If Time Could Flow Backward
Chapter 1
My fiancé tried to force me to break off our
engagement by bankrupting my dad’s
company, leaving him with millions in debt.
What a jerk!
The shock gave my father a heart attack, and
they rushed him to the ICU.
I was on my knees, begging my fiancé for
help with the medical bills, when my
childhood best friend, Ethan Blackwood,
suddenly came back to the States.
He got Dad the best doctors and stayed with
me, night and day, watching over him.
く
But a week later, Dad had another heart
attack.
To give him some peace before he passed,
Ethan knelt by his bedside and promised he’d
marry me and take care of me forever.
After the funeral, heartbroken and numb, I
called off the engagement.
I married Ethan instead.
Five years later, I accidentally overheard a
conversation between my ex and him.
“Man, you played her good,” my ex–fiancé
snickered. “Getting her to dump me willingly.
Can you imagine her face if she knew it was
you who ruined her dad back then? She’d
probably want to kill you!”
く
My hand froze on the door of the private
room. My ex’s mocking voice kept on.
“You’re a real piece of work, Ethan. You grew
up with Chloe, she thought of you as a big
brother! She’d never believe you were the one
who bankrupted her dad’s business.”
“If it weren’t for Ashley, I wouldn’t have taken
the heat for you all these years. I hate her,
sure, but I couldn’t bring myself to cause
someone’s dad to die.” A glass slammed onto the table. Ethan’s voice was laced with angry
drunkenness.
“I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to Chloe. I only helped you back then because I
wanted Ashley to be happy. If you ever hurt
her, if you make her shed one tear, I swear, I’ll
<
“Wow, what a softie. Too bad Ashley met me
first,” my ex said, clicking his tongue. “You should just keep taking care of your Chloe. After all, you were the one who killed her dad. Be careful she doesn’t haunt you in your
dreams.”
The room went quiet.
Clang!
A glass hit the door and shattered.
Footsteps approached, and I took a deep
breath and ran to the bar downstairs.
I downed a glass of whiskey in one go, never been much of a drinker, which made my eyes
water.
<
The conversation replayed in my head over
and over.
Ethan, the man who’d paid for my dad’s surgery, was the one who’d bankrupted his
company?
And whatever Ethan had said to my dad a
week later had triggered his second heart
attack.
No wonder Dad had stared so intensely at
Ethan as he died.
And I’d been so naive, thinking it was
gratitude, a blessing!
My husband, who’d shared my bed for five
years, who treated me like I was precious,
was indirectly responsible for my dad’s death.
All those years of marriage, all the fake love, just his guilt masquerading as a “thank you.
It was all a joke.
Sadness and fury churned inside me.
I reached for another drink, but Ethan suddenly wrapped his arms around me from behind, burying his face in my neck. His voice
was slurred, full of tenderness.
“Chloe, why did you leave me for so long? I
missed you so much… Let’s go home, Chloe,
I love you. I love you so much…”
Ethan always got mushy when he was drunk,
always confessing how much he loved me.
His buddies all said that drunks told the truth.
So it seemed like he really loved me.
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But right now, it was all a sick joke.
I subtly pulled away, helped him to the car.
Ethan slumped onto my lap, his brow relaxed, his breathing even. He looked asleep.
“Ashley… Ashley… Why didn’t you pick me?
Why…”
This time, I finally heard the name that
haunted his dreams.
Ashley. Ashley Hayes.
The woman who stole my fiancé, also Ethan’s
“one that got away.”
He’d never forgotten her. All this time, he’d
married me, pretended to be in love, all for
L
I’d underestimated his love for Ashley.
Thunk!
His phone fell from his pocket. I bent to pick it up, and the screen lit up with a message.
“Ethan, thanks for covering for me tonight. I
can’t accept the necklace you gave me. It’s
too expensive.”
A second later, Ashley posted on her social
media: “Love is priceless.”
She attached a photo of a blindingly beautiful
necklace, the only one in the world, snapped
up at auction by a mysterious millionaire.
I knew Ashley had posted it for my sake.
L
Ethan had been too busy to eat this past
week, so he’d gotten a bad stomachache and had to go to the ER. But as soon as he opened his eyes, he flew to England. I thought he had to go for work. I was angry and I felt bad for him all the same, thinking he didn’t care about his health for work.
But he was going to an auction.
Even though he was in pain, he flew all the way there to buy the world’s most precious
necklace for his “one that got away.”
On some kind of impulse, I entered his
passcode.
I typed in the last number, and the phone
unlocked.
L
It was Ashley’s birthday.
Ethan never let me look at his phone, said we
needed personal space.
As soon as it unlocked, Ashley’s smiling face popped up on the screen.
No wonder he always looked so gentle whenever he unlocked his phone.
I opened his photo albums. Every single one was labeled with a variation of Ashley’s name.
[Ashley, Age 10] [Ashley, Age 11]…[Ashley,
Age 25]
Each album was filled with Ashley’s smiling
face from different periods of her life.
<
There weren’t any pictures of me, let alone
him.
Only Ashley.
Just like his heart: always, only Ashley.
I opened his notepad and saw his journal
entries.
[20XX, Sunny. Ashley scraped her leg on a branch. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have planted trees in the yard.]
[20XX, Sunny. Ashley’s getting married today. As long as she’s happy, anything is worth it. I live to make her happy.]
[20XX, Rainy. I got married. When I saw
Ashley at the ceremony, I wished so much
<
that she could be the one standing next to
me.]
The car pulled into the driveway. I looked up at the bare yard, and my whole body turned
cold.
There used to be two peach trees in the yard,
the same ones that Ethan had moved from
my childhood home. My dad had planted them
for me when I was ten.
Whenever I saw them, I felt like Dad was still
here, still watching over me.
But one day, the trees, which had always
been full of peaches, inexplicably rotted at
the roots.
Ethan had held me while I cried for three days
く
and three nights.
Now I knew he’d done it, destroying the last
thing Dad had left me.
A message from his assistant popped up:
[Mr. Blackwood, as per your instructions, your will is ready. All property is to be left to Ms. Ashley Hayes.]
[It’s just waiting for your signature to take
effect.]
I could almost see him through my tears.
The man at my father’s funeral, holding me,
promising me the world.
“Chloe, I’ll give you a home. Everything I have
<
I helped Ethan into bed, didn’t bother taking
off his shoes like I usually did. I turned and went straight to the guest room.
I closed my eyes, but all I could see was his loving face.
The morning sun woke me, and I opened my eyes to Ethan’s gentle gaze.
He leaned over and kissed my forehead.
“Chloe, were you upset last night?
I’m sorry, it was a long night for work and I
had too much to drink. I promise it won’t
happen again.”
He was as affectionate as ever.
<
I managed a “yeah” and pushed him away,
going into the bathroom and washing away
the ghost of his kiss.
Breakfast was laid out on the table. I
would’ve been thrilled before.
After reading his journal?
I couldn’t be happy.
This was all Ashley’s favorite.
The sound of keys jangling came from the
entryway, and Ashley, dressed in a crisp white
dress, strolled in.
She sat down at the table naturally.
く
She smiled at me.
“Chloe, sorry to bother you. Ethan asked me
to come to eat breakfast, since we have a
photo shoot this morning.”
I didn’t say anything, just looked at the
identical keychain in her hand.
Ethan saw my distress. He bent down and
whispered in my ear.
