Regret it?

Watching her storm away, my mind drifted back to the first time around.

In my previous life, Jenna and I got married.

It was good, for a while.

But in the end, time wore us down.

Right before we were reborn, we had a massive fight.

The trigger was her wanting to move across the country for a new job opportunity, while I was determined to stay local and keep building my company.

Jenna was in a full-blown meltdown, throwing glasses, smashing the TV.

I rubbed my temples, trying to stay calm.

"If you move to New York, what about your parents?"

Jenna was an only child.

I was an orphan.

Her parents didn’t want her to leave.

That's a big reason why I’d stayed in our hometown with her in the first place.

Around that time, a friend had pitched a startup idea to me.

So I went for it.

The startup life was a grind.

But to be with Jenna, to give her a better life, no amount of work was too much.

And her parents were amazing to me; they treated me like their own son.

I treasured that family more than anything.

But happy times never seem to last.

Ever since Jenna got back from a trip to New York with her friends, she'd been obsessed with leaving our city.

She was convinced that if she’d moved right after graduation, her career would be miles ahead of where it was.

The thing is, we weren't doing badly at all.

We had a house, a car, and over a hundred grand in savings.

But for her, it wasn't enough.

Jenna glared at me, her eyes red.

"Don't you dare use my parents to guilt me!"

"They don't need us to take care of them right now! They have pensions!"

"And worst-case scenario! If they get sick, we can move them out to us, or I can take time off and come back!"

She made it sound so simple.

Time off? Like it was that easy to get.

I tried to reason with her, to talk her down, but she cut me off before I could even get a sentence out.

"Liam! I'm asking you one last time! Are you coming with me or are you staying!"

"Because if you're not coming, we're getting a divorce!"

I was stunned.

I never thought she would actually choose some fantasy life in a big city over me.

"Jenna, why do you have to go to New York?"

I just didn't get it.

She laughed, a cold, bitter sound.

"Do you really think we've made anything of ourselves here?"

"Even if you don't care about your own future, even if you're content to just coast, what about our kids? Do you want them to end up just like you?"

Her words finally made me snap, and I laughed right back at her.

"How is building a business from the ground up 'coasting'?"

"Jenna, a good life isn't just about squeezing yourself into the biggest city you can find! What we have here is good..."

"Enough!"

Jenna didn't want to hear it.

"If you won't go, I will!"

"I never should have let you get into that stupid startup in the first place."

"All this work, and for what? You can't even hold a candle to Nathan!"

She muttered the last part under her breath as she started packing.

It wasn't the first time I'd heard her say things like that.

I'd always told myself she was just venting, that she didn't mean it.

But then I thought about it.

You don't say something a hundred times if it isn't the truth.

Later, she dragged her suitcase out and got into a cab. I followed close behind in my car.

I don't know what happened with the cab driver, but he swerved and slammed head-on into an oncoming truck.

Jenna was in the crash.

I sprinted to the car to pull her out.

But during the rescue attempt.

The car exploded.

When I woke up.

We were both reborn.

We never talked about a future together.

She ignored her family's objections and took off for the big city with Nathan.

And just like in my first life, I stayed.

My reasons for staying had changed, though.

But my mindset was the same.

Once I make a choice, I don't look back.