I won’t let you go in this life
The Betrayal and Death
The night was thick with rain, the kind that swallowed streetlights and blurred the world into a smear of shadows and silver. Ethan staggered through the narrow alley, his shoes sloshing in muddy puddles, heart pounding louder than the thunder overhead. His breath came ragged, heavy with disbelief.
He could still see it—his apartment door creaking open, the faint glow spilling into the hall, the sound of soft laughter that wasn’t his. And then the sight that gutted him to his core: her.
Sophie. The woman he had given everything to. The woman he thought was his forever.
She wasn’t alone.
Her arms were draped around another man, her lips curved in the smile Ethan once believed was his alone. The betrayal carved through him sharper than the knife that would later pierce his flesh.
“Ethan.” Her voice had been flat, almost irritated when she noticed him standing frozen in the doorway. “You weren’t supposed to come back so soon.”
It wasn’t guilt in her eyes. It was annoyance.
And then came the smirk from the man at her side. Daniel. A face Ethan knew from passing—a so-called friend, now revealed as his executioner.
The words that followed felt like a blur, though he remembered them with clarity that burned like acid:
“You were never enough,” Sophie had said coldly. “I was tired of pretending. Do you know how pathetic you looked, working so hard, scraping by, thinking you could give me the life I wanted?”
Daniel’s laughter was cruel. “Don’t worry, Ethan. I’ll take care of her. Something you never could.”
Ethan had stumbled backward, the air leaving his lungs in sharp bursts. Betrayal. Humiliation. The woman he loved had been using him, mocking him, and now—now they were laughing at his ruin.
But laughter was not enough.
Not for them.
He didn’t even see the blade until it flashed in the dim light. Daniel lunged, and Ethan felt it tear into his side, hot and cold all at once. He gasped, choking on his own breath, as Sophie simply watched. Watched and did nothing.
“Should’ve stayed away,” Daniel whispered against his ear as he drove the knife deeper.
Ethan collapsed to the floor, the dirty tiles slick with both rain and blood. His vision blurred, but in the haze of betrayal and pain, a face flickered in his mind.
Not Sophie.
Another woman.
Gentle eyes. A quiet smile. The one who had always been there in the background—watching him, supporting him, caring in ways he never cared to notice.
Lena.
She had loved him. He realized it now, far too late. She had confessed once, shyly, her hands trembling as she spoke of her feelings. And he—he had brushed her off, dismissing her words like they meant nothing.
He had chased Sophie instead.
And this was where it had brought him.
His life was bleeding out, stolen not just by the knife, but by his own blindness.
Rain pattered on the broken windows above, mixing with his blood. He thought of Lena’s warm eyes one last time, of the kindness he had scorned, and a bitter regret twisted inside him.
“If only…” he whispered, his voice broken.
The world went dark.
But death, it seemed, was not the end.
A piercing light tore through the void, dragging him from the abyss. His lungs burned, and he shot upright with a gasp, clutching his chest. The room around him was unfamiliar—no, not unfamiliar. Too familiar.
The posters on the wall. The cheap desk. The faint hum of an old fan.
His college dorm.
Ethan blinked, wild panic racing through him. He stood and stumbled to the cracked mirror on the dresser. His reflection stared back at him—not the weary, bitter man of thirty who had died in betrayal, but the younger version of himself. Twenty years old. Fresh-faced.
“No… this can’t be real.”
His fingers trembled as he touched his cheek. His heart raced in disbelief, and then the memory surged back—the knife, Sophie’s betrayal, Lena’s quiet love.
And in that moment, realization struck him like lightning.
He had been given another chance.
A second life.
And this time… he would not waste it.
His fists clenched tight, determination burning in his chest. He remembered the way Lena had smiled, the way she had looked at him with unshakable devotion, the way he had been too blind to see it before.
Not this time.
This time, he would chase her. Cherish her. Love her with everything he had.
And as for Sophie and Daniel…?
Ethan’s eyes darkened, the storm of vengeance already rising in his reborn soul.
“This life will be different,” he whispered. “I won’t let her go. Not this time.”
End of Chapter 1
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