Chapter 1

My husband, Howard Anderson, was a professor at a university. We had been lovingly married for ten years. It was a happy and harmonious marriage. Our only regret was that he suffered from azoospermia, which rendered him infertile. We were never able to have a child of our own. But everything changed on the day of our tenth anniversary. Out of the blue, our housekeeper claimed that she was pregnant with Howard's child. At first, I thought it was just a sick joke. But two days later, she shoved a paternity test in my face. The results confirmed it. The child she was carrying was indeed Howard's. With that, she took us to court. On the day of the trial, she stood in front of the courthouse, sobbing in front of the media and accusing Howard of violating her. She called us a twisted, perverted couple who had imprisoned her at home and used her as a breeding machine. We tried to defend ourselves, but it was a futile attempt. We were branded as monsters by outraged netizens online. Howard was fired from the university, and his students were ashamed to have ever studied under him. I lost my job that very same day. Unable to cope with the media storm and online harassment, Howard took his own life in prison. As for me, I became a shunned existence. I would be screamed at or have things thrown at me when seen in public. Eventually, the constant abuse shattered my sanity. In a daze, I wandered into traffic and was killed in an accident. Even in death, I couldn't understand it. How did my infertile husband father a child? But then, my eyes popped open again. I was given another chance at life and sent back to the day before my housekeeper claimed to be pregnant with Howard's child. … "Ma'am, tomorrow is your tenth wedding anniversary with Mr. Anderson. Will you be celebrating at home or going out?" Hearing the familiar voice jolted me awake immediately. My eyes snapped wide open, and I found myself staring at a face I knew all too well. Celeste Quinn, the housekeeper, stood before me. Her expression was warm and cheerful as always. My heart thundered in my chest like a war drum. I took a deep breath to steady myself, forcing a strained smile onto my face. "Tomorrow… we'll eat out. There's no need for you to do anything." Celeste seemed pleased by my answer. "Alright, ma'am. I'll go tidy up the dressing room, then." I nodded silently, watching her figure retreat down the hallway as I got lost in my own thoughts. There was no doubt about it now. I had been reborn. Thinking back to what Celeste had just said, I quickly grabbed my phone and checked the date. May 17th. It was the last peaceful day of my previous life. Without wasting a moment, I logged into my old social media account. I had a few dozen followers with hardly any comments on my page. It was just an ordinary account. But I knew what would happen next. If I let things unfold the way they had before, by this time tomorrow, this mundane account would transform into a cesspool of hateful vitriol. "Monsters! How can someone like that be a professor? He should be executed!" "He's a rapist, and she's no better. What a pair of disgusting freaks!" "You're a disgrace to all women! You should just off yourself right now!" "What a bitch! Do you have to ruin another woman just because you can't have a child? Are you even human?" Each of those comments was like a knife that cut through my very soul. As those memories resurfaced, I deleted every post, every photo, and every comment, and then deactivated the account. But even as I did that, a bitter thought crept in. Was there even a point to doing this? Even if I erased everything, it wouldn't change what was about to happen. Although I had been reborn, Celeste would still go online, disclose her identity, and accuse Howard of violating her. And then there was the baby inside her. What exactly was going on?