The Five Year Itch (Sera and Julian) novel Chapter 21

< Summer’s Story 1 

Summer’s Story 1 

My husband, Liam Sterling, didn’t know I was dead. 

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He’d just @ me on the family group chat:“Honey, this cold war’s been going on long enough. When are you coming home?” 

Relatives chimed in, urging us to reconcile. 

Liam pressed on, “Babe, where are you? I’ll pick you up.” 

In the morgue, the medical examiner, a weary–looking woman named Dr. Ramirez, picked up 

phone and typed back:“Your wife is dead.” 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me?!” 

That day, Liam ran eighteen red lights in a row, only to arrive at my lifeless body. People always say that a new love conquers an old one. 

I used to scoff at that. 

But after seeing the text my best friend Chloe sent to my husband, I realized how wrong I’d been. “Honey, what time will you be here? I have prepared a surprise for you” 

The picture showed Chloe in a ripped lace dress, sporting a ridiculously oversized fox tail. That night, I stared at that message and image dozens of times, my heart twisting in my chest. 

Then, the system was activated. 

“Summer Anderson, are you certain you wish to be recalled by the system? Once confirmed, all traces of your existence in this world will be erased in seven days.” 

I closed my eyes, in a moment of silence, uttering a firm, chilling response.“Yes, I want to leave this world. Erase everything.” 

“But, I detect you’re pregnant, host. The child, too, will be erased?” 

My pale fingers rested on my barely–there bump. It was a child I’d longed for, but now… I didn’t want it anymore. 

“Yes, erase the child as well.” 

Even as the words left my lips, I couldn’t hold back the tears. My heart ached, a physical pain radiating through my chest. 

Actucally, I was a celestial being, a nymph. My mission was to save Liam Sterling from his icy constitution, a chilling affliction resulting from years of childhood trauma. 

I’d helped him find his birth parents, guiding him from a bullied street urchin to the business magnate he was now. 

I’d changed his destiny. 

And he… he worshipped me and loved me so much. 

In the system’s storyline, I wasn’t supposed to have feelings for Liam. 

But he loved me fiercely, once even blcoking a knife for me, nearly dying. 

That act of selfless devotion had moved me. 

It was why I’d chosen to defy the system and remain in this world. 

12:51 

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< Summer’s Story ! 

But the price of defying the system was steep. Liam’s icy constitution slowly consumed health deteriorated steadily. 

Seven years ago, I’d become paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair. 

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me; my 

Liam, far from shunning me, spent a year learning wheelchair fabrication, crafting a one–of–a–kind chair for me. 

To shield me from self–doubt, he pushed me to every gala, every high–society event. He’d introduce me proudly, never failing to emphasize, “This is my wife, Summer Anderson.” His eyes always held a fierce, undeniable love. 

Whenver this happened, the other women at the banquet, dripping with about how lucky I was to have Liam as my husband. 

He was the ultimate catch. 

envy, 

would whisper 

To stave off my boredom, Liam had created “Summer’s Shop,” a boutique within our mansion filled with clothing and jewelry we’d collected on our travels, each piece a memory we shared. 

Knowing my love for animals, he’d given me a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, whom he’d named AiYi (a play on “love–Yi“). 

He said AiYi would keep me company when he was busy.