Reborn in the Outbreak My Husband Stole My Ticket for His First Love

We were supposed to be on our honeymoon.

My husband and I had used our vacation days to travel to Estara, only to walk straight into the outbreak of a new virus. Once infected, you had three months to liveno exceptions.

With no way out, my clearance status earned me the only two return tickets available through the Embassy.

I pressed my hand against my stomachmy baby, not yet three months alongand told my husband, breathless with relief, "Victor, we're not going to die."

But on the day we were supposed to leave, Victor Delgado said, "I gave one of the tickets to Ina. She's seven months pregnant."

Ina Cobb. The girl he'd loved and lost when they were young. His moonlight. The one who got away.

For the sake of the child inside me, I got on my knees and begged him to take the ticket back. He hesitatedone single secondthen refused, his voice cold as stone.

"Ina and her baby need that ticket more. The thing in your belly is barely a month along. That's not even a life."

In the end, I watched him board the plane with Ina while I stayed behind. I died in a foreign country, and my baby died with me.

Then I opened my eyes.

Two tickets. Right there in my hand.

Half an hour ago, I had called the Embassy. Because of my clearance, I'd been granted the only two seats available.

Memories of my past life flashed through my mind like a film reel

Landing on the final frame: me on a freezing hospital bed, a ventilator forced down my throat, dying in despair.

My body reduced to ash. Scattered across foreign soil alongside thousands of others.

I made it back to the hotel twenty minutes earlier than I had in my previous life. And the moment I stepped inside, I heard Victor's voice drifting from the bathroom. He was on the phone.

"Don't be scared, Ina. I'll find a way to get tickets."

"For the baby's sake, you have to stay strong. You're a strong mother. Trust meI won't let you or the baby die."

His voice was gentle. Tender in a way I had never once heard directed at me. On the other end, broken sobs crackled through the speaker.

"Victor... thank you for still being so good to me. If I hadn't been born into that parasitic family, I never would have left you."

Then Ina's voice turned bittersweet. "By the wayyou came to Estara for your honeymoon, didn't you?"

Victor made a small sound of confirmation, then added, almost eagerly, "But I also came to see you. I heard you got divorced. I didn't feel right leaving you here alone."

I sat on the couch with the tickets in my hand and smiled. A cold, brittle smile.

So that was why he'd insisted on Estara out of every country in the world. It was never about me. It was about her.

The joke wrote itself. Before we left, he'd told me Estara was the most romantic destination he could think of. That he wanted to give me a trip I'd never forget. It took dying and coming back to realize every word of it had been a lie.

The bathroom door handle turned. Victor stepped out, saw me, and something flickered behind his eyespanic, sharp and unmistakable. But he smothered it in an instant.

He crossed the room with a smile, sat down beside me, and pulled me into his arms the way he always did, nuzzling into my neck. "Hey, babe. When did you get back?"

Our bodies were pressed together. But where his warmth used to comfort me, now it only made the cold sink deeperstraight into my bones.

I pushed him away, keeping my expression perfectly neutral. "Just now. You came out right as I sat down."

He didn't think twice about it. Didn't notice the shift in my tone. If anything, he looked relieved. Then his voice dropped, heavy and somber.

"Babe... if we can't get out of here, I'll stay and die with you."

I said nothing.

Inside, I was laughing.

When he talked to Ina, he was careful, reassuring, promising her he wouldn't let her die. When he talked to me, the best he could offer was dying together. And in my last life, he hadn't even done thathe'd taken the ticket and boarded the plane with her.

I still remembered the way he'd wrenched his hand free from mine. The performance of agony on his face as he said, "Freya James, I'm my mother's only child. I'm all she hasshe's raised me alone. If I die, she won't survive it. But don't worry. I'll treat your parents like my own."

But he seemed to have forgottenmy parents also had only one child. Me. And I was their late-in-life miracle at that.

My name is Freya James. My parents said they hoped I'd carry virtue in my heart and treasure in my handsthat my name held every ounce of their love.

Who isn't the apple of their parents' eye?

Even now, I didn't dare imagine what my parentsboth nearing seventywould do with their remaining years if I died.

After dinner, Victor made an excuse about going downstairs for a cigarette to clear his head. I stood silently by the window and watched him hail a car and disappear into the distance.

In the hollow emptiness of the hotel room, the news broadcast rattled off the daily death toll. "Twenty-one confirmed fatalities from the virus today..."

The anchor read the numbers in a flat, clinical tone, but I knew all too well the agony each life behind those numbers endured while waiting for death.

Day one of infection brought unbearable itching across the entire body. Day two, the skin erupted in sores.

Those sores burned and oozed pus, and by day three, your organs felt like they were being gnawed apart from the inside. That bone-deep, flesh-tearing pain didn't stop until the moment you drew your last breath.

The thought made me press my hand to my stomach. "Sweet baby," I whispered. "Next time around, pick a good mommy and daddy, okay? I can't... keep you. Mommy doesn't want you born into a broken family."

After all, Mommy grew up in a home that was whole and full of lovedouble the love. I want that for you too.

Before I knew it, I'd drifted off. When I woke, it was to the shrill ring of my phone. I glanced at the screen. Dad.

The second I picked up, his choked voice came through. "Freya, sweetheartI saw on the news that Estara has a virus outbreak, and all the flights have been grounded. Don't be scared, baby girl. Daddy's buying a ticket right now. I'm coming to you."

Then Mom's voice broke through on the other end, thick with tears she was trying to swallow.

"You're buying mine too, old man. You think you're the only one who misses her?"

"Your health isn't good. Just stay home and wait for good news. I'll bring our girl back safe and sound."

"Absolutely not. We go together or not at all. And if we can't come backthen at least we die together."

Listening to my normally gentle, soft-spoken parents argue because of me, my eyes quietly burned. To keep them from worrying, I swallowed the tremor in my voice and rushed to say, "Mom, Daddon't worry. I called the Embassy. The government arranged a return ticket for me. I'll be home tomorrow."

The moment Mom heard that, she snatched the phone. "Really? Oh, thank God! Your father and I will be at the airport to pick you up."

I wiped my tears and managed a smile. "You can't. I have an assignment when I get back. Just stay home and wait for me."

After I hung up, I realized Victor had come back at some point without me noticing.

He was staring at me, face lit up with barely contained hope. "Freyayou got a ticket?"

I'd called the Embassy while he was around. Thinking back on it now, the calm confidence he'd shown while reassuring Ina was probably because he'd already calculated that I could secure a ticket.

Since he already knew, there was no point hiding it. But when I opened my mouth, I said it deliberately:

"I did get a ticket. But there's only one."

The hope in his eyes guttered out instantly. He was silent for a few seconds, then his brow furrowed and his voice turned urgent. "One? How can they only give you one? Didn't you tell them you have family with you?"

"Talk to them again. Get them to make an exception. Someone like youa national herothere's no way they'd refuse you a second ticket."

He wasn't wrong about that. Life-saving tickets were allocated for spouses and family members too.

So when I'd explained the situation to the Embassy, they hadn't hesitated for a second.

They gave me two return tickets.

But faced with Victor's suspicion, I held firm.

"The more dire things get, the harder tickets are to come by. The people boarding these flights are mostly top-tier professionals serving the country."

He listened without committing one way or another. Seeing his silence, I pressed deliberately.

"Honey, don't you want me to go home? You know how many lives someone with my expertise could save."

He snapped back to attention and forced a smile. "I... of course I want you to go back."

In the middle of the night, I pretended to be asleep. Sure enough, he crept out of bed and started rummaging for the ticket.

I hadn't made it hard to findit was right in the box on the nightstand. But I'd hidden my real one. Since Victor already believed I'd only managed to get a single ticket, he didn't suspect a thing.

The moment he had it in hand, he slipped into the bathroom and dialed a number.

"Ina, I got the ticket from Freya. You can go through the special channel and board the plane tomorrow."

"Really? Oh, Victor, thank Godmy baby and I aren't going to die after all."

Her laughter spilled through the receiver, and he couldn't help but smile along with her.

After the initial rush of excitement faded, Ina seemed to remember something. Her voice turned urgent.

"Victor, are you coming with me? I want... I want you to be my baby's father."

In my previous life, he would have jumped at those wordsit had been his greatest regret, the thing he'd never gotten to have. But now, knowing there was only one ticket, his voice turned bitter.

"Ina, don't worry about me. If I survive this, I'll come back and marry you."

"Someone as valuable as Freya couldn't have only gotten one ticket, right? Just talk to herget her to give you hers. Once you and I are out, the government will recognize her skills and issue her another one."

I lay in the dark, listening to every word. So that was her plan.

The same scheme as last timethe two of them flying off together, leaving me to die alone in a foreign country.

Victor could only sigh. "She really did only get one. But don't worry about me. Maybe I'll get lucky. Maybe I'll hold out until they develop a cure."

Ina burst into tears. Victor murmured soft reassurances until she calmed down, then finally came back to bed.

After the lights went out, he wrapped his arms around me from behind and whispered, "I'm sorry, Freya. I'll... stay with you. Even if it means dyingconsider it my way of making it up to you."

A chill crawled across my skin. My heart stung like it was being pricked by a thousand needles.

Victor and I had met through a matchmaker, nothing more. But after we married, he'd been attentive, gentle, romanticeverything I'd ever wanted in a husband. I'd fallen for him, slowly and completely. When all flights were grounded, I'd been ready to live or die by his side.

But his lovehis real hearthad never belonged to me. Not even a sliver of it.

Fine, then. In this life, the agony of being separated by death could be his burden to bear alone.

The next morning, Victor was already gone when I woke up.

I let out a cold laugh, packed my bags in silence, grabbed my ticket, and hailed a cab to the airport.

Half an hour later, I stepped out of the car with my luggageand froze.

Victor and Ina were locked in an embrace, their lips pressed together.

"If you can't bear to let her go, Victor, why not just have her stay and keep you company?"

My voice cut through the air like a tripwire. They sprang apart as if electrocuted.

"Freyahowwhat are you doing here?"

Victor's eyes went wide, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides as he stared at me.

I folded my arms and looked right at him.

"If I didn't come, how would I get to watch this little show?"

Ina's expression shifted instantly to one of fear, and she tugged at Victor's sleeve.

"Victor..."

He snapped back to his senses and patted her hand reassuringly, then turned to me with a frown.

"Freya, this is all my fault. It has nothing to do with Ina. I'm the one who stole the ticket."

"I'm sure you can tellIna's pregnant."

I followed his gaze to her belly. She was indeed pregnantsix or seven months along, by the look of it.

Victor noticed where my eyes had landed and rushed to explain, as if afraid I'd get the wrong idea.

"Don't misunderstand. There's nothing between Ina and me. The baby isn't mine. I just felt sorry for her, being alone in a foreign country with no one to look after her. That's the only reason I took your ticket."

His voice softened then, and he looked at me with those gentle eyes of his.

"Freya, I've always known you're a kind person. You understand why I did it, right?"

"Think about ityou only had one ticket. If you board that plane, that's one life saved. But if Ina takes it, that ticket saves two lives. You're in medicine. You know what it means to have a healer's heart. I think you'd be willing to make that choice."

The words nearly burst out of me: What about me? I'm pregnant too!

But I swallowed them. In my last life, he'd already proven that even knowing I was carrying his child, he would choose Ina and her baby without a second's hesitation.

"But Freya, don't be scared. I'll stay with you. Life or death, I'll be right here beside you. Just give this chance to Ina and her child, okay?"

Listening to his plea, I smiled faintly.

"Sure. She can have it. Consider it my good deed for the day."

Relief flooded both their faces. Victor let out a breath and reached for my arm. I stepped out of his reach.

He faltered for a moment, then dropped his hand. "Freya, let's go. I'll explain everything when we get back."

He turned to Ina with an aching look. "Go on, get on the plane. Take care of yourself when you get home."

Ina cradled her round belly, eyes rimming red, voice thick with tears.

"Victor... when the baby's born, I'll give him your last name. Your mother will be his grandmother. I'll treat Mrs. Delgado like my own mother."

"Thank you, Ina. That puts my mind at ease. Tell my mom... I'll repay her for raising me in the next life."

I watched this little performance with cold eyes. The irony was suffocating. Thank God I'd been given a second chance. This time, I wouldn't put my parents through that kind of grief again.

Just as Ina wiped her tears and started toward the gate, glancing back every other step, I picked up my luggage and walked in the same direction.

Victor froze. He grabbed my arm. "Freyayou're going the wrong way."

I shook him off, my voice ice. "You want to die? Die alone. I plan on living."

"You don't have a ticket. How are you going to get through?"

Seeing the confusion on his face, I stopped pretending. I reached into my bag and pulled out a boarding pass.