Rebirth: Take Back My Everything

　　"Shelly sure knows her way around. Look at how she's organizing everything—I didn't even know where half this stuff should go," I said, keeping an eye on her reaction.

　　Sure enough, her hands paused, and her face showed a flicker of unease.

　　"Shelly's such a hardworking girl. You can tell she's been through a lot," Diane chimed in, missing my point completely and instead praising her.

　　A chill ran through me. In my previous life, Diane had started praising Shelly within two days, just like now. Shelly was just as skilled at winning people over as before.

　　Throughout the meal, I couldn't stop watching her. I wanted to find any cracks in her façade. It couldn't be a coincidence that she knew exactly where to find us at the station. The bus fare from the village wasn't cheap either.

　　A conclusion started to form in my mind. Could she have been reborn like me?

　　I didn't kick her out, but I also didn't agree to let her stay.

　　In my previous life, the family wanting to marry her had promised her father, Andy Hill, $20,000 if she married into their family. How could Andy give up that kind of money? He must be searching for her everywhere.

　　It didn’t take long to find Andy's contact information.

　　If Shelly could "coincidentally" run into Diane, then Andy could just as easily "run into" Shelly.

　　Two days later, Diane called me in a panic. "I was out grocery shopping with Shelly and we ran into Andy. He's demanding to take her back. What should we do?"

　　Ashley and I rushed over to Robert and Diane's house. When we arrived, the three of them were in the living room, with Diane standing between Andy and Shelly, trying to keep them apart.

　　The moment Shelly saw Ashley, her eyes were glued to him. She begged, "Ashley, please help me. He’ll ruin my life." She ran over, clinging to Ashley's pant leg, crying pitifully.

　　Ashley, unable to bear it, bent down to help her up.

　　I held his hand down and pointed at Andy. "We took her in because she had nowhere to go, but now her own father is here to take her back. We have no reason to keep her anymore."

　　"But her father is going to..." Ashley looked troubled.

　　Andy, hearing my words, grew more forceful. "She's my daughter. You had no right to take her in the first place. If you try to stop me, we'll take this to the police!"

　　Diane and Ashley, although kind-hearted, weren't keen on getting into legal trouble.

　　Despite Shelly's desperate pleas for help, Andy took her away in the end.

　　After she left, Diane's eyes were red with tears, looking as if her own daughter had been taken away. Ashley, too, looked dispirited.

　　I didn't care about their feelings. I felt a great sense of relief, convinced that Shelly wouldn't escape this time.

　　But to my surprise, she was back a few days later.

　　As soon as I walked in, I saw Shelly sitting on the couch, her face streaked with tears, large drops still falling. Diane, without even looking up, was tenderly applying ointment to her wounds.

　　Shelly looked up at me, her gaze suddenly sharp. My breath caught in my throat. Was she planning to confront me directly?

　　Before I could react, she dropped to her knees in front of me, grabbing my hand, her eyes full of innocence and grievance. "I don’t know what I did to offend you, but why do you dislike me so much?"