Reborn on the Day My Parents Divorced

The day my parents got divorced, I pushed away my loving mother and clung desperately to my cheating scumbag father's leg.

In my previous life, I chose my mother without hesitation.

But because the family wouldn't accept me, I dragged her down to a lifetime of scorn and suffering.

This lifetime, looking at my mother Diana Smith's heartbroken eyes, I left without looking back.

Five years later, I was gutting fish in a damp, stinking seafood market to make ends meet.

As I skillfully sliced open a dead fish's belly.

My mother walked over in high heels, carefully avoiding the dirty water on the ground.

She covered her nose in disgust, looking at my filthy clothes with a cold laugh:

"That disgusting fish stench that won't wash offis this the result of abandoning me back then?"

"The crazy billionaire heir of the Godfrey family wants to form a marriage alliance with us now."

"As long as you kneel and beg me, I'll let you live the good life. How about that?"

"You know I always mean what I say."

Hearing the disdain in her words, I swallowed the bloody taste in my throat and put on a cheeky smile as I moved closer:

"Not only will I not kneel, but you have to kiss me first."

Even just once would be enough to get me through the remaining month.

"Quinn Hart, my patience is limited. You'd better quit while you're ahead."

My mother spoke coldly.

I didn't budge, staring straight at her.

This might be my last chance to be this close to her.

I leaned my face even closer.

Her brow furrowed, a flash of offended anger in her eyes.

She raised her hand as if to slap me away, but eventually lowered her arm.

We were locked in a standoff for a full minute.

The housewives around us shopping for groceries gathered to watch.

Unable to stand the onlookers' gazes, my mother compromised.

Her eyes swept over my face covered in fish scales:

"Too dirty. Go wash your face clean."

A surge of secret joy rose in my heart, though I kept my shameless, carefree expression on the surface.

I rinsed the grime off my face and brought it close to hers again.

"All clean now, Miss Smithplease inspect."

She closed her eyes, held her breath, and touched my cheek extremely quickly.

Then her face turned completely cold as she turned to leave:

"Follow me."

As we walked out of the market, the butcher from the neighboring stall poked his head out.

"Quinn, closing up early today?"

"Who's this rich lady? Here to buy fish from you?"

I waved at him.

"Not doing this anymoreoff to be a rich kid now."

"Uncle, the leftover fish are yours!"

Diana, walking ahead, paused in her steps, the coldness on her face deepening.

She sneered:

"Five years apart, and you've completely fallen into a money pit."

"Back then when you followed that good father of yours, I thought you two could accomplish something earth-shattering."

I didn't argue back, obediently following her into the Rolls-Royce parked by the roadside.

The car's interior was filled with a faint woody fragrance.

My mother leaned back in the passenger seat, her gaze passing over me to look out the window.

In a flat tone, she began describing her current status:

"I've acquired basically all the competing companies on the market."

"Even if you worked your whole life, you couldn't earn what I make in interest in a single day."

But she didn't mention a word about how she'd reached this point over the past five years.

I knew how much scorn we'd endured in the family in my previous life.

Looking at her exquisite but exhausted profile, I felt genuinely happy for her.

She finally didn't have to relive the misery of her previous life.

When she finished, I calmly replied: "Oh."

That single flippant word infuriated her.

She whipped her head around, staring at me hard.

"I shouldn't have had any expectations of you."

"You're hopeless mud that can't stick to a wallnot a single brain cell in your head."

The pressure in the car plummeted.

She turned away, showing me the back of her head, completely refusing to communicate.

After the car drove for a while, I broke the stalemate:

"What's the marriage partner's name? I should at least know who my meal ticket is, right?"

"In case it's some seventy or eighty-year-old geezer, I need to prepare quick-acting heart pills in advance."

She kept her eyes closed, not even wanting to look at me:

"Caspian Godfrey. Around your age."

I froze instantly, my heartbeat skipping.

Caspian Godfrey?

Wasn't that my ex's name?

No, it had to be an illusion or someone with the same name.

Back when we were together, he was just an ordinary medical student. How could he be the heir of the Godfrey family?

I leaned back in my seat, my mind buzzing.

The car smoothly entered a luxurious hillside estate.

When my mother led me into the main hall, quite a few people had already gathered inside.

Elegant piano music echoed through the air.

I recognized several familiar faces at a glance.

Those relatives who had mocked and even kicked us when we were down in my previous life.

Now they all fawned around her, having become her subordinates.

When their gazes fell on my hoodie reeking of fish, they didn't bother hiding the contempt and mockery in their eyes.

My aunt Linda covered her nose and exaggeratedly stepped back two paces.

"Diana, is this that girl of yours who followed her gambling deadbeat father?"

"That smell on her could knock someone out."

"Anyone who didn't know better would think some beggar broke in here."

My mother looked at me sideways.

I knew she wanted to see self-consciousness and shame on my face.

Even tears of regret for not choosing her back then.

Since she wanted to see it, I'd play along.

I looked around awkwardly, like a clueless clown, and moved closer to Linda.

Linda's face paled in fright as she kept backing away:

"Go, go, go! So filthy! Don't touch my clothesyou can't afford to pay for them!"

My mother watched my actions, the disgust in her eyes deepening.

She looked away, the corners of her mouth lifting in a smile of satisfied revenge.

"Take her upstairs."

After giving instructions to a nearby servant, my mother turned to socialize.

I was left alone in a spacious guest room on the second floor.

The servant pointed to the dress on the bed and said expressionlessly:

"Madam wants you to clean yourself up and change into new clothes."

After the door closed, I let out a long breath.

Walking to the mirror, I pulled off my hoodie.

My skin was covered with wounds of all sizes.

These were marks left from five years of struggling at the bottom with my scumbag father.

When he got drunk, he'd get violent, and I could only endure it.

I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

Warm water washed over my exhausted body, taking away the fishy smell.

Just then, a sharp pain pierced through the depths of my mind.

I bent over in agony, my hands gripping the edge of the sink.

My vision began to blur.

A strong taste of blood surged from deep in my throat.

I opened my mouth and spat blood into the basin.

I gasped for breath, skillfully turning on the faucet.

Washing away the blood traces until they were completely clean.

I raised my head, looking at my deathly pale face in the mirror, forcing out an ugly smile.

Time was running out, but I had to hold on a little longer.

As long as my mother could be well, it didn't matter if I rotted in the mud.

Just as I was steadying my breathing, a knock came from outside.

I quickly wiped away the cold sweat at the corners of my mouth.

Rapidly pulled on the dress and hurried to open the door.

Outside stood a little girl in a princess dress.

About seven or eight years old, delicate as a porcelain doll.

She looked up at me, staring for quite a while.

"Quinn, you're so pretty, but you look so weak."

I crouched down to meet her eyes, showing a gentle smile:

"It's okay, big sister just hasn't eaten yet."

"How come you're here all by yourself?"

She didn't answer my question but tilted her head curiously instead:

"What's your relationship with Diana? I saw her bring you in earlier."

I lowered my gaze, my voice very soft:

"I'm Diana's daughter."

The little girl blinked, then suddenly smiled:

"I'm also Diana's daughter!"

My heart skipped a beat, dense waves of sourness spreading through my chest.

She had a new daughter now?

That was good. At least someone would be there for her in the future.

But why did my heart hurt so much?

Just as my nose began to sting, the little girl added another sentence:

"But I'm adopted though."

"Mom said she used to have a daughter, but she didn't want her anymore."

I froze for a moment.

This was for the best.

In my previous life, because the family wouldn't accept me, she suffered half a lifetime of hardship.

This lifetime, she finally had a clean, unblemished daughter.

I patted her head.

The little girl tugged at the corner of my dress, pointing down the hallway:

"Mom told me to bring you to meet your future husband."

I followed the little girl down the corridor, my heart racing.

What kind of person was the crazy heir of the Godfrey family?

Could it really be him?

Someone as cold and aloof as he washow could he have become the "crazy" person others described?

The little girl stopped in front of a wooden door, waved, and ran off.

I stared at that door, my heart pounding incessantly.

I pushed it open.

A tall, slender man stood by the window.

Hearing the sound, he turned around.

That familiar, cold, hard face instantly crashed into my line of sight.

It really was Caspian Godfrey.

He was more mature than five years ago, and colder.

The moment I saw him, memories flooded back of when I'd heartlessly dumped him.

Even telling him he was a pauper who couldn't give me a future.

I instinctively turned to flee.

"Where are you running!"

He reacted extremely fast, crossing the distance in a few strides.

He grabbed my wrist and yanked me into the room.

The door locked heavily behind us.

He threw me onto the sofa, looking down at me from above, his eyes full of mockery:

"You walked away without a second thought back then, and now that you see I've become the Godfrey heir, you're feeling guilty?"

I opened my mouth to speak.

But his violent movement had aggravated my fragile nerves.

A fierce dizziness struck.

The world before my eyes instantly twisted and went black.

I didn't even have time to explain before completely losing consciousness.

I don't know how long passed before a cold touch jolted me awake.

I struggled to open my eyes.

Caspian was sitting on the edge of the sofa, two fingers resting on the pulse at my wrist.

His face was extremely grim. Seeing me wake up, his voice was cold and piercing:

"Quinn, what's wrong with your body?"

I looked at his tense face, knowing I couldn't hide it.

He was studying medicinefive years ago he was already a prodigy at medical school.

Even with just a simple pulse check, there was no way he couldn't detect how desperately weak my pulse was.

I calmly pulled my hand back.

Smoothing out my wrinkled dress, I met his gaze.

"Brain cancer. Late stage."

His body shook violently, the coldness in his eyes instantly shattering.

I ignored his shock and continued:

"Caspian Godfrey, I agree to the marriage alliance."

"But I have one condition. After we're married, you can't tell my mother about any of my movements."

Caspian stared at me intently.

His chest heaved violently, his hands clenched into tight fists.

I looked at his pale face, thinking he would lose his temper.

But he said nothing.

He gazed at my bloodless face for a long time, then slowly closed his eyes.

Hiding all his emotions.

His voice was hoarse:

"Okay."

My tense nerves finally relaxed.

I'm sorry.

I can only let you bear this pain.

But my mother is different.

I'm not afraid of my mother hating me, but I'm afraid of her worrying about me.

Hatred is better than worry.

After I die, my mother will have my adopted sister with her.

She'll only think her vain, greedy daughter is better off far away.

I looked at Caspian and said to him sincerely and calmly:

"Thank you."

When I walked down the stairs on Caspian Godfrey's arm, more than half the guests in the hall had dispersed.

The few remaining relatives saw Caspian and immediately put on fawning expressions.

But when they looked at me, they still couldn't hide the contempt in their eyes.

My mother sat in the main seat on the sofa, holding a glass of red wine.

Her gaze paused for a second on our clasped hands, her expression inscrutable.

I couldn't read her expression, only knew that when she opened her mouth, every word still had thorns.

"Since Caspian Godfrey has taken a liking to you, this hopeless case is yours now."

My mother's gaze turned to me.

"Quinn, when you get to the Godfrey family, don't use my name to embarrass yourself."

Her tone was cutting to the extreme, carrying thick vengeful satisfaction.

I forcefully suppressed the waves of stabbing pain in my mind.

Putting on a carefree smile.

"Don't worry, Miss Smith."

"I'll definitely cling to the Godfrey family tree for dear life, absolutely won't come leeching off your glory."

"After all, I'm going off to be a rich wife now."

My mother's hand holding the wine glass trembled slightly.

She turned her face away, coldly spitting out two words:

"Get lost."

The moment I turned around, the tumor in my brain frantically compressed every nerve.

The severe pain made everything go black, and I could barely stand.

The familiar bloody taste in my throat surged up again, rushing toward my mouth.

I bit down hard on my back molars, pressing all my weight onto Caspian Godfrey's arm.

In a voice only the two of us could hear, I trembled as I begged:

"Caspian... take me away. Hurry."

I couldn't collapse here.

I absolutely couldn't let my mother see me half-dead like this.

I had to play the role of a greedy, heartless social climber to the end, make her completely give up on me.

Caspian sensed my distress and gripped my hand in return.

He turned his head and said to those behind us:

"We're leaving."

Then he half-hugged, half-supported me by the waist, leading me out at a faster pace.

The night wind outside the estate was cold, carrying the bone-chilling cold of late autumn.

The black Maybach was parked right at the bottom of the steps.

Just a few more steps.

As soon as I got in the car, I could pass out without restraint, wouldn't have to force myself anymore.

But just then, urgent high-heel footsteps came from behind.

My mother had followed us out at some point.

"Quinn!"

"Back then you abandoned me for that gambling father, and now you're latching onto the Godfrey family."

"A selfish, rotten-to-the-core person like you doesn't deserve anyone's genuine heart!"

"Once you leave through that door, even if you die outside, I won't spare you another glance!"

I stopped in my tracks, my heart feeling as if it were being squeezed by a hand, the pain making it impossible to breathe.

I wanted to turn back and look at her one more time.

Even just one last look at the mother I'd fought so hard to protect.

But the moment I turned my head, the bloody sweetness in my throat could no longer be suppressed.

"Ugh!"

A large mouthful of fresh blood gushed out.

The severe pain completely stripped away my consciousness.

In the last second before I collapsed.

In my line of sight was my mother's face instantly pale as paper, and her figure rushing toward me in a loss of control.