He Let Me Drown

When the yacht accident happened, Jason chose to save his childhood sweetheart, Arielle, first.

Even my daughter begged, “Save Auntie Arielle! I don’t want my mom!”

“Your wife will suffocate if we don’t rescue her immediately,” the rescue team warned.

Jason replied coldly, “Save Arielle first. My wife is a good swimmer.”

I watched them celebrate Arielle’s survival while I nearly drowned.

I had given them everything, but my life was worth less than a scratch on someone else.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day of the accident.

This time, I would live for myself…

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1

A sharp, stabbing pain forced my eyes open.

I stared in disbelief at the accident scene before me.

I was trapped in a flooding cabin, the icy seawater already up to my chest. The cabin door, warped from the impact, refused to open.

Nearby, I heard a familiar cry: "I don't want anything to happen to Auntie Arielle! I want her to be safe and sound!"

My daughter, Sophia, was sobbing, tears streaming down her face.

But she wasn't crying for me, her mother, who was trapped right in front of her. She was crying for the other woman, Arielle.

"Don't cry, little girl," a rescuer said, comforting Sophia. "We'll get your mommy out."

But her reply shocked everyone:

"Who asked you to save my mom? I want you to save Arielle! Save Auntie Arielle!"

Then, my daughter tearfully tugged on Jason's arm. "Daddy, please, make them save Auntie Arielle! I don't want Mommy! I only want Auntie Arielle! I only want Auntie Arielle..."

My daughter's repeated, tearful pleas left the rescue team and the onlookers utterly stunned.

For me, however, each word was like a knife twisting deep in my heart.

Even after being reborn, this voice was still so grating, so heart-wrenching.

The situation was dire, and the rescue team knew they couldn't delay.

But the choice still lay in the hands of my family.

The rescue team looked at Jason with grave expressions and asked:

"Mr. Jason, based on our assessment of the situation, the cabin your wife is trapped in is severely flooded, and her oxygen supply is limited. "

"If we don't rescue her first, she could drown from lack of oxygen. At best, she'll suffer brain damage; at worst, she'll die. Who should we save first?”

It was as if Jason hadn't heard the gravity of the situation. He gave a heartless answer:

"Save Arielle first. If she gets hurt, it will affect the upcoming jewelry exhibition. Nothing can happen to her."

The rescue team tried to persuade him again, "But your wife..."

"I said, save Arielle first!"

Jason's impatient voice was as cold as ice. "Tessa doesn't need to be in the public eye like Arielle."

"So even if she unfortunately has some sort of accident because of this, I'll take care of her for the rest of her life. You don't need to worry about it."

In my past life, when I heard Jason's choice, the pain was so intense I couldn't breathe.

I watched with my own eyes as Jason and Sophia fretted anxiously over saving Arielle.

I watched with my own eyes as they held each other, celebrating their survival.

It was as if they were the real family of three.

While I was merely an irrelevant outsider.

In my last life, my tears had flowed uncontrollably, and the despair in my heart had made me close my eyes and surrender to my fate far too soon.

But in this life, perhaps the pain had numbed me to the very core.

Faced with the same scene, I didn't shed a single tear.

Thinking back on my past life, I knew that I could only save myself.

I remembered with perfect clarity that during the rescue on the other side, there would be a brief moment when the cabin would shift from the change in buoyancy.

That fleeting moment of movement was my only chance to escape.

If I could just, in that instant, forcefully ram open the warped cabin door and swim out of the compartment, I could still be saved.

I endured the cold and fear, closing my eyes in the darkness, and waited for that moment to come.

Soon enough, just as I'd expected, I felt the cabin shift.

In that instant, for my own sake and no one else's, I used every last ounce of my strength to ram open the warped door.

Even as the door’s sharp edges sliced into the flesh of my arms and legs.

But what was that searing physical pain compared to the agony in my heart?

I had actually done it.

I had just cheated death, and at my weakest moment, a chorus of joyous celebration erupted nearby:

"She's out! She's out! This is wonderful! Auntie Arielle, we're so glad you're safe!" My daughter threw herself into Arielle's arms.

She seemed to have forgotten that her own mother, the one who had raised her, was clinging to life at that very moment.

The way she nuzzled against her, you would have thought Arielle was her real mother.

"There's still someone in the cabin who hasn't been rescued!"

It was only the reminder from a passerby that made them remember I was still in the cabin.

How ironic.

Jason and Sophia. One was my husband, the other, my daughter.

Yet they were less caring than a complete stranger.

When the rescue team arrived, they found I had already freed myself. I was floating in the icy water, a gash on my arm from a piece of metal so deep you could see the bone, and one of my legs was severely injured.

"It's a miracle! She actually rescued herself."

"Our biggest worry is always she being trapped in a flooding cabin, at risk of drowning or suffocating at any moment. We never expected her to be so strong, to pull off a self-rescue through sheer willpower!"

"Truly remarkable!"

The rescue team murmured in admiration. The concerned onlookers around us began to applaud and celebrate.

Jason looked at me as I was lifted from the water, his tone calm. "I knew you were strong. I knew you could hold on."

"But Arielle is different. She was born to design jewelry, not strong like you. That's why I chose to save her first."

"You can understand my choice, right?"

Listening to Jason's semblance of an explanation.

For the first time, I studied him with such seriousness, asking the one question I had carried to my grave in my past life:

"If I died because of your choice, would you regret it?"