After Rebirth I Set Him Free

Darren Valachi and I were childhood sweethearts, bound by an arranged marriage that became our shared torment. He blamed me for the brutal death of his one true love; I blamed him for betraying our past. All that remained of our marriage was hatred.

However, when I was diagnosed with ALS, and everyone expected me to be cast aside by the family, Darren knelt in a torrential downpour outside a church, praying for a miracle.

As I lay dying, he pressed his forehead to mine and prayed that in the next life, we would be strangers. He begged for a clean start that belonged only to them.

It was only then that I finally understood. I never should have used our blood-stained past to chain him to my side.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I finally found Darren after his disappearance.

This time, I chose to let him go, allowing the man I loved to be with his true soulmate.

————————

1

"Darren's lost his memory. He refuses to come back with us. We've already contacted a top neurosurgeon who says he can help restore it, and quickly."

The same words I’d heard in my past life, spoken on the day I found Darren Valachi after he’d been missing for five years.

Only this time, there was no surge of elation, no desperate urgency in my heart.

I shook my head and ordered my men to stand down.

Then I did two things.

First, I went to the hospital for a full physical.

Second, I took the diagnostic report for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and drove straight to the Valachi family estate to break off our engagement.

Darren's father, Don Marco Valachi, gripped my hand, his eyes red-rimmed as he shook his head. "Alessia, you can't. He loves you. You're the only one he'd ever marry."

I said nothing, simply handing him a photograph.

In the picture, Darren stood outside a rundown bar, his gaze gentle yet possessive as he looked at a woman. That woman was Scarlett Romano.

"Instead of forcing him to marry a dying woman, why not let him be with the one he loves? I don't want to be his burden."

In my last life, Darren vanished during a family feud. I had poured five years and every resource I had into finding him, only to discover he’d been taken in by Scarlett Romano, the youngest daughter of the Romano family. The two had fallen deeply in love.

Against his will, I used every means necessary to force him to remember.

The day his memories returned, Scarlett was brutally murdered by a rival family in an act of revenge. From that moment on, a bloody chasm lay between Darren and me.

Our marriage that followed was cold and desolate.

Yet, when I was diagnosed with ALS, Darren remained by my side for seven years, feeding and bathing me himself. He took me to every famed doctor and visited every church to pray for me, begging for a miracle.

But I knew his devotion stemmed from duty and a blood debt, not love.

Holding back tears, my voice rasped, "Darren and I are over."

This time, I would not make the same mistake.

After leaving the Valachi estate, I went to find Scarlett.

The moment she saw me, she panicked, shoving Darren into a back room.

She turned to face me, her voice trembling. "I swear, I never meant to hide him!"

I met her gaze calmly. "You and I both know that's not true."

Realizing denial was useless, Scarlett pressed her lips together, her expression shifting from guilt to defiance.

"I know he's always loved you! Only you! If he gets his memory back, he'll drop everything and run straight back to you!"

"But I fell for him the moment I saw him! I've loved him for years, and he never once looked my way. Now… I finally have my chance."