In my last life, I kindly helped my female neighbor, a victim of domestic violence, by calling the police and allowing her to hide in my place.
However, she later spread rumors in the neighborhood that I tried to seduce her husband.
To fawn on her husband, she even led him into my house to rape me at midnight.
Then, the couple brutally killed me.
Later, my time returned to that night when the female neighbor desperately pounded on my door for my help.
With the security door in between, I calmly looked at her black and blue face.
"Physical abuse is a form of love, the fiercer your husband beats you, the more he loves you!"
How could I stop his punches of love at her?
The insane should be together forever!
1.
Right after I opened my eyes, the violent pounds on the door and cries for help came from my doorway.
"Help! Is there anyone to help me?"
"Honey, please stop. I beg you! "Ouch, oh, no!"
"Open the door, please! Help!"
After I came back to my senses, I found myself reliving the moment when Stella Wood was seeking my help for her sufferings of domestic violence.
In my last life, I unhesitatingly responded to her plea for help. I decisively called the police for her and pulled her into my apartment.
I had no regrets even my newly operated-on nose was broken my her husband, Mike Smith.
At first, Stella was immensely grateful to me.
However, she turned against me after the policemen mentioned the permanent criminal record and intended to arrest her husband.
"Officer, there is a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding!"
"My husband didn’t beat me. There was a flirtatious bicker between us, but no violence. He is very kind to me."
"All her fault, a plastic monster! She made a fuss about nothing. She called you over. Is there a couple who don’t bicker? My husband and I are in deep love with each other."
That was the whole story. My new nose which had cost me tens of thousands of dollars was completely ruined, and I became notorious for her slanders that I was a jealous ugly monster trying to seduce her husband.
I was overwhelmed by fury.
However, I was so soft that I let Stella into my apartment again when she pleaded for my help the second time.
Back then, I didn’t know that my kindness would lead me to hell.
Around 2 p.m. when I was sound sleep, Stella quietly opened the door and led her husband into my apartment.
To please her husband, she voluntarily guarded the bedroom door and watched her husband rape me.
For fear of the exposure of their crime, they cooperatively murdered me.
Perhaps, my ending was so pathetic that I was blessed with a rebirth.
This time, I wouldn’t sympathize with the ungrateful Stella anymore.
I would help her complete her deep love for her dear husband.
2.
"It is late. Why are you howling at my door? Is anyone dead?"
I pulled my door open with a jerk and coldly stared at the couple on the other side of my stainless security door.
Stella’s hair was being pulled by Mike.
Stella’s eyes sparkled with hope when my door was open.
"Help! Please!"
"Call the police if you can."
Stella’s sharp fingernails charged at me to grip my clothes.
They missed their target after I took one step backward.
With an impatient look, I gazed at the couple. "Please continue your fight back in your apartment, don’t disturb me! Or I will call the police."
My speech brought a flash of astonishment to Stella’s face.
My indifference was a bad surprise to Stella because she knew that I regularly fed the wild cats downstairs.
Right then, Mike pulled Stella backward by the hair.
"You bitch! How dare you call for help! I will beat you to death!" Mike dragged Stella and hit her head at the wall of the corridor. A bloody wound appeared on her head.
"Even the police can’t stop me from disciplining my wife!" Shouting, Mike swung another punch of love at Stella.
"No! Help!" Stella struggled desperately.
She then looked at me with despair. "Please help me, or I will be beaten to death."
Her despair had soften me during her second plea for help in my last life, and that was why I had let her into my apartment again.
However, I would stay out of trouble this time even if she was beaten to death by Mike.
I wished the couple to torment each other forever and respected their fate.
"Alas, is there a couple who doesn’t bicker? I don’t think he will beat you to death."
"Physical violence and curses are your husband’s affection for you. The harder his fists are, the more he loves you. Could he beat you if you weren’t his wife? He beats you just because he is in deep love with you."
"Moreover, the bickers between the couple won’t last overnight. He is harsh to you now, but aren’t you still the apple of his eyes?"
My opinion startled Stella.
It shocked her that I showed her no sympathy but justified Mike’s violence.
As for Mike, he became more excited for my positive affirmation of his violence.
"She is right. Honey, I am so that into you."
"You shouldn’t have chatted with other men behind my back."
Speaking, he gave Stella a hard slap. "You beamed at them! So close to them!"
Stella desperately held her head and squatted down. "Honey, I didn’t!"
"I just went downstairs and got my parcel. You misunderstood me."
The drunken Mike didn’t accept this explanation because he trusted nothing but his eyes.
Right then, I added fuel to the fire. "Mr. Smith, there may be a misunderstanding."
"Mrs. Smith is pretty. She is very popular in this neighborhood, so it is understandable that the others like to initiate a conversation with her."
"What a completely different case from mine! I am so ugly that no men want to talk with me. I had no choice but to undergo plastic surgery."
"I wish to be as beautiful as your wife. If so, I wouldn’t be short of men."
Mike suspected Stella’s fidelity all the time, so his face twisted at my speech.
His iron fist landed on Stella without hesitation.
"I knew that you are wonton. You are married. How can you smile at other men? I am not dead yet!"
"I didn’t walk away from you for your infertility, yet you dated the other men behind my back!"
"I will kill you, slut!" Stella soon became unconscious like a rag doll. She was defenseless before the violent Mike.
Her hair was yanked out and fell to the ground lock by lock.
I found no amusement in this fight of the insane.
Therefore, I turned around and closed the door behind me.
Before the door was closed, I said to Stella, "So impressive. I envy you for such a good husband who loves you so much." Outside, wails of pain didn’t stop.
I retired to my bedroom, shut the door, and started watching soap dramas on my tablet.
Would Stella be beaten to death? Did it have anything to do with me?
My conscience had long gone the moment she helped Mike to rape me.
3.
It was early the next morning.
I went to buy breakfast, and I was startled by Stella who had popped up at my doorway and blocked my way.
She was badly battered, and the swelling made her face twice bigger than usual.
Her eyes were filled with hatred when she glared at me.
She fiercely questioned me. "Why didn’t you open the door last night?"
"Do you know that I was almost beaten to death? You would be an accomplice if I died."
Her righteousness made me sneer.
"Evan an upright official finds it hard to settle a family quarrel. Back then, you two might be flirting with each other."
My speech infuriated Stella. "Is there any violent flirtation? Were you blind?"
"Even if you didn’t want to prove me a haven, you could call the police at least. Why didn’t you?" "I didn’t know that you plastic monster has a black heart!" Instantly, my face darkened. "Why should I call the police?"
"Don’t you know that your husband will have a permanent criminal record if I do?"
"You hate him for his violence and want me to send him into jail on your behalf, don’t you?"
Right then, Mike opened the door opposite mine.
He grimly stared at Stella. "Get in, right now!"
"Honey, listen, I didn’t mean that. This bitch slanders me."
Mike took one step forward and rudely gripped Stella by the hair.
"Why does she slander you since she bears no grudges against you? You couldn’t wait to get me sent into jail, so you could lead a happy life with your clandestine lover, right?"
"Call the cops? Don’t you know the the permanent criminal record will have a bad influence on my promotion at the end of the year?"
"What good would that to you if I couldn’t get a promotion or a pay raise?"
Stella desperately excused herself.
However, Mike didn’t by her story.
Soon, Stella’s wails came from the apartment across the hall.
Did it have anything to do with me?
I had done so for the sake of Mike.
Downstairs, I ran into a plump woman. She gazed at me with curiosity. "Jasmine, did the couple on your floor have a fight?"
With my mouth agape, I said nothing but gave her a slight nod.
Then, I lowered my voice and said, "Please keep what I will say a secret."
"You can trust me. My lips are sealed." The gossiper instantly patted her chest and gave her word.
I wanted to laugh.
Sealed lips?
In my last life, my fame had been ruined by the gossipers like her.
They took Stella’s slanders seriously. They gave me subtle gazes whenever we met. They said behind my back that I was wonton because I seduced Mike.
This time, I wouldn’t give them a chance to smear my reputation.
With my voice down, I mysteriously nodded at the gossiper. "More than that!"
"Mike suspects that his wife is cheating on him. They had a physical fight last night!"
"You know that the family trouble is tricky, so I did nothing but tried to smooth things over with a few words."
"I am a weak woman, If I got accidentally hurt, it would be too bad!" "I broke my nose last month and just had an surgery. So painful. If Mike gave me a punch, my medical fees for my nose would be wasted!"
"Just now, his wife blocked me at my doorway and cursed at me. She blamed me that I hadn’t helped her last night! If she realized how muscular her husband is, she wouldn’t have thought so!"
"This talk is between you and me, and don’t break it to a third soul. Oh, I will have to leave right away. Goodbye." The gossiper nodded.
"You have my word. Don’t worry!"
"Come to me if Stella stirs up trouble for you again. I will stand up for you!" The gossiper seemed upright.
Smiling, I nodded at her and expressed my gratitude.
I had the practical experience of her being a gossipmonger, so I had absolute faith in her.
4.
I didn’t go to work that day. Instead, I bought some surveillance equipment.
The middle-aged woman didn’t let me down. It cost her only one morning to update the whole neighborhood about Stella’s affairs and Mike’s violence.
However, either Stella nor Mike was aware of their scandals.
Black and blue, Stella didn’t leave her apartment till the others were home for meals.
She deliberately wore a mask to cover her wounds.
However, she got caught by the middle-aged woman who was deliberately waiting for her downstairs.
"Stella, are you sick? Why are you wearing a mask?"
Hearing the questions, Stella forced a smile and made a soft cough. "Yes, I caught a cold. Better stay away from me. It would be too bad if you got infectious. I need to go out. Goodbye."
Then, she hurried away.
When she was far away, the middle-aged gossiper spat in the direction she had gone.
"Tut, a cold! Obviously, you try to cover the wounds left by your husband. Serve you right!"
…
After the installation of the surveillance cameras, I breathed a sigh of relief.
To my surprise, the cameras captured something exciting the next day.
Around ten o’clock in the morning, a man wearing a black baseball cap and a mask stood before the door opposite that of my apartment.
Stella quickly opened the door and embraced the man before it was closed.