I Forced Him Into Marriage For Six Years, Only To Witness Him Sacrifice His Life For Me Chapter 09

I Forced Him Into Marriage For Six Years, Only To Witness Him Sacrifice His Life For Me Chapter 09

After that, he showed up every morning. 

Sometimes he brought a box of donuts. Sometimes he brought me a pumpkin spice latte. 

All of them were things I used to love in college. 

But he didn’t know I’d moved on. My tastes had changed. 

The things I once loved had slowly stopped mattering, worn down by years of waiting and disappointment. 

That night, it rained. 

The rain in Millbrook was heavy and cold, 

drumming against the old rooftops. 

Linus stood under the guesthouse where I was 

staying, without an umbrella. 

The rain poured down his hair, soaked through his entire jacket. 

He just stood there, staring up at the lit window on 

the second floor. 

He didn’t know that I’d actually seen him. 

I stood behind the curtain, watching him not move 

for over two hours until he crouched down and 

buried his face in his knees. 

The next morning, when I came down, he was still 

there. 

He was soaked like a stray dog, his lips blue from 

the cold. 

When he saw me, he scrambled to his feet, 

stumbling. 

“Linette…” 

His voice was completely wrecked. 

“What do I have to do for you to forgive me?” 

I looked at him and suddenly felt so tired. 

“Linus. The dream I told you about? It was real.” 

He looked up, rain dripping from his jaw. 

“It wasn’t a dream. It was my past life.” 

I said it slowly. 

“In that life, I forced you to marry me. And you did.” 

“On our wedding night, you left me alone to go 

comfort Catherine.” 

“I sat in that room, surrounded by decorations, and 

stared at the walls until morning.” 

“Then on our way to honeymoon destination, the 

plane crashed. In your last moment, you used your 

own life to clear a path for mine.” 

Linus’s pupils contracted sharply. 

“I’ve already died once.” 

“Everything died with me in that moment. 

Including you.” 

I held his gaze, my voice steady. 

“Go home, Linus. Don’t come looking for me 

anymore.” 

“You already paid what you owed me back in the 

last life.” 

He stood there, his lips trembling violently. 

He tried to say something, but his throat wouldn’t 

work. 

Finally, he forced out the words. 

“Linette… I love you.” 

“I just… I just never realized it before…” 

“But I don’t need your late awakening anymore. I 

don’t need your love.” 

I turned away. My voice was quiet. 

“Goodbye, Linus. Take care.” 

The door closed behind me. 

He stood in the rain. Then slowly, he dropped to 

his knees. 

His knees hit the wet cobblestone with a dull thud. 

His hands braced against the ground as rain 

slipped through his fingers. 

He stayed there for a long time. 

So long that the rain stopped and the sun came 

out. 

Strangers glanced at him with curiosity. He never 

got up. 

When Linus returned to Velmont, he was hollowed 

out. 

He still went to work. Still sat through meetings. But he barely spoke. 

When his employees presented reports, they’d catch him staring blankly at papers, eyes empty. 

Catherine came to see him a few times. He grew colder each time. 

The last time, she cried and asked if he blamed 

her. 

He said only one thing. 

“Catherine. Don’t come here anymore. I don’t want to see you.” 

She never came back. 

Two months later, a long exposé went viral online.