I looked through the ambulance window at Lu Jingnian lying unconscious on the stretcher.

Then I answered the phone.

“Mom, Jingnian had an accident.”

There was silence.

“What?”

“The glass bridge broke. Ruowei fell. Jingnian tried to save her and fell with her.”

My mother-in-law screamed so loudly that I had to move the phone away from my ear.

“You were there! Why didn’t you stop him?”

There it was.

Exactly the same question.

In my previous life, I had stopped him.

They hated me for it.

In this life, I didn’t.

And somehow they still wanted to blame me.

I lowered my voice.

“I tried.”

“You’re his wife! How could you just watch him fall?”

Several paramedics glanced toward me.

I began crying.

“I grabbed his backpack, but he pushed forward. Everyone warned him the glass was breaking. He wouldn’t listen because he wanted to save Ruowei.”

The ambulance was recording everything through its internal camera.

More importantly, dozens of tourists had recorded the accident.

This time, nobody could rewrite what happened.

At the hospital, Lu Jingnian was immediately taken into surgery.

The doctor came out nearly three hours later.

“He survived.”

My mother-in-law almost collapsed from relief.

Then the doctor continued.

“But the injuries to his lower body are serious. We’ll need to observe his recovery before determining how much mobility he can regain.”

Her face turned white.

Behind her, Lin Ruowei sat in a wheelchair with one arm immobilized.

Compared with Jingnian, she looked almost untouched.

The moment my mother-in-law saw her, anger exploded.

“Why was my son the one who ended up like this?”

Ruowei began crying.

“Auntie, Jingnian was trying to save me…”

“That’s exactly why!”

She raised her hand.

I caught her wrist before she could strike Ruowei.

Everyone stared at me.

I calmly released her.

“This is a hospital.”

My mother-in-law turned on me instead.

“And you! What kind of wife stands there while her husband falls?”

Before I could answer, a man behind us spoke.

“I was on the bridge.”

One of the tourists had come to give his statement to the police.

He held up his phone.

“Your daughter-in-law warned him several times. We all did.”

Another woman nodded.

“She even tried to reach him at first, but your son kept moving toward the broken section.”

Someone else added:

“The railing was already coming loose. If she had grabbed him, she probably would’ve fallen too.”

My mother-in-law opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

I looked at her calmly.

“Last time you asked why I didn’t save him.”

I almost laughed at the irony.

In my previous life, I had sacrificed everything to save him.

This time, witnesses saved me.

Three days later, Jingnian regained consciousness.

His first question was exactly what I expected.

“Ruowei?”

I was sitting beside the window.

“She’s fine.”

His shoulders visibly relaxed.

Then he finally looked at me.

“What happened?”

“You fell while saving her.”

His eyebrows tightened.

“I remember…”

He stared at me strangely.

“You were behind me.”

“Yes.”

“You touched my backpack.”

My fingers tightened around the divorce agreement hidden inside my bag.

So he remembered.

Maybe not our previous life.

But he remembered that moment.

“You could have pulled me back.”

I looked directly into his eyes.

“Could I?”

He froze.

“The bridge was collapsing. The tourists told you to stop. The tour guide told you to stop. I told you to stop.”

My voice remained quiet.

“You chose her.”

His expression changed.

“So I respected your choice.”

“You’re my wife.”

“And Ruowei is your childhood friend.”

He suddenly had no answer.

I placed the divorce papers on his blanket.

His eyes dropped to them.

“What is this?”

“Our divorce agreement.”

“To Wan!”

His voice became sharp.

“You’re divorcing me while I’m lying here?”

I smiled faintly.

“You nearly died calling another woman’s name, and you’re surprised your wife no longer wants the marriage?”

The door opened.

Lin Ruowei stood outside.

Apparently, she had heard everything.

Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

“Sister-in-law, please don’t misunderstand. Jingnian and I really are only friends.”

I turned toward her.

“You don’t need to explain.”

She looked stunned.

“You can have him.”

The room went completely silent.

Jingnian stared at me in disbelief.

“To Wan, enough.”

“No.”

For the first time in two lives, I felt completely calm.

“I’ve had enough.”

I removed my wedding ring.

I placed it beside the divorce papers.

Then I walked out.

Over the following weeks, Jingnian’s condition improved slowly.

Doctors believed he might eventually walk again, but rehabilitation would take a long time.

Ruowei visited every day.

At first, Jingnian was moved.

She fed him.

Read to him.

Stayed beside his bed.

His parents praised her constantly.

“Look how loyal Ruowei is.”

“If To Wan had half her heart…”

I heard everything from our mutual friends.

I didn’t care.

I had already moved out.

I transferred my savings into my personal account, terminated the lease on the apartment I had paid for, and submitted the divorce petition.

Then something interesting happened.

After one month, Ruowei stopped visiting every day.

After two months, she came twice a week.

When Jingnian needed help with rehabilitation exercises, she always had work.

When his doctor explained that recovery could take years, Ruowei became unusually quiet.

Then Jingnian learned that she had started dating someone.

A wealthy real-estate executive.

He called me that night.

“To Wan.”

I nearly hung up.

His voice sounded exhausted.

“Ruowei has a boyfriend.”

“I know.”

“You knew?”

“She posted him publicly.”

He remained silent for a long time.

Then he whispered:

“She said she would always stay with me.”

I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

“Jingnian, she wanted you when you belonged to someone else.”

His breathing stopped.

“She liked being the woman you would choose over your wife.”

I continued calmly.

“But choosing you after you became available was never part of the game.”

Three months later, our divorce was finalized.

Outside the courthouse, Jingnian waited for me using a cane.

He could walk again, slowly.

The moment he saw me, his eyes reddened.

“To Wan.”

I stopped.

“I finally understand.”

I said nothing.

He swallowed.

“That day on the bridge… you could have died trying to save me.”

“Yes.”

“And I still expected you to do it.”

For once, he sounded ashamed.

“I’m sorry.”

In my previous life, I had waited until my final moments hoping to hear those words.

Now they meant almost nothing.

I smiled.

“I forgive you.”

Hope immediately appeared in his eyes.

Then I finished:

“But forgiveness doesn’t mean I’m coming back.”

I walked past him.

Behind me, he called my name once.

I never turned around.

Six months later, I heard that Lin Ruowei married the real-estate executive.

Lu Jingnian didn’t attend.

His mother apparently cried for days, finally realizing that the woman she had defended more fiercely than her own daughter-in-law had never intended to become part of their family.

As for me?

I moved to another city.

Changed jobs.

Bought a small apartment with huge windows and sunlight in every room.

One winter morning, while drinking coffee beside the window, I suddenly remembered the cold storage room from my previous life.

The locked door.

The darkness.

The man outside who had believed my life was worth less than his resentment.

For years, I thought my second chance had been given so I could take revenge.

I was wrong.

It had been given so I could finally stop saving someone who would never save me.

On the glass bridge, I had only let go of one backpack.

But in reality…

I had finally let go of an entire life that should never have belonged to me.