original

Rebirth: Taming My Tyrant Husband

Capítulo 1: What A Dumb Way To Die

Rosie closed the novel she had read. Her face was wet with tears. A pink cover with lots of floral carvings didn't guarantee that the book would have a happy ending.

"Screw you, Aslan!" cursed Rosie, spilling all her annoyance. Her breath hitched, feeling hurt because the ending of the story was full of tragedy.

"How dare you, immoral second lead! You savage human!"

Rosie threw the book 'Love You Until The End' on the floor which was covered in tissue soaked with her tears. Seeing her messy apartment room, Rosie immediately got up to clean it again.

Even though she was in a bad mood, being a single 32-year-old woman didn't make her a lazy person. It was precisely because she lived alone that Rosie did all the chores by herself; cooking, shopping, washing clothes, and even fixing a leaky faucet. She was used to being independent, in whatever mood she was in.

She looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 11 pm. She had to go to bed soon because tomorrow she had to work in the morning. After throwing away all the tissues and tidying her bed, Rosie checked her phone one last time.

There was a message from her office friend, Bryan. Rosie's smile curved up because she had secretly liked Bryan since she was transferred to his division.

"Hey, Ro! Can you come to the office early tomorrow? I have something to say ;)"

"Sure!"

"Thank you, Ro! Meet me in the lobby, okay?"

Rosie was beaming with happiness. Her face brightened even more. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that Bryan would confess his feelings tomorrow. Some of his other colleagues had hinted that Bryan also liked her.

The proof was that the man had asked her to go watch movies together several times, and he always sat near her during the lunch break.

Rosie had never been in a relationship. During school and college, she focused on pursuing her academics and from her early 20s, Rosie was too occupied in the world of her novels. Within ten years, she even had a wall full of novel collections.

Rosie quickly took a plastic ice cube and fell asleep while compressing her eyes. She wanted to look beautiful for tomorrow. That night, Rosie forgot her heartache about the tragic ending of the novel 'Love You Until The End'.

The next day, Rosie woke up very refreshed. She smiled proudly, seeing her eyes didn't look puffy. After putting on her best outfit, Rosie put on thicker make-up than usual. After making sure her lipstick looked beautiful, she reached for her briefcase.

Oh! She almost forgot! Rosie took the novel she had read last night and put it in her briefcase. Rosie had promised her best friend, Maia, to lend the novel to her after Rosie finished reading it.

Rosie went to the office by taxi. After she arrived at the office, she checked her clothes once more in the glass window of the building she passed by, making sure her appearance was flawless. She pinched her cheeks to add a natural blush.

Her heart was beating fast in anticipation. Her watch showed 08:15. Office hours started at 9 o'clock, and there were fifteen minutes before her meeting time with Bryan. She entered the office lobby nervously.

Her brows furrowed at the few balloon decorations and white roses around her. Her eyes widened when she saw Bryan, who was already standing in the middle of the lobby with one knee on the ground. One hand tucked behind and the other stretched forward, holding a blue velvet box.

Rosie covered her mouth in surprise, but her feelings told her this wasn't true. She looked around. There were some people who were watching with admiring smiles, and there were also some people who didn't care and kept putting up decorations in the lobby.

"Bryan, what's this?" Rosie asked frantically.

"Hey, does my pose look good?"

"Huh?"

Rosie looked at Bryan in confusion. After smiling widely at Rosie, Bryan got up and fixed his clothes. The man scratched his hair and laughed awkwardly.

"I'm doing rehearsals to propose to Maia. Is my surprise good enough?"

"Huh?"

Rosie still couldn't grasp all of this. Her mind was a mess. Bryan tucked the velvet box containing the ring back into his pocket and took Rosie outside the wreath of white roses. He showed her a simple banner that read 'Will you marry me, Maia Thompson?'

Rosie's feet felt like jelly. Her enthusiasm was crushed in an instant. Bryan asked what she thought once more, but Rosie only replied with an awkward nod.

Maia? Since when? Rosie felt like she was betrayed. She had told Maia about her feelings for Bryan. Maia also said that there was a possibility that Bryan liked Rosie. So, why did Bryan propose to Maia? And since when were they in a relationship? Why didn't Maia tell her?

Rosie felt sick and disgusted with herself.

Shoot. Some memories of her and Bryan re-emerged. Rosie was so blind that she didn't realize Bryan had been going out with her all this time just to ask a lot of questions about Maia.

When they were at the bookstore, Bryan would ask, "Hey Ro, your friend Maia enjoys reading books too? What books does she like?"

Or, when they went to watch movies. "This movie is good for mature women, right, Ro?"

"Hey, how about we invite your friends too? You're close to Maia, right?"

"I bought this for you. Don't forget to share it with your best friend, Maia."

Maia. Maia. and Maia. Rosie was so blind that she didn't realize it.

"Hey! Maia has come! Everyone get ready in your positions!" shouted one of their colleagues who was in charge of checking Maia's arrival.

Bryan cursed in surprise, then fixed his hair in a mirror. He smiled briefly at Rosie and walked to the center of the lobby in the same position Rosie had arrived at earlier.

Rosie just stood still among the other colleagues. She smiled faintly when Maia appeared with a surprised face. Everyone in the lobby cheered 'Surprise!'.

Rosie just clapped her hands bitterly. She lowered her head when Maia accepted Bryan's proposal and the two of them kissed passionately with loud applause as the background.

Rosie took the opportunity to sneak out of the office. Today she did not want to work. She didn't want to see those faces that might be laughing at her behind her back. This made Rosie's heart feel stuffy and the tears slowly fell on her cheeks.

Rosie kept walking, bumping into the people around her. She was so overwhelmed with grief that she didn't hear the screams of the man who told her to stop before crossing the street. The traffic light showed a red sign for pedestrians, but Rosie didn't see it. She was too busy crying.

A woman's loud scream snapped her up, but it was all too late. When she stopped to look at the woman who had shouted earlier, her body was hit by a hard object, so hard that she was thrown away several meters forward.

Rosie's body rolled along the road until the entire stuff of her bag scattered everywhere. Her vision blurred. Her body was in excruciating pain, but she couldn't express it.

She could see her hands drooping limply with scarlet blood pooling on the pavement. Then, her eyes lay on the novel she had read last night.

She was just a spinster who wanted love. Now, Rosie felt sorry for herself because she threw away her youth by drowning herself in her studies, and then her novels, never had a chance to experience love herself.

For the last time, before she lost consciousness, Rosie cursed inwardly. "Screw me. What a dumb way to die."