and stabbed himself, then shoved it into Jesse’s hand.” I stared at her, utterly disbelieving. Our eyes met. A flicker of guilt crossed hers, but was instantly replaced by a hardened, cold resolve. Camille had been reborn, too. And she had chosen, without hesitation, to protect Jesse. “No, it was Jesse who stabbed me…” I gasped out the weak rebuttal, fighting the pain. “Enough, Ronan!” Camille cut me off sharply. “Are you really going to slander Jesse, even now? Jesse is so gentle, he wouldn’t even step on a bug; how could he possibly attack you with a knife?” She took a deep breath, scanning the assembled friends and family. “The wedding is off. I absolutely will not marry a malicious hypocrite like this.” At her words, a look of wild, triumphant euphoria erupted in Jesse’s eyes. Mrs. Wallace, cradling my blood-soaked body, was sobbing, nearly fainting: “Camille, Ronan is losing so much blood! Get him to a hospital first! Talk about all this later!” Mr. Wallace was shaking with pure rage. “Stop it! Ronan’s parents died saving your life! Our family owes him a debt beyond measure! If you dare call off this wedding, I’ll disown you!” Camille scoffed, gripping Jesse’s hand tighter. “Yes, his parents saved me. Does that give him the right to use that debt to hurt Jesse so recklessly? Am I supposed to sacrifice my whole life, just because of that, and be prevented from marrying the man I love?” The man she loved? It turned out that fifty years of marriage meant nothing compared to the idealized first love she secretly carried in her heart. The woman before me was no longer the girl who had once knelt at my parents’ grave, vowing to care for me for the rest of my life. She was a chilling stranger. Camille’s voice was utterly final. “Mom, Dad, even if you throw me out of the family today, even if I lose everything, I will never regret this. I am canceling this wedding.” Before she led Jesse away, she gave me a cold, steel warning: “Ronan, this lifetime, I will never let a scumbag like you hurt Jesse again.” “If you try any more of your despicable schemes to frame him, I will personally see you sent to prison! You’ll have plenty of time to reflect in there!” “Camille.” I used every ounce of strength to call out her name. She didn’t turn back. My vision began to cloud, and darkness rushed in like a tide. Camille. Since you’ve made your choice in this life, I swear, I won’t repeat the mistakes of the last one. When I woke again, the tearing pain in my abdomen reminded me this was no dream. “Ronan, you’re awake? Does it hurt? The doctor said the blade just missed, so it’s not life-threatening, but your kidney was damaged, and it’s possible you may…” Mrs. Wallace choked back a sob. “You may never be a father.” Mr. Wallace sighed with guilt. “Ronan, you know we see you as our own. We believe you. Camille has just been completely infatuated by that young man, causing all this madness.” “You focus on healing. We’ll re-do the wedding in three days. This time, no one will dare disrupt it!” A welcome warmth spread through my chest. After my parents died saving Camille, the Wallaces took me in and raised me as their son. In the previous life, when Camille grew cold after the wedding, they constantly argued with her on my behalf. Their kindness was real and profound. I pressed my lips together. “The wedding… let’s skip it. Her heart is no longer with me. You can’t force a vine to grow where it won’t.” Mrs. Wallace squeezed my hand, tears streaming down her face. “Ronan, you two grew up together, everything was fine before… How did it come to this?” I offered a bitter smile. I knew Camille’s fierce single-mindedness better than anyone. In the previous life, she could take her own life out of overwhelming regret for Jesse. Now, convinced she owed him, she would stand against the world for him. Seeing my firm attitude, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace could only sigh, urging me to rest before leaving. The room fell silent again. I dialed a familiar number. “I want to go to Charleston. As soon as possible.” “Big brother Ronan? You and Camille… okay. There’s a train in three days. I’ll meet you at the station.” … I hung up, remembering that my father’s pocket watch was still in the honeymoon suite. It was the last memento my parents left me. Gritting my teeth against the cramping pain in my abdomen, I leaned on the wall, inching step by painful step toward the room I had so lovingly prepared. Just as I reached the door, I heard Jesse’s panicked voice: “Camille, I’m scared… Ronan lost so much blood. What if he dies?” “If he dies, will I be a murderer? I don’t want to go to jail, Camille, I’m terrified…” Camille cut him off, her voice laced with protective affection. “Don’t be afraid. Ronan is a pest, he always survives.” “Besides, I’m here. Only I saw what happened yesterday. If I say he stabbed himself, then he stabbed himself.” “Jesse, I swear, this lifetime, I will never let anyone hurt you again.” “Camille, you’re so good to me…” The moonlight cast their intertwined shadows on the door, intimate and piercing. How utterly ludicrous. In the past life, I had stomach issues, and Camille, trying to please me, frequently went to the hospital, where she met Jesse, then a medical intern. I took pity on him later, funding his post-grad studies. Last time, after he stabbed me, Camille had hated him. “You’re too kind-hearted, but some people are just ungrateful wolves who bite the hand that feeds them!” Now, she was the one protecting that “wolf.” And I had been gutted, literally, for it. The surgical wound gave a sharp pull, the pain shooting straight to my heart. I took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Camille instantly shielded Jesse behind her, looking at me with undisguised disgust. “What do you want? Haven’t you hurt Jesse enough?” My heart chilled. I was about to speak, but Jesse preempted me, collapsing to his knees in a flood of manufactured tears: “Big brother Ronan, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. I apologize. Please, don’t press charges, don’t send me to jail, okay? I’m begging you!” Camille quickly yanked him up. “Jesse, get up! With me here, let’s see who dares send you to jail!” Jesse clung to her, his eyes rimmed with red. “Big brother Ronan, Camille and I truly love each other. You have so many people who love you… can’t you just let her go? Please?” As he spoke, he moved to grab me excitedly, but deliberately knocked the pocket watch off the table. Clatter! The glass face of the watch shattered. The photograph inside fell into a puddle of spilled tea. My parents’ smiling faces were quickly soaked and dissolved by the dark liquid. Smack! I couldn’t hold back anymore. I raised my hand and slapped his feigned innocent face with all my strength. “I have everything? So I deserve to be stabbed by you, to lose the ability to have children, to be slandered?” “I deserve to have the last memory my parents left me utterly destroyed by you, too?” Camille gently cupped Jesse’s swollen cheek, snapping at me: “It’s just a broken watch! So what if it’s broken? How much is it even worth? Ronan, do you really have to be so aggressive?” A broken watch… This watch was my father’s most cherished item. When Camille and I were young, she once said it was beautiful, and my father immediately gave it to her. After my parents died, I wept day and night. It was Camille who had placed our family photo inside and returned it to me. “See, Ronan, your aunt and uncle are always with you. And I will always be with you, too.” She had long forgotten that vow. Only I had remained, like a pitiful fool clinging to the memory. My voice was thick with emotion: “That was my father’s last belonging. The picture inside—you put it there yourself… You really don’t remember?” Camille paused for a fraction of a second, then stubbornly asserted: “Even if it’s a memento, you can’t be so cruel…” “I’m cruel?” I laughed, shaking with fury, and pointed at Jesse. “Camille, Jesse stabbed me and nearly cost me the chance to have children! You’re protecting him and calling me cruel?” “How is he going to pay for that? He deserves to spend the rest of his life atoning in prison!” Jesse was trembling with anxiety and reached out to grab me. “Big brother Ronan… I know I should die for this, but please don’t send me away… I truly know I was wrong…” I pulled my hand back. He stumbled, falling heavily, his right hand landing hard on the shards of glass. Jesse cried out in pain, clutching his bloody right hand. “Ah! Glass in my hand… it hurts so bad…” “Jesse? Are you okay? I’m taking you to the emergency room right now!” Camille anxiously helped him up, her gaze fixed on me, colder than ice. “Ronan, you had better pray Jesse’s hand is fine. If anything happens to his hand, if he can’t work—I will personally put you in prison! And you’ll stay there until you die!” With that, she didn’t look at me again, supporting him as they left. Tears slid into the corner of my mouth. Salty and bitter. Camille. Last life, you brought the man who hurt me to justice, saying the law was absolute. Now, you’re threatening to send the innocent me to prison for his sake? I silently packed my bag. I only took the old photos of my parents and my train ticket to Charleston. The tuxedo Mrs. Wallace had made for me, I folded neatly, preparing to return it to her. The woman on the phone’s voice was calm and steady: “Big brother Ronan, you just focus on getting away safely. I’ll be waiting for you at the station.” “Good. Thank you, Wren.” A flicker of warmth touched my heart. “Stop thanking me. Just get here safely.” Just as I hung up, the door was violently kicked open. Camille stared at the tuxedo on the bed, her fury twisting into a cold smile. “Ronan! Jesse’s hand nerves were damaged; he’ll never hold a scalpel again! And you still have the nerve to think about a wedding?” “Out of respect for your parents saving me back then, I’ll give you one last chance. Come to the hospital with me, apologize to Jesse! Otherwise…” She paused, her eyes turning utterly glacial. “Don’t blame me for abandoning all pretense of history and desecrating your parents’ headstones!” All the blood in my body instantly froze. She had sworn on their graves to care for me for life. Now, she was using their final resting place to threaten me? “Camille, you’re insane…” Camille gripped my wrist and roughly dragged me toward the door. “I’m insane because you forced me! Now come apologize to Jesse!” … In the hospital room, Jesse leaned against the headboard, his face pale. “Camille, it’s fine… Big brother Ronan didn’t mean it. He’s just upset that I can never be a surgeon now…” Camille embraced him tenderly, then turned to me, her voice sharp: “Kneel down and apologize, until Jesse forgives you! Do it now, or I swear I’ll follow through with my threat!” I stood frozen. Seeing the look in Camille’s eyes, I knew she was serious. If I didn’t comply, she truly would vandalize my parents’ graves. And… I was running out of time to catch my train. My knees slammed heavily onto the floor. My forehead struck the tile. “I’m sorry.” Thud. Thud. Thud. One knock after another, the dull sounds echoing in the silent room. Blood quickly bloomed on the floor. After I don’t know how many times, Jesse finally spoke, his voice muffled: “Big brother Ronan, you’re bleeding. Stop, stop. I forgive you… Please get up.” Camille gently kissed his cheek. “You’re too soft, you know.” She looked at me then, her eyes full of weariness and annoyance. “Now get out. Are you expecting me to bandage you up?” I pushed my numb body up, staggering out of the room. … As the train sped south, Camille and Jesse’s wedding reception was in full swing back in Northport. Mrs. Wallace rushed into the banquet hall, clutching a letter, her voice shaking: “Camille! Ronan left! The letter says he wants to see the cherry blossoms in Charleston. Who does he even know in Charleston?” “Impossible! Ronan would never leave me! He’s probably just throwing a tantrum; he’ll be back in a couple of days.” Camille impatiently glanced at the letter, scoffing. “Charleston? What kind of excuse is that… He must be going to find that…” Mid-sentence, the smile on her face froze. Charleston… That person—Ronan wasn’t supposed to meet her again for another ten years. Unless— Ronan had also been reborn?