Ashes of Yesterday Chapter 1

I'm a seismic technician.

The day a major earthquake was set to strike Layla’s hometown, she was adamant about going on a trip with her college crush.

I didn’t drag her back to save her family. Instead, I drove there myself, got on my knees before the mayor, and begged him to evacuate the town.

In my last life, I forced Layla to come with me. We saved her parents, but she missed the birthday trip with Sean.

While on a cruise, Sean fell overboard. They searched for three days, but his body was never found.

On the third anniversary of his death, Layla pushed me into the deep sea.

"Sean would still be alive if it weren't for you! Go and keep him company in hell!"

She watched as I drowned.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back. Back on the day of the earthquake.

This time, Layla got her wish. She went on that birthday trip with Sean. And later, she would spend two days and two nights kneeling before a grave.

* * *

Even reborn, the phantom sensation of drowning was suffocatingly real.

"Ryan, are you listening to me? I'm going on a trip with Sean, and we're leaving for the airport now!"

Layla stood before me, her voice sharp with impatience. Looking at her beautiful face, I found it hard to believe that in three years, she would be the one to kill me.

We worked together at the Seismic Monitoring Center. She started asking me out for dinner, one thing led to another, and we got together.

But on our wedding day, Layla confessed that she'd never gotten over her college crush. She told me she couldn't be fully committed to our relationship and hoped I would understand. The ceremony was about to start. I was a fool. I actually believed I could win her heart with sheer devotion.

Who would have thought that right after we got married, her crush, Sean, would reappear?

They became inseparable. She even brought him into our home, banished me to the guest room, and spent the entire night laughing with him in our master bedroom.

I was so deeply in love with this woman that I forced myself to endure it all.

Until the day of the earthquake. I dragged her home, we saved her parents, but Sean died at sea. Layla began to hate me, a resentment that festered until the day she pushed me to my death.

Now, fate has given me a second chance. I will not make the same mistakes.

"Are you deaf? Why aren't you saying anything?" Layla demanded, seeing my silence.

I looked at her, a long, deep look, then pulled a stack of technical drawings from my briefcase and pushed them into her hands.

"Your hometown, Stone Creek, is going to be hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake at ten o'clock tonight."

In my past life, my prediction wasn't nearly this precise. But having lived through it, I knew the exact time and intensity.

Layla glanced at the papers and then ripped them to shreds.

She threw the pieces in my face, a cold sneer on her lips.

"Ryan, have you lost your mind? Joking about an earthquake? And predicting it in my hometown? Are you cursing my family?"

"You'd really stoop this low just to stop me from going on a trip with Sean? I never knew you were so malicious!"

Compared to her murdering me, this felt mild. I felt nothing.

I looked at her and said, my voice even, "I'm not joking. Three years ago, the neighboring state had a similar event. The seismic data from the day before is nearly identical to what we're seeing now…"

Before I could finish, she slapped me across the face.

Her expression was twisted with a new level of hatred. "Shut up! No one can predict an earthquake on the same day. You're just a technician. Do you think you're some kind of expert professor?"

"I'm going on this trip with Sean, and nothing you say will change that. If you can't handle it, we can get a divorce when I get back."

Without another glance, she grabbed her suitcase and stormed out.