Chapter 2

I returned to the city where I worked with my luggage, becoming increasingly quiet and withdrawn.

My mother and I fell into a cold war after that day.

Apart from asking if I was coming home for the holidays, she never talked to me again.

I forced myself to focus all my energy on work.

In my spare time, I dedicated myself to studying that mechanical watch.

This was one I had secretly taken from my mother's antique shop before I left.

I stared blankly at these utterly ordinary parts after dismantling it.

Why did this watch take Lucas and the others' lives?

For many days, I was in a daze.

My colleagues noticed and started discussing privately whether I had gone crazy.

Even the supervisor dug up the old news and wanted to fire me for being unlucky.

At the critical moment, my partner Frank stood up for me.

"She performs excellently at work and just likes to study watches. Why fire her for that?"

"Besides, it's been a year. Isn't it cruel to keep bringing up her trauma?"

Frank went directly to the manager and tried his best to keep me on.

Afterwards, our relationship grew closer.

We naturally got together.

A year later, he proposed to me.

I accepted and chose a wedding venue, but had trouble inviting guests.

Looking at the long-silent chat box with my mother, I was very conflicted about whether to invite her.

My father had passed away when I was very young, and my mother had raised me single-handedly with great hardship.

Before I started dating, she was just a normal, good mother.

Gentle and caring, pouring all her love into me.

To say I only had hatred left for her would be a lie.

But the tragic deaths of my previous nine fiancés were still vivid in my mind. I really couldn't bear to let Frank take the risk.

In the end, I chose to skip inviting her.

I thought this would settle the matter and break my curse of being unlucky in love.

Unexpectedly, Frank secretly brought my mother over the day before the wedding without telling me.

"Honey, you've been so distracted these past few days. I guessed you must be missing your mom."

"Don't worry, I won't wear anything she gives me. Nothing will happen."

Frank looked at me lovingly and planted a kiss on my forehead.

Hearing his promise, I relaxed.

I turned to face my mother.

After two years apart, she looked even more haggard.

"Rachel, congratulations on your wedding."

My mother said, then took out a gold necklace and put it on me.

She seemed to have returned to that loving mother from before.

The last bit of defense in my heart was completely shattered.

I buried myself in her embrace, choking out the word "Mom."

Frank, seeing this, smiled with satisfaction.

Then he sincerely promised my mother,

"Mom, don't worry, I will definitely treat Rachel well."

"We'll also come back to visit you often in the future and take care of you in your old age."

My mother's body stiffened, and she looked at him with a complex expression for a long time.

It wasn't until I shook her that my mother reacted and said "Mm" to Frank.