My name was Kenneth Dickinson. In my previous life, Nina Palmer and I were seen as a loving couple by everyone.
We were together for five years and never had a fight. We were the envy of the company.
But they didn't know that even though we had lived together for five years, we had never had any intimate behavior.
She had always loved Pierce White, her ex-boyfriend who had cancer. She chose to be with me only because my income could afford his medical expenses.
In my new life, I decided not to be a simp anymore.
***
"Kenneth, Pierce is going to the hospital for chemotherapy today. Can you lend me some money again?"
Before I could recover from the fact of being reborn, Nina called me.
Just like in my previous life, every time she contacted me, it was because of Pierce's treatment, and she needed to borrow money from me.
She called it borrowing, but she never paid it back.
"Nina, I'm tired. I've thought it through. Pierce is seriously ill, and he needs you more than I do. Let's break up."
After I finished speaking, I hung up the phone for the first time.
I stood in front of the mirror in a daze for a long time before accepting the fact that I was reborn.
All the past events came back to me.
In my previous life, Nina and Pierce broke up under pressure from her parents.
In the second month after their breakup, I, who had been pursuing Nina for three years, finally became her official boyfriend.
During these three years, Nina had always been distant from me.
She said she was a bit slow-moving and took relationships very seriously. She needed time to know whether my love for her was real.
I thought I had met the right person.
But I didn't know that from beginning to end, she only saw me as Pierce's substitute.
On the first day of living together, I carefully prepared a candlelight dinner and 99 roses, wanting to surprise her.
But when Nina saw all this, she was very indifferent. After putting down her luggage, she said that a friend of hers was seriously ill and had no family in the local area, so she had to go and take care of him.
At that time, I didn't know that this so-called friend was her ex-boyfriend Pierce.
I even thought that it was some close girlfriend of hers.
I graciously lent her my car and told her not to feel guilty and that her friend's illness was more important.
She didn't even lift her head. She took the keys, thanked me, and left without looking back.
It wasn't until the next morning that she came back looking exhausted.
"My friend is seriously ill. It's cancer. He's depressed and vulnerable, and he needs someone to be with him. I have to go to the hospital for a few days to be there for him. I hope you can understand."
I still vividly remembered Nina's expression at that time.
As she calmly said the words "my friend", her eyes revealed her concern and distress for Pierce, and she didn't feel guilty toward me at all.
She didn't give a damn about the candlelight dinner and surprise I had prepared for her last night.
What did I do back then?
I brought a freshly made breakfast to her and said with a smile, "When you're sick, you're the most vulnerable. I get it."
When we went to Nina's parents' house for dinner, and they asked when we would get married, Nina fell silent. On the contrary, I smiled and smoothed things over, saying that she was too busy with work, and we had yet found the time.
Since then, whenever she couldn't hide her connection with Pierce from her parents, she'd ask me to cover for her.
We had been living together for five years. In her eyes, I had always been a generous, considerate, sensible boyfriend who never caused her trouble and never bothered her, and I also provided financial support at any time.
I didn't know if she was sad for me when she heard the news of my death in a car accident. I'd be glad if she was sad just for a second.
It took a long, long time for me to finally feel less uncomfortable when I breathed.
Being together and sharing hardships with Pierce were her wishes in my previous life, weren't they?
I'd fulfill her wishes.
I'd like to see if she actually got to be with Pierce, whether she could stay with him for the rest of her life.
"Pierce has cancer. I have told you many times how painful the treatment process is. There is no one he can rely on in this city. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to beg me while putting his dignity as a man aside. And you're breaking up with me at this critical moment? What are you, a monster?"
Nina called me again. I could imagine her expression right now just by listening to her voice.
Chapter 2I supposed she must be frowning and angry now.
She had told me how painful Pierce's battle with cancer was.
It was very inspiring.
But what did it have to do with me?
Soon, Nina sent me a video on WhatsApp.
In the video, Pierce's face was full of pain, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. He gritted his teeth to endure the pain of treatment, while she patiently and gently peeled an orange for him. She even removed the threads on the orange segments meticulously.
In the five years we had been together, she had never done this for me.
In my past life, I had always been tolerant of her, always understanding how painful it was for Pierce to have cancer, but who had ever been there for me?
For a whole five years, they stood on the moral high ground and oppressed me.
They made me understand their difficulties and made me sacrifice myself unconditionally.
Even in the end, I died in a car accident on the spot while rushing to deliver medicine to Pierce.
Pierce's cancer was not caused by me, and I wasn't his blood relative. I had no responsibility or obligation to dedicate myself to his illness.
"I'm a monster? Nina, we have been together for five years. Have you ever made any sacrifices for me? I endured it when you went to accompany him on the day we moved to a new house, but I have been enduring it for so many years. I don't want to endure it anymore. Let's break up. I beg you to spare me and spare yourself."
I had been enduring it in my previous life, and I never thought of breaking up even when I was dying.
I understood why Nina reacted like this.
After all, as far as she was concerned, my request for a breakup came out of the blue.
And there were no signs.
After ending the call with Nina, I drove back home.
"Kenneth! You're back, finally! Didn't you say you were going to discuss marriage with Nina at her parents' house at noon? Why did you come back alone?"
My mother was having lunch. When she saw me, she quickly put down her fork and went into the kitchen to fix something for me.
"Mom, I miss you so much."
In my previous life, my mother also had cancer. But she kept it from me.
She didn't even go to the hospital, enduring the pain silently at home.
Then her illness broke out completely, and she kept coughing up blood. Only then did she smile and tell me the password of her bank card. She even reminded me not to tell Nina because Nina was busy with work.
She didn't want to disturb us until her death.
And the last thing she wanted was for us to see her suffering from the illness. No matter how uncomfortable she was, she always told me with a smile that she was fine.
Because she loved me wholeheartedly.
What about Pierce?
He had cancer, and every time he went to the hospital, he always brought Nina with him.
Sometimes, he even recorded himself pretending to be strong while undergoing chemotherapy and posted videos on various social platforms. He'd attach inspirational words, making the others think he was an optimistic cancer fighter.
When people saw him in such a difficult situation, they couldn't help but sympathize, pity, and admire his positive and cheerful attitude.
In my previous life, I saw many videos with similar words from Pierce on Nina's phone.
The tougher he pretended to be, the more it showed how fragile he was in real life.
In addition to chemotherapy, Pierce asked Nina for help when it came to practically everything, including buying water, daily groceries, and other stuff.
Although Nina was my girlfriend, Pierce felt perfectly justified in bossing her around.
The security guards in Pierce's community once thought that Nina was his wife.
"What's wrong with you today, Kenneth? Why are you suddenly so sentimental?"
Chapter 3My mom smiled and patted my back, just like when I was a child.
We ate together.
Thinking about her illness in my previous life, I ignored her objections and got her an appointment with the best hospital in town.
I suddenly was a bit thankful that in my previous life, Nina dragged me to accompany Pierce for treatment. Therefore, now I was very familiar with which department my mom should go to, and which specialist she should see.
What surprised me was that a few minutes later, Nina knocked on my mom's door with fruits in her hands.
This was the first time she brought gifts to my mom's house.
"Nina, why didn't you tell us that you were coming? I could have come down to pick you up. And what's with the fruits? Have you eaten? I'll fix you something I'm good at."
My mom didn't know that I had already broken up with Nina, so she was very enthusiastic when she saw Nina.
She warmly entertained Nina, put on an apron, and was about to go into the kitchen.
"Mom, don't bother. We have something to do, so we'll leave."
I didn't want my mom to be too tired, so I directly pulled Nina out of my mom's house.
We got in the car.
"Kenneth, let's talk."
"What about? That you don't love me at all? Or how affectionate you and Pierce are for each other? Or how you broke up with him because of your parents' pressure?"
I sneered.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly being unreasonable? You were never like this."
Nina angrily questioned me.
She was angry and a bit out of control. This rarely happened during the five years we were together in my previous life.
In front of me, she was always calm and indifferent.
She was never too happy or angry. She was sometimes like a walking dead without any emotions.
"Because in the past, I was pretending. Now I'm tired. I used to naively believe that as long as I silently was nice to you and showed tolerance and magnanimity, one day you would really love me.
"But now I know how naive I was. So, I'm being honest with you. No more acting. I want to break up with you. It's not a joke, and I'm not saying this in a fit of pique. I'm serious. I'm as serious as when I pursued you back then."
I said calmly.
I was just like the way she used to face me.
I was not angry at all. I was calm without any emotions.
I would soon regain my freedom. Without that car accident, I should be able to live a peaceful life.
Once my mother's condition stabilized, I wanted to take her on a trip around the world.
I was full of expectations for the future.
"Is it because I rejected you last night? Can you give me a little more time?"
Nina thought about it and figured that the reason why I was acting so strangely today was because I was rejected again last night when I tried to seek intimacy.
"Nina, I'm in so much pain, I can't bear it. I feel so miserable being alive, and I feel like I'm about to die. I want to see you."
Pierce's phone call came in.
Nina reflexively pressed the answer button.
"If it hurts so much, you should call 911. You're about to die, and you're not gonna see your parents? Why do you want to see someone else's girlfriend? Oh, right, she is already my ex-girlfriend now. You can be together openly from now on."
I took her phone and said.