Touchline Rebirth: From FIFA to Football - Chapter 18: Smoke and Mirrors

Experiencing a suffocating marriage with the man whom she was arranged to marry made Joanna want to leave him. But it was a failure as she died as the wife of the man who abandoned her and her son before they divorced.On the verge of her death, she made a wish to not encounter him again if there was a next life. She wished for the end of their fate only in this lifetime. She wanted to forget everything about him.However, when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in the room of the mansion of the man she just married. She was awakened by a dream that seemed to be a nightmare of her past life.She didn’t remember completely everything that had occurred in her past life and the dream was fragmented. But deep inside her heart, she only felt one thing. She was adamant about leaving him, to be far away from him.Therefore, she left his mansion just before she met him in person in the present lifetime.However, what she didn’t expect was that the so-called husband pursued her, not allowing her to leave him.Would Joanna be successful in leaving the man in this lifetime? Would fate play the same tragedy as her past life?---As he pulled his finger away from her soft, warm lips, he said, “It is good you stopped winding up, Joanna. Otherwise, I would have used the other method to make you stop blabbering over the same, boring topic endlessly.”When he noticed the stubborn woman was about to prove herself to be stubborn, the man leaned forward in a swift movement, facing the woman’s stupefied face which was an inch away from his.“Continue to blabbering, don’t blame me if I apply my other method right now,” the man murmured above her breath, trailing his gaze from her quivering eyes to her lips before moving it back to her now widened eyes.

The Year 1766

Disowned by her own family for their own reasons, she was taken in by a maid at the age of seven to work at the Carmichael's household. The Carmichael's were one of the respectable pureblooded family in Bonelake and like any other household, there were rules. Rules that needed to be followed by the servants and maids.

Like everyone else, she was reminded not to disobey the rules. But before she learns to walk in the shadows like the rest without a whisper, the Duke's young son calls her 'Bambi' and everything breaks loose.

Book cover credit: complxmars

In the year 1368, at the end of July, deep crimson shall descend from the heavens.

- Description from Novelupdates

“I was scared!” she cried, interrupting him. “You're a married man, you have a wife now, and I didn't want to ruin that. I didn't know how you'd react. And I didn't want my children… our children… to be caught in the middle of more pain.”He looked at her in shock, breath caught in his throat. “You just said… our daughter earlier,” he said slowly.Yes,“ she answered. Jasmine and Hanith. They're yours.”Aaron's breath hitched, stumbled back a step, staring at her like he was seeing her for the first time again.“You told me they weren't mine,” he whispered.“I lied,” she admitted. “Because I was scared. I wanted to protect them. I thought if you knew, you'd take them away. And I also thought you wouldn't want them because you are married now.”“Five years,” he murmured, his voice barely audible. “I had children... and never knew.” He clenched his jaw, struggling to process everything.“They are your children,” she said softly. “And now your daughter needs you.”~**~A single mother, Katherine Prescott was the perfect definition of a B3 classy lady—beautiful, brainy, and brave. She worked her ass off to ensure her children never lacked, building a name for herself while running from the unwanted attachment of the past.But when the past she thought she'd left behind the day she fled with her babies came crashing against the walls she'd built—six years later—everything she buried resurfaced.What if the forgotten spark and desires kept pulling her back into the very past she wanted to forget? What if her babies wouldn't stop asking about their father? Can she really give him a second chance at love… and risk losing herself to passion again?Aaron Knight was a celebrity. He never believed he'd see her again. But there she was—still breathtaking, still beautiful as ever. He wasn't letting her go this time. He would get her back, by hook or by crook.Two problems: he was married… and she was already a mother.