Back to the Past: Setting Him Free

Sebastian Pena hates me for a whole decade after his true love's death. I try to please him at every turn, but he merely scoffs. "If you really want to make me happy, you should go to hell."

That hits hard. However, when a truck hurtles toward me, Sebastian throws himself at me. He saves me, but he dies in a pool of his blood.

Before he breathes his last breath, he looks into my eyes and says, "If only… I'd never met you…"

His mother is devastated at his funeral. "I should've given Sebastian and Gillian my blessings. I should never have forced him to marry you!"

His father resents me. "Sebastian saved you three times—he was a good person. Why weren't you the one who died?"

Everyone regrets having Sebastian marry me, myself included. I'm kicked out of the funeral.

Three years later, someone invents a time machine, and I travel back in time.

This time, I'm going to sever all ties with Sebastian. Everyone will get the happiness they deserve.

The time machine exploded into a blinding light. I squeezed my eyes shut, but suddenly, I heard Sebastian Pena's mocking voice close to my ear.

"My parents are practically threatening to kill themselves if I don't marry you, Sienna Rowse. You must be proud of yourself.

"But even if we go through with this wedding, what do you think you'll actually get out of it? Do you think we're going to be happy?"

My eyes snapped open, and there he was—Sebastian, standing right in front of me.

His hands were tucked casually into the pockets of his dress pants. Despite his lazy posture, the mockery flashing in his eyes was impossible to miss.

The Sebastian I knew in the future was poised and dignified, but the boy in front of me still carried the careless, untamed energy of youth, a look I hadn't seen in what felt like forever.

My nose stung with emotion.

The time machine had worked. I was back in the past.

But something had gone wrong—it hadn't taken me to the moment we first met.

Instead, I was standing at the spot from thirteen years ago, on the day Sebastian and I were about to get married.

At least it wasn't too late to change things.

I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and stared at him greedily, trying to soak in every detail.

"Sebastian, you don't want to marry me because the person you really love is Gillian Brown, right?"

Maybe I hit a nerve. His body stiffened for a split second before he looked at me coldly and said, "Yeah, but so what? We're already standing outside the city hall. Do you think there's still a way to back out?"

I nodded honestly. "There is."

Sebastian let out a cold laugh. "I don't have time for your mind games. Just sign the papers, get the marriage certificate, and be done with it. I'll be waiting outside."

Watching him walk away, I felt like I was being stabbed with a thousand needles.

In both my past and present lives, I had loved Sebastian for many years.

He had risked everything to save me twice, and I had foolishly believed it meant he had feelings for me too.

Even Sebastian's parents had encouraged me.

"Sebastian's got a soft heart but a sharp tongue. If he didn't love you, why would he risk his life for you twice?" they had said.

I had believed them and happily married him.

It wasn't until his first love died that I realized I was never the one he loved.

The crushing words he said before he died, that he wished he had never met me, broke me completely.

My ten years of love had been ten years of torment for him.

Before I turned the dial on the time machine, someone had warned me. Only by fulfilling Sebastian's three greatest regrets could I break the toxic bond between us.

If I succeeded, he would no longer die because of me at 30. After that, we could finally live the peaceful lives we both deserved.

I lowered my head and wrote down Gillian's name on the marriage license application instead of mine.

I remembered clearly what Sebastian had once written in his journal, the three regrets that haunted him.

Regretting marrying Sienna. Regretting not standing up to his parents. Regretting not saving Gillian.

Today, at least, I had helped him fix the first one.

Holding two copies of the marriage certificate, I walked out the door. Sebastian was waiting for me just outside.

Without thinking, he reached for the papers in my hands, flipping one open to look. But I quickly grabbed his hand, stopping him.