Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 391: This is unfair

Anna hesitated, then shook her head. "No. It just... stirred things up. Old realizations. Things I thought I had already made peace with."

Daniel nodded, understanding in his eyes. "You don’t have to carry all of it alone, you know."

She looked at him, her expression easing. "I know. That’s why I yelled at you instead."

"Fair enough." He laughed.

Anna leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder. "Thank you for being patient with me." and she meant it.

Daniel wrapped an arm around her. "Always. Even when you’re zoning out and mentally arguing with invisible enemies."

She smiled, the tension finally melting away, replaced by warmth and quiet comfort.

"Now tell me, what were you doing?" Daniel asked again, his tone lighter this time, but his eyes were still searching her face.

That made Anna pull back instinctively.

"Hehe, it’s nothing," she said too quickly, waving her hand as if brushing the topic away.

But inside, her mind was anything but calm.

From the moment Daniel had walked in, something had unsettled her. It was the way his questions earlier that morning aligned too perfectly with the recording. The same doubts. The same angles. Almost as if the universe itself was conspiring to corner her. She had spent half the day twisting her words, reshaping truths into harmless explanations, making everything sound like nothing more than drunken nonsense.

And he had believed her.

Barely.

Anna forced a smile, but her fingers curled into her palm. There was no way he could ever learn about her rebirth. The moment those words left her mouth, she knew how it would end. He would look at her differently. With concern. With pity. With that careful tone people reserved for things they did not understand.

He would think she was crazy.

The thought alone made her stomach churn.

She could endure accusations, hatred, even betrayal. But being treated like she was broken when she knew she wasn’t? That would slowly erode her from the inside out. Anna hated that more than anything. She had lived a whole life being misunderstood, mislabeled, dismissed. She refused to let that happen again, especially not with Daniel.

Especially not with the man who trusted her.

So she laughed softly, deliberately careless. "You know me. Just overthinking again."

Daniel studied her for a moment, his gaze sharp yet gentle. "You sure?"

"Absolutely," she replied, reaching out to poke his chest lightly. "If I tell you everything going on in my head, you’ll run away." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He smirked. "I doubt that."

Anna looked away before he could see the storm still raging behind her eyes. Some truths were too heavy to share, not because they were false, but because they were too real. And this one, she would carry alone.

For now.

Daniel didn’t press her further, and soon the topic dissolved into lighter conversation over dinner. Plates were cleared, the house quieted, and by the time they were lying side by side on the bed, the room was wrapped in a calm that felt deceptively peaceful.

Anna stared up at the ceiling, her mind anything but calm.

Kathrine’s words replayed again, unwanted and persistent. Did she know? Or had it all been coincidence wrapped in drunken honesty? The thought tugged at her relentlessly, looping until her eyes began to lose focus.

"Come on," Daniel suddenly said, turning slightly toward her. "You’re being way too obvious now, wifey."

Anna blinked, caught. "What obvious? I wasn’t thinking at all," she replied quickly. "I was simply admiring our beautiful ceiling. Look at it. So... adorable."

Daniel turned his head slowly to look up at the ceiling, then back at her, unimpressed. His expression was flat, accusing in its own silent way.

Before she could scramble for another excuse, a spark lit in his eyes. An idea.

Without breaking eye contact, he shifted closer, sliding under the duvet until his arm rested lightly across her stomach.

Anna stiffened.

She snapped her gaze to him, brows furrowing in warning. "Daniel."

"It is adorable," he said smoothly, lips quirking, "but not as adorable as you, wifey."

The moment his lips curved like that, Anna knew she was doomed.

This. This ridiculous, teasing confidence of his was her weakness. He always knew exactly when to use it, how to unravel her even when she was mentally barricaded behind a thousand thoughts.

His fingers traced slow, absent-minded patterns against her stomach, and despite herself, her breath hitched.

"Daniel—" she started, voice softer than she intended.

"Hm?" he hummed, clearly enjoying himself.

"I... I am sleepy," she said, blinking rapidly as if she could will exhaustion into existence.

Her stomach tightened when he suddenly stopped.

She looked down to find him staring at her with exaggerated disappointment, his hand retreating like a scolded child.

"But I’m not, wifey," he said pitifully, eyes far too innocent for the crime he had just committed.

Anna stared at him, utterly stunned.

One second he was smooth and dangerous, the next he was this—this dramatic menace pretending to be deprived.

"O-Okay," she blurted out before her brain could catch up with her mouth, earning a slow, cheeky smile from her husband.

"My good wifey," Daniel grinned, clearly pleased with himself, and slid further under the duvet, disappearing from her line of sight.

Anna blinked.

"Daniel?" she called, craning her neck slightly, utterly confused by how he had vanished so smoothly as if the mattress had swallowed him whole.

For half a second, nothing happened.

And then—

Anna sucked in a sharp breath, her fingers curling into the bedsheet as a shiver raced through her body.

"Oh—" her voice faltered, eyes widening toward the ceiling as if heaven itself might intervene. "Daniel!"

His muffled chuckle came from beneath the duvet, warm and infuriatingly pleased. "You were sleepy, remember?"

Her heart was pounding now, every nerve suddenly awake, screaming betrayal at her for ever agreeing so quickly. She swallowed hard, heat rushing to her cheeks as she bit her lower lip.

"This is unfair," she muttered, breathless, already regretting every life choice that had led her to this bed, this man, this moment.

Daniel shifted, just enough for her to feel his presence more clearly, more deliberately. "You said okay," he reminded her calmly, far too calm for the chaos he was causing.

Anna squeezed her eyes shut, letting out a shaky laugh that sounded dangerously close to a plea. "Daniel. I-"

But he didn’t hear her and continued to suck her down there.

She groaned softly, head tipping back against the pillow, silently begging the universe for strength she clearly did not possess.

Somewhere between her racing thoughts and his quiet laughter, Anna realized one undeniable truth.

Sleep was no longer an option.