The Price of Your Redemption

My childhood sweetheart fell hopelessly in love with a street thug. I did everything in my power to pull her out of that burning pit, and with both our families playing matchmaker, we naturally tied the knot. Yet on our wedding night, I discovered she was already pregnant with that thug's baby. Because I loved her, I swallowed the bitter pill and kept her secret. Only after the child was born did she hand me a cup of poison, sending me to my grave. That was when I realized she had despised me for an entire decade. She said, "You aren't worthy of raising his child. If you hadn't torn us apart, my baby would have had a father." Given a second chance at life, I will let you have exactly what you wished for. I curled up on the bed, my face deathly pale, shaking violently as agonizing pain ripped through my insides like jagged blades. My eyes remained wide open, staring straight at Clara, utterly horrified and in disbelief. "Why...?" I rasped, blood welling up and spilling past my lips. Clara looked down at me coldly, a sinister, venomous smirk twisting her lips. "Leo, you actually have the nerve to ask me why?" "Just for your own selfish desires, just so you could force me to be with you, you schemed and plotted to tear me and Marcus apart." "Ten years. Do you have any idea how I suffered through these past ten years?" "If you hadn't driven Marcus away from me, if I had been by his side, there's no way in hell he would've ended up in prison for manslaughter!" Hopelessness washed over me, and I closed my eyes as my heart turned to ash. So that was it. I had wondered why she had suddenly agreed to marry me. She was offering me up as a sacrificial lamb for her dead romance. Clara and I had known each other for thirty years. Growing up, I had pampered and cared for her down to the smallest detail. I admit I carried a torch for her for years, but I never once used underhanded tricks to claim her. Yes, I tore her and Marcus apart—but Marcus was absolute human trash! Brawling, theft, muggings, sexually harassing girls... the guy was a complete menace to society. And Clara knew every bit of it. Yet blinded by love, she stubbornly convinced herself that he would change, clinging to the delusion that Marcus genuinely loved her. After trying and failing countless times to talk sense into her, I had no choice but to break the news to her parents. Her mom and dad were furious, stepping in with an iron fist to tear them apart. Back then, Clara gave me the silent treatment for five whole years. Five years later, Marcus beat his own wife to death in a drunken brawl and was convicted of manslaughter. That was when Clara came looking for me. She told me she didn't blame me anymore; she said that if it hadn't been for me, the dead wife might have been her. Only after we tied the knot did I discover she was already pregnant with Marcus's child. Because I loved her, I saw no other way out. I was willing to be the sucker who took the fall, keeping that dark secret buried from the entire world. I was naive enough to believe she had finally come to her senses. As long as she was willing to build an honest life with me, I was prepared to bury the past. Little did I know, from the very second she reached out, she was hell-bent on taking revenge. She viewed herself as Marcus's savior. She believed that if she had been Marcus's wife, if he had only had her by his side, he never would have walked down that path. My vision gradually faded to black, and the agonizing pain slowly slipped away. The world spun violently around me. When I opened my eyes again, I was sitting on the living room sofa in Clara's house. "Leo, sweetie, you called your uncle and me back home in such a rush. Is something wrong?" I blinked, looking around. I was in Clara's living room. Memories flooded back. This was... the exact day I blew the whistle on her relationship. "Leo? Leo? What's gotten into you today, honey?" Clara's mother exchanged a worried, puzzled glance with her husband. "Oh, Uncle, Auntie... I asked you to rush back because I wanted to invite you both over to our house for dinner tomorrow." Thinking on my feet, I grabbed the first excuse that came to mind. They both let out a soft laugh, sighing in relief. "Oh, you silly boy! A quick call would have been enough for something like that! You sounded so panicked, I thought the sky was falling. You scared me half to death!" "I'm sorry, Auntie. I didn't mean to worry you." Watching them walk out the door, I couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Clara's parents were lifelong friends of mine; our families were as close as kin. They had always treated me like their own son. But I'm sorry, I thought. This time around, I won't stick my nose into your daughter's mess.In my previous life, right after I snitched, Clara's parents locked her inside and forcefully severed all ties between her and Marcus. Clara wept day in and day out, staging hunger strikes to protest. It broke my heart, but my hands were tied. Her parents assured me I hadn't done anything wrong, promising that once the storm passed, Clara would realize it had all been for her own good. Later, when Clara cut me off for five years, they were the ones quietly comforting me. When Marcus was finally thrown behind bars, they felt so vindicated by what I had done that they showed up at my house with gifts, thanking me profusely. Once Clara forgave me, our parents pushed us together, and we naturally walked down the aisle. Her parents were overjoyed. They had watched me grow up and felt completely at ease entrusting Clara to me. Sadly, she ended up disappointing them all. Clara never appreciated my good intentions. She went so far as to throw her own life into the fire just to drag me straight to hell. The twenty-year-old Clara came barging in, her face twisted in rage. "Leo! What did you tell my parents? Did you—" "I just invited them over to my place for dinner tomorrow." "Are you... for real?" "For real." Clara nodded, satisfied. "Leo, if you ever dare say a word behind my back, I will hate you for the rest of my life!" I curled my lip dismissively. "That's your business. Nobody has the right to micromanage your life." "Sorry. In the past, I stuck my nose where it didn't belong. I crossed the line." Probably caught off guard by my sudden change in attitude, Clara looked thoroughly confused. "Leo, what is wrong with you today?" "Forget it, Marcus is here to pick me up. I'm going out on my date. You'd better keep your mouth shut like you promised." With a completely deadpan expression, I watched Clara skip out the door and hop onto the back of Marcus's flashy motorcycle. Marcus had greasy, shoulder-length hair bleached an obnoxious mustard yellow and tied into a sloppy low ponytail. He wore a tight muscle tee that showed off sleeves of cheap tattoos. Lounging on the bike behind dark shades, he oozed arrogant apathy. Clara was head over heels for that exact look, claiming he had an "edge," that he was so bad, so cool, so gorgeous. Looking at it now, Clara was simply cut from the exact same cloth as Marcus. Birds of a feather. Why on earth should I have ever waded into that sewer? Before long, Clara started staying out late every single night, running wild with Marcus. Her parents asked me about her whereabouts multiple times, but I brushed them off, claiming I had no idea. Still, secrets don't stay buried forever. Through whispers and neighborhood gossip, her parents eventually tracked her down. They walked in to find her curled up in Marcus's lap on a dingy dive bar sofa. She was so out of it she didn't even notice her parents standing right in front of her. Her father turned crimson with rage. He yanked Clara up by her arm and delivered a harsh slap across her face. Her pale cheek instantly swelled up. Dead drunk, Clara collapsed onto the floor and began heaving violently. Still seething, her father swung around and slapped Marcus across the face too. Marcus was never one to take a blow sitting down. He spat a wad of phlegm right into her father's face, then struck back with a brutal backhand that sent the older man crashing to the floor. "Fuck you, you old piece of shit! You dare touch me? I'll end you!" Before anyone could react, Marcus snatched an empty beer bottle off the table, raising it high to smash it over her father's skull. I rushed in, kicked Marcus square in the chest, and hauled her father back to his feet. I didn't give a damn if Clara lived or died, but her parents hadn't done anything wrong. I had to protect them. Furious, Marcus lunged at me, and we rolled into a violent brawl. Although he had brute strength from the alcohol, his reflexes were sluggish. After a few rounds, I gained the upper hand, walking away with only a few minor cuts and bruises. Marcus, on the other hand, lost two front teeth, grimacing in agony. The brawl only ended when the sirens wailed and the police arrived. Because we had engaged in mutual combat, Marcus and I were thrown into lockup for twenty-four hours. Clara, completely wasted, was rushed to the ER by her parents.The next day, after being released from the station, I headed to the hospital to get my cuts patched up. Her parents had cried their eyes dry. Clara's mother clutched my hand tightly, sobbing as she poured out her heartache. A pang of bitterness tightened in my chest. "She's our only daughter, Leo. We spoiled her rotten. We gave her the absolute best of everything, and this is what she turns into?" "If she fell for a decent guy, fine! But why does it have to be a lowlife criminal?" "I heard that scumbag was arrested for harassing girls before! He is an absolute monster!" "And do you know what Clara said? She said those girls must have thrown themselves at him! I couldn't believe those disgusting words came out of my own daughter's mouth!" "What kind of poison did he feed her? How did she turn into this complete stranger in just a few months?" I let out a soft sigh and kept my mouth shut. In this life, there was no way I was throwing myself into the fire to rescue her. I wasn't that noble. Auntie shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Leo, your uncle and I watched you grow up. You and Clara were inseparable. We always prayed that if you two ended up together, we could finally rest easy." "Turns out our Clara just isn't blessed enough for someone like you." Clara lay in the hospital bed, fretting only over Marcus's injuries. "This is all your fault, Leo! Why did you beat Marcus so badly? Do you have any idea that you knocked two of his teeth out?" "I never realized you were such a vicious bastard!" I was left speechless. "Clara, if I hadn't fought back, the one lying in that hospital bed right now wouldn't be Marcus—it would be your father." Her father was trembling with fury, breathing heavily. "You ungrateful little brat! If Leo hadn't kicked that thug off me, that animal would have cracked my skull open with a bottle!" "What happened to you? Your own father was almost beaten to death, and you're blaming us for defending ourselves?!" Clara rolled over in bed, waving a dismissive hand. "Who told you not to introduce yourself? Did you bother telling him you were my dad? No, you didn't! So what right do you have to blame him?" "He told me he'd let it slide this once. But if you pull that crap again, don't blame him for being ruthless! If it weren't for me, you'd both be in a body bag right now!" "I'm an adult. Who I date and how I live my life is my choice. It has nothing to do with either of you." Clara began sobbing, complaining that the atmosphere at home was suffocating, that she had no freedom, that she was treated like a puppet on strings. No freedom? Because they wouldn't let her hang out with street creeps? Because they asked her to be home by nine and forbade her from sleeping over at shady places? Her parents' genuine love and protection were, in her twisted eyes, chains holding her back. Every lecture and plea from friends and family fell on deaf ears. She accused her parents of being shallow, judgmental, narrow-minded, and stubbornly old-fashioned toward Marcus. I stepped back and kept my distance, refusing to utter a single word about her relationship. I wasn't about to give her an excuse to direct her venom at me again. Predictably, her parents grounded her and locked her inside the house. Just like in my previous life, she launched into a hunger strike, making sure the entire neighborhood knew about her misery. Only this time, I stayed completely out of it. I simply stood on the sidelines, silently watching the circus unfold.