Declared Dead, My Ex-Wife Begged Me to Take Her Back

When my wife learned that I had filed for divorce on my own, giving her the chance to be with her terminally ill first love, she thought I'd finally learned to be reasonable. For once, she ended our cold war first and even agreed to spend our final wedding anniversary with me. But that day, I sat alone in the restaurant from morning until night. I called her more than a dozen times. She never answered. In the end, what I got instead was a post from her first love. He and my wife were smiling at the camera, holding up their marriage certificate. The caption read: 'Finally got my wish.' My finger slipped, and I accidentally liked the post. The very next second, my wife called me, furious. "Because of that stupid like, Julian's condition got worse. He only has a month left. Can you stop being jealous over everything and making my life harder?" Afterward, she decided to punish me by making sure I walked away from the divorce with nothing. She even told me that in a month, depending on how I behaved, she might consider marrying me again. But she didn't know. I only had three days left. The moment she registered her marriage with Julian, my mission officially failed. And three days from now, the system would erase me from existence. Chapter 1 1When I found out I was walking away from the divorce with nothing, I was surprisingly calm. After all, I was going to be erased from existence in three days. What did it matter whether I left with money or not? For once, I couldn't even be bothered with the housework. I stretched out on the couch and did absolutely nothing. I'd assumed Evelyn would disappear for another couple of weeks like she usually did, which meant I could spend my final three days in peace. Then I heard the front door open. "Julian, all you need to do right now is rest. Don't worry about anything else." As she spoke, Evelyn helped Julian Hayes through the door. She immediately pulled a clean pair of slippers from the cabinet, bent down, and placed them neatly in front of him. She'd never done anything like that for me. The two of them walked into the living room. Evelyn clearly hadn't expected to see me there. Her expression froze for a moment. Then the tenderness on her face disappeared. She looked at me coldly. "Julian isn't doing well. He's going to stay here for his last month so I can take care of him." She paused. "You don't have a problem with that, do you?" It sounded like a question. It wasn't. What could I possibly say? The last time I'd objected to her divorcing me so she could get back together with her terminally ill first love, she'd barely spoken to me for nearly two months. I'd tried everything to make peace. Bought her gifts. Apologized. Tried to win her over. Then, on my way to see her, I got into a car accident. I'd called her for help. She hung up on me. Then she texted that if I insisted on being so heartless about Julian's dying wish, she'd never answer another call from me again. That was the moment I finally understood just how determined she was to fulfill his last wish. So I agreed to the divorce. I said nothing now. Evelyn clearly didn't care either way. She helped Julian onto the couch, then turned to me as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Go make him some chicken soup. He just had surgery and needs something nutritious." I didn't move. Julian's eyes flickered. "Oh, don't make Marcus go to all that trouble. I'll do it myself." He struggled dramatically to his feet. Then immediately collapsed back onto the couch. It was painfully obvious he was putting on an act. I almost laughed. "You're terminally ill, Julian. Your legs still work. Surely you can manage that much yourself." His face stiffened. Then it flushed red. He turned to Evelyn with a wounded expression. "Evelyn, I guess Marcus still doesn't like me. Maybe I should just leave." Evelyn immediately stopped him. "This is our home." Then she looked at me. "The person who needs to leave is someone else." With that, she grabbed my arm and yanked me toward the door. Chapter 2 I realized what she was doing and immediately struggled, but Evelyn, who usually claimed she couldn't even open a jar by herself, somehow found enough strength to shove me outside. Then she slammed the door in my face. "Julian needs to stay here and recover for his last month. Go find somewhere else to live." A month? I was going to be dead in three days. If she threw me out now, where was I supposed to go? I wedged my hand against the doorframe. "No. I'm not leaving. I paid for this house. I paid for the renovations too. If anyone should leave, it's you two." Evelyn gave a cold laugh. "Marcus, don't forget. You agreed to walk away from the divorce with nothing. This house is mine now." I fell silent. It was worse than that. When we'd first bought the place, the deed had been put entirely in Evelyn's name. She'd insisted on handling the paperwork herself. Only after everything was finalized did I realize my name hadn't been added. When I asked her about it, she'd brushed it off. "We're already married. What difference does it make whose name is on the deed? We're a family." Back then, I'd trusted her completely. I'd never imagined we'd end up like this, so I hadn't made an issue of it. Now, there was no point arguing. The Evelyn standing in front of me was no longer the woman who once only had eyes for me. My voice softened. "Fine. But I can't leave right now. At least let me stay for three more days." Evelyn sneered. "Marcus, don't act like I don't know what you're trying to do. You already deliberately liked Julian's post and upset him so badly he ended up back in surgery." "If I let you stay another three days, what then? You keep provoking him until he dies?" Her words left me speechless. I was about to respond when she slammed the door shut. My fingers got caught in the frame. Pain shot through my hand, and I instinctively jerked it back. Three minutes later, the door opened again. For one foolish second, hope stirred in my chest. Then Evelyn appeared with a dark expression and threw my bedding and suitcase into the hallway. "Marcus, take some time and calm down." With that, she slammed the door so hard the walls seemed to shake. I stared at the closed door and let out a bitter laugh. Then I crouched down and started gathering the clothes scattered across the floor. Was I angry? Of course I was. But there was nothing I could do. All my assets were in Evelyn's hands. Even my salary went into an account she controlled. And in a way, my life had always been in her hands too. Years ago, Evelyn had fallen seriously ill. Julian, who had been her boyfriend at the time, disappeared overseas without a word when she needed him most. When I found out, I bound myself to a mission system in order to save her. The condition was simple. If Evelyn ever legally married another man, my mission would fail. She would survive. I would die. And there was no such thing as completing the mission early. I had to keep completing the mission for the rest of Evelyn's life. Only when she died of old age would the mission finally end. I'd believed that because I'd appeared when she needed someone most, because we'd survived the worst years together, she would stay with me until the end. And in the beginning, she really had loved me. She worried about me. Whenever I got sick, she'd stay awake all night taking care of me. She cooked healthy meals for me. Once, she even sold her favorite designer handbag just to afford an expensive gift she wanted to give me. We'd been married for eight years. Everyone said we were the perfect couple. Then Julian came back a month ago. And everything changed. Evelyn claimed she hated him. But the moment she heard he'd returned, she became distracted and restless. On the day of our class reunion, she found out Julian would be there. For the first time ever, the woman who had never once forgotten my birthday didn't send me a single message all day. Chapter 3 After that, Evelyn started seeing Julian more and more behind my back. Julian told her he'd only left all those years ago because he'd gone overseas to make money for her medical treatment. He also claimed he'd sent her countless messages afterward, but she'd never replied. Evelyn didn't believe him at first. Then Julian showed her screenshots of the messages, complete with timestamps. That was when she started to waver. She began to suspect someone had deliberately deleted them. And back then, the only person constantly by her side had been me. After she was discharged from the hospital, she'd also lost her phone. I was the one who helped her get a new number. Once suspicion took root, it didn't matter whether I was guilty or not. No matter how many times I tried to explain, Evelyn only had one response. "Then prove it." But how was I supposed to find proof of something that had happened eight years ago? Little by little, Evelyn started believing everything Julian told her. And when she eventually learned that he'd supposedly become terminally ill while trying to earn money for her treatment, she made up her mind. She wanted a divorce. She wanted to help Julian complete everything on his bucket list before he died. Thinking about it now, I let out a bitter laugh. I had just dragged my suitcase through the front gate of the neighborhood when my phone chimed. It was the custom notification tone I'd set for Evelyn. I freed one hand and pulled out my phone. She'd sent me two hundred dollars. I didn't accept it. Ever since she'd convinced herself that I'd manipulated my way into a relationship with her, she'd started using money to control me. If I accepted anything from her, I was expected to do exactly what she said. The last time, she'd sent me ten bucks for cigarettes. I took it. Then I refused to go pick Julian up for her. One complaint from her to my employer, and I lost my job. Sure enough, another message from Evelyn appeared almost immediately. "Marcus, we've been married for eight years. It's not like I never cared about you." "If you hadn't gone this far, I wouldn't have wanted things to end like this either." "Use the money to get yourself a decent hotel." "And apologize to Julian now so he can stop worrying." Before I could reply, another notification popped up. It was from Evelyn's old class group chat. I'd attended one of their reunions before, and one of the guys had privately added me to their men's chat afterward. Julian had just posted a photo. On his hand was an enormous diamond ring. 'Evelyn said this is going to be my wedding ring when we get married in a couple of days. She bought it to cheer me up. What do you guys think?' No one responded. So I did. 'Not much. Tell Evelyn a diamond ring's kind of pointless at this stage. She'd be better off buying you a nice cemetery plot with a good view.' Three seconds after I sent it, Evelyn started calling me nonstop. I already knew exactly what had happened. Julian had gone running to Evelyn to complain again. And now she was calling to tear into me on his behalf. It had happened far too many times over the past month. Evelyn didn't believe the man she'd been married to for eight years. She believed Julian instead. The same man who had once walked out on her. I gave a bitter laugh and declined the call. Maybe she knew I wasn't going to answer this time. Instead of calling again, she started bombarding me with texts. "Marcus, you really disappoint me." "You're just jealous because I bought Julian a diamond ring, aren't you?" "Fine. Then I'll give you something else to be jealous about." A string of photos followed. A bottle of men's cologne that cost over a hundred dollars. Designer shoes worth more than a thousand. A high-end graphics card worth a few thousand dollars. And an order confirmation for a luxury car worth well over a hundred thousand. Evelyn used to hesitate over buying me a three-pack of cheap socks. Now she was spending my money like crazy just to make Julian happy. Maybe it was because I was so close to dying. Instead of getting angry like I would've before, I felt strangely calm. I typed back: "I'm not really jealous." "No matter how expensive any of it is, it'll all be getting buried with Julian in a month anyway." Chapter 4 I thought about it for a moment, then added earnestly, "You should spend more of your money on yourself." But the message never went through. A large red exclamation mark appeared beside it. Evelyn had blocked me. I put my phone away and decided to find somewhere to stay. I'd originally considered swallowing my pride, apologizing, and using the two hundred dollars she'd sent me to get a hotel room. But once she blocked me, I couldn't accept the transfer anymore. Even that last two hundred dollars was gone. I'd grown up in an orphanage. I didn't have many friends to begin with. When I was little, other kids used to beat me until I was bruised and bloody. One day, Evelyn, wearing a frilly little dress, had scared them off. Then she'd pressed a piece of candy into my hand to comfort me. Maybe my childhood had been so bitter that the first taste of something sweet went straight to my heart. After that, every memory I had of Evelyn carried that same sweetness. So when I got into college, the first thing I did was move to the city where she lived. She was the only person I knew here. And that apartment was the only place I'd ever been able to think of as home. I had nowhere else to go. Building security made me leave the property several times before I finally found a spot nearby where I could spend the night. The night air was freezing. I checked my phone and saw that Julian had posted again. It was a video of him dancing with Evelyn in a warm, brightly lit room. Evelyn moved gracefully, every step polished and practiced. She and Julian moved together with effortless familiarity. At the end, Julian wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her off the floor. Then he glanced directly at the camera. The smug challenge in his eyes was impossible to miss. I knew the post was meant for me. He wanted to make me angry. The pattern had played out over and over again. He'd post something only I could see. I'd lose my temper and confront him. Then Evelyn would just happen to show up and decide I'd gone there to threaten or bully Julian. By the time I tried to show her proof, Julian would've already deleted the post. And that only made me look like a liar. It was one of the reasons my relationship with Evelyn had fallen apart so quickly over the past month. But this time, I didn't care. I just watched Evelyn dance, an ache spreading quietly through my chest. We'd been married for eight years. And I'd never known she could dance like that. Once, I'd come across an old photo of her in ballet clothes and asked about it. She'd only said, "I used to dance. I don't anymore." I'd told her she looked beautiful and suggested she take it up again. She'd suddenly flown into a rage and torn the photo to pieces. For years, I'd thought my suggestion had somehow upset her. Only now did I understand. Maybe she'd stopped dancing because Julian was gone. Maybe she'd gotten so angry because I'd accidentally touched on a memory that belonged to him. She must have been happy now. Happy enough that it apparently never occurred to her to wonder how a terminally ill man still had the energy to dance like that. I didn't dwell on it. I only had two days left. By then, my entire body ached, and every breath had become difficult. I curled up tightly beneath my blanket, shivering from cold and hunger as I felt my life draining away little by little. Eventually, exhaustion dragged me into sleep. I hadn't been asleep long when something hard struck me. A coin. "Huh. Marcus?" Julian's fake-sweet voice drifted down to me. "Sorry. I thought you were homeless." I pushed my head out from under the blanket. Julian was standing in front of me with Evelyn on his arm. Evelyn looked down at me lying on the ground, then at the suitcase beside me. Something complicated flickered through her eyes. "Marcus, how long are you going to keep this up?" Her voice turned impatient. "I sent you money. Why are you sleeping out here?" Chapter 5 Before I could say anything, Evelyn seemed to think of something and let out a cold laugh. "Or is this another one of your little sympathy plays?" "I don't think so," Julian suddenly said. I looked at him, confused as to why he was suddenly defending me. Then he raised a hand and pointed toward the apartment building nearby. "From here, you can see their bedroom window pretty clearly." "You..." Evelyn's face instantly flushed red. Then she slapped me hard across the face. My ears rang. A metallic taste surged up my throat, and I suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Julian quickly pulled Evelyn back two steps. Then he smiled. "Marcus, what are you doing? If you want Evelyn to worry about you, you could just say so. There's no need to bite down on a fake blood capsule to scare her." "I've coughed up blood plenty of times, and it never looks that dark. That's obviously not real blood." At his words, the trace of concern in Evelyn's eyes faded. She looked like she was about to say something when Julian tugged lightly on her sleeve. "Evelyn, I'm hungry. Didn't you say we were coming down to get something to eat?" Just like that, her attention shifted completely to him. My stomach growled too. I hadn't eaten anything since she'd thrown me out. My stomach had been cramping for hours. I was going to die soon enough. I didn't want to die hungry. When I saw them getting ready to leave, I swallowed my pride and followed. "I'm coming too." Evelyn frowned impatiently. "Why would you come?" Julian chimed in. "Marcus, we're going to a nice restaurant. Dressed like that, they might not even let you in." Apparently embarrassed by me, Evelyn pulled me aside. She lowered her voice, and her tone softened. "Marcus, can you please stop making this difficult?" "Julian only has a month left. I don't care what happened in the past anymore. I just want to spend this last month with him in peace." "For the sake of the years we were married, can you just let me help him finish his bucket list and stop clinging to me for one month?" The earnest, pleading look in her eyes made my throat tighten. In the end, I nodded. "Fine. I promise I won't bother you anymore." "But you have to promise me one thing. Tomorrow night, come have the anniversary dinner we never got to finish." Maybe she just wanted to get rid of me as quickly as possible. Evelyn nodded without hesitation. "Deal." I added, "Come alone." She paused. But in the end, she agreed. "Fine. But you remember your side of the deal too. No more bothering me after this." Then she turned and left with Julian. I watched her hurry away and gave a quiet laugh. I wouldn't bother her again. Not ever. Tomorrow, I was going to let her watch me die with her own eyes. I went to the clothing store we used to shop at and bought a suit, putting the charge on Evelyn's account. I'd expected her to be late again. But when I arrived at the restaurant, she was already there. So she really was that afraid I'd keep clinging to her. As if sensing me looking at her, Evelyn raised her head. Her eyes landed on me, and she paused. "You're wearing a suit?" Evelyn had always said suits didn't look good on me, so my closet was filled almost entirely with casual clothes and athletic wear. But now, I didn't care what she liked. I just wanted to look decent when I died. I nodded. "Yeah." I'd expected her to tell me it looked bad. Instead, she lowered her voice. "Huh. Didn't think you'd actually clean up this well in a suit." Chapter 6 Before I could react, her expression suddenly softened. Then, almost as if she were talking to herself, she murmured, "Of course you still look the best. You can pull off anything." That was when I noticed the earbud in her ear. Her phone was lit up beside her. The screen showed her chat with Julian. She had come to our anniversary dinner. But the man on her mind was still someone else. Maybe it had always been like this. During our eight years of marriage, I'd caught her secretly crying over old photos of Julian more than once. Back then, I'd assumed she was still angry about the way he'd abandoned her. Now, though, I realized those tears had probably been because she was heartbroken that they'd ever separated at all. I let out a quiet, bitter laugh and pushed the menu toward her. "Order whatever you want." Evelyn sat up straighter. Almost out of habit, she checked off two of my favorite dishes. I froze for a moment. Then I heard her speaking to the person on the other end of the call. After listing the dishes, she laughed softly. "Those are your favorites. How could I forget?" So even the little things I'd once believed were proof that she loved me had Julian woven through them too. As soon as the words left her mouth, Evelyn seemed to realize something. Her eyes darted toward me nervously. Maybe I'd already been hurt too many times. Something this small couldn't even stir much emotion anymore. I pretended I hadn't heard. I casually picked a few dishes of my own, then handed the menu to the server. The moment I would be erased was getting closer. Even though I was starving, I had no appetite left. And Evelyn spent most of the meal laughing and talking with Julian. By the time dinner was over, I'd barely touched the food on my plate. When I finally set down my fork, Evelyn checked the time. "I should go." She looked at me. "I came like I promised. You're going to keep your end of the deal too, right?" I nodded. "Of course." Then I added, "But before you go, I have an anniversary gift for you." Evelyn frowned. "What gift?" "The truth about Julian." She froze. Then suddenly shot to her feet. For one second, I thought she'd figured something out. Instead, she cried, "Julian? What's wrong? What happened?" She looked down at the call that had suddenly disconnected. Then she grabbed her things and rushed to leave. I stepped in front of her. "Don't you want to know what he..." "I don't." Evelyn grabbed me by the collar. "Marcus, I came here like I promised." "If you dare do anything to Julian right now, I swear you'll regret it!" Then she shoved me hard. I wasn't prepared for it. I stumbled backward several feet and crashed to the floor. My body had already become frighteningly light as the system prepared to erase me. Even Evelyn hadn't expected such a small shove to send me that far. She froze. For a second, she stared at her own hand in disbelief. Then she remembered Julian's frightened cry from the phone. She didn't look at me again. She turned and hurried toward the exit. The restaurant erupted into chaos. Someone rushed over to help me. Then, through all the noise, a voice suddenly shouted, "He's not breathing!" Evelyn stopped dead in her tracks.