Reborn, Reawakened, Rekindled novel Chapter 100

There were seven photos, each featuring a girl. The first four were her and Neil, under cherry blossom trees, on lover's bridge, and with a Ferris wheel. They were wearing matching outfits and grinning like they had won the lottery. The next two were a stark contrast, filled with sorrow. She was crying in a selfie, and her wrist was stained with blood. The last one was the worst. It was a corpse, presumably drowned. Soaked to the bone and tangled in seaweed, her skin was pale and bloated.

It took me a few minutes to regain my bearings, and my voice was shaky, "Mom, who is she?"

"Ever seen anyone who looks like her?" Faith gently shot back another question.

I nodded. Yeah, Bonnie was practically her doppelganger.

Faith put the photos away, sighing, "Irene, her name is Karina, a girl Neil once had a thing for."

"Mom, spill it. What's this got to do with me?" I was starting to freak out.

With Faith filling me in, I learned that there was more to Neil than I knew. Turned out that it was around graduation when I and my buddies, like Stella, were away for an internship. That was the only time I was away from Neil that long, trying to find something to chat about online every day. I remembered how Neil changed his Facebook background to a cartoon peach, which threw me into a tizzy, fearing he was in love.

My gut was right.

Neil met Karina during that time, the first girl he really fell for. It was different from his past flings; he was serious about Karina, but his family was dead against it.

Neil's grandpa was seriously ill, and wanting to see Neil get married, they set out to find a suitable match. They thought I was a good fit. When I learned I was to marry Neil, I didn't hesitate to say yes, which only fueled the Whitmore family's opposition to Karina.

"Why didn't you tell me then?" I asked.

"We were adamant about keeping Neil and Karina apart. We thought since they hadn't been together long, once he agreed to marry you, they'd drift apart. But that girl..." Faith's eyes were filled with regret and guilt.

Now I know why Neil was so mean on our wedding night, every word was a stab in my heart. And his promise that I would regret marrying him and suffer my whole life finally made sense. The girl he loved killed herself by jumping into a river on our wedding day.

"Irene." Faith's face was pale, "I know it was wrong to keep you in the dark; you had a right to know. But we were desperate, and by the time she jumped, you and Neil were already married. It was too late."

My heart sank, and my smile was bitter, "I got it."

I stood up, and grabbed my coat, "Can I get a lift home? I need to clear my head."

Faith sighed, helpless, "Irene, I'm telling you this hoping you'll reconsider Neil. It's our fault for being so harsh back then. Neil's a victim too."

"Mm." I didn't want to talk, so I just nodded.

Soon, someone Faith arranged drove me back to Rosemont. My emotions were all over the place as my mind filled with memories of the past.

Turned out, Faith knew how Neil felt about me but wouldn't tell me what happened, making me believe it was my fault.

Turned out, Neil had someone he loved. Karina was his true love, and Bonnie was just a stand-in.

Turned out, I'm the joke, clueless about why Neil kept hurting me.

Turned out, I'm not even the second lead in this story.