After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's Aunt-in-Law

SMACK.

”Ow! Stop hitting me!” Aria shrieked, swatting her hand out to hit Zoe back.

”Why did you have to throw the phone?!” Zoe yelled, landing another solid smack on Aria’s shoulder.

”I didn’t know it was going to land face-up!” Aria defended, rubbing her arm. ”And it’s not my fault you had that particular image loaded up!”

”It wasn’t intentional!” Zoe shot back, her chest heaving.

She paused. Zoe slowly lowered her hand.

”Aria,” Zoe asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. ”Have you never exchanged nudes with the guys you’ve slept with?”

Aria’s face turned the vibrant shade of a ripe tomato beneath her pale ghost makeup.

”I have only ever slept with Damien,” Aria muttered defensively. ”What other guys are you talking about? And no! Why would I need to do that? We are married, Zoe. We live together. If I want to see him naked, I just open the bathroom door.”

Zoe stared at her. Her jaw literally went slack.

”Oh my god,” Zoe breathed, collapsing back onto her heels on the mattress. ”You are a literal infant. You are an innocent, untainted Victorian child.”

She grabbed Aria’s face with both hands, aggressively squishing her cheeks together until Aria’s lips puckered like a fish.

”Listen to me,” Zoe lectured, staring intensely into Aria’s emerald eyes. ”Sending nudes is a sacred art form. It keeps the marriage alive. It keeps it exciting. You have a literal billionaire husband. You should be sending him highly compromising photos of yourself while he is in the middle of a corporate boardroom meeting.”

”I haffff to falk to himm abouff it furff,” Aria tried to say through her squished cheeks. (I have to talk to him about it first.)

”No!” Zoe squeezed her cheeks harder. ”You absolutely do not talk about it! If you ask for a schedule, it ruins the vibe! It has to be a complete, heart-stopping surprise. Imagine him sitting at a mahogany table, aggressively ruining a rival CEO’s life, and suddenly his phone pings with a photo of you in a black lace set.”

Zoe released Aria’s face, waving her hands in the air to paint the picture. ”Aria, Wattpad is the blueprint! It would be a tragedy not to carry out the plans on the blueprint!”

Aria rubbed her sore cheeks, letting out a long, heavy sigh. She pictured Damien sitting in his office, completely losing his mind over a mid-day text message.

A tiny, wicked smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.

”Fine,” Aria conceded. ”I’ll give it a try.”

”Yes!” Zoe cheered.

She scrambled off the bed, walking over to the door to retrieve her iPhone from the floor. She hopped back onto the mattress right beside Aria.

”Now,” Aria commanded, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at the screen. ”Delete the photo. Why do you even still have it?”

Zoe’s face flushed again. She fumbled with her phone, suddenly finding the brightness settings incredibly fascinating. ”I... well...”

”Delete it, Zoe.”

Zoe let out a pathetic, whimpering sigh. She opened her gallery, selected the HD photo of Kai Vane’s pierced member, and tapped the little trash can icon.

”Done,” Zoe mourned.

”It’s for the best,” Aria nodded sagely, patting Zoe’s knee. ”Out of gallery, out of mind. Now, delete it from the ’Recently Deleted’ folder.”

Zoe gasped, clutching the phone to her chest. ”I don’t have a ’Recently Deleted’ folder! My phone doesn’t do that!”

Aria slowly turned her head. She leveled Zoe with the ultimate, soul-piercing bitch, please stare.

”Zoe,” Aria said flatly. ”I literally owned the exact same iPhone. Empty the trash.”

Zoe visibly deflated. She pulled up the ’Recently Deleted’ folder, stared at the photo one last, longing time, and permanently eradicated it from the digital universe.

”I know it’s hard,” Aria said softly, reaching out to affectionately pat Zoe’s head. ”But you can’t get rid of an infection while holding onto what caused it in the first place.”

”I know,” Zoe sighed, her shoulders dropping in genuine defeat. ”I meant to delete it last night. I just... I wanted to hold onto the fantasy a little longer. It was Kai Vane, Aria. I was hooking up with Kai Vane.”

Aria wrapped an arm around her best friend, pulling her into a comforting side-hug.

”It was fun while it lasted,” Aria consoled her gently. ”But you have to remember, that’s all it was. A hookup. And honestly, Zoe, you need to give up on him. It’s a dead end anyway.”

”He’s already in love with someone else,” Aria revealed, shaking her head. ”He told me about her two days ago.”

Zoe’s heart physically cracked in her chest.

She swallowed hard, a fresh wave of stinging tears pricking her eyes.

”Right,” Zoe whispered, forcing a tight, painful smile. ”Good for him. Let’s just... look at videos.”

”Okay,” Aria agreed, giving her a final squeeze.

Zoe opened her camera roll, pulling up the videos she had recorded. They spent the next few minutes giggling like high schoolers, ruthlessly roasting Director Spielberg’s awkward eulogy and Bella’s terribly fabricated childhood memories.

But when the video panned to Leo sobbing into his bucket hat, and Coco crying about how bad things shouldn’t happen to pretty people, Aria’s smile softened into genuine guilt.

”They really care about me,” Aria murmured, her chest aching.

She turned to Zoe. ”Okay, you officially have to go out with Leo now. It’s a medical necessity to cheer him up.”

Zoe groaned. ”Aria, I’ll ask him out when I organically run into him. I don’t even have his number.”

Aria didn’t say a word. She simply reached over to her bedside table, grabbed her iPad, and opened her contacts.

Ping.

Zoe’s iPhone lit up with an AirDrop notification. Leo’s Contact Card.

”Boom,” Aria smirked, dropping the iPad back onto the table. ”Now you don’t have to wait for destiny. Text him.”

Zoe let out a long, suffering sigh, accepting the contact card before swiping to the very last video in the album.

The video played. The glass doors slid open, and Damien stepped into the frame.

Aria watched the screen, completely spellbound. He looked utterly hollowed out. His broad shoulders were slumped, his tie was gone, and the sheer, devastating grief written across his sharp features was so authentic it sent a shiver down Aria’s spine.

Zoe had expertly zoomed in at the exact perfect millisecond, capturing the single, flawless tear tracking down his sharp cheekbone.

”Wow,” Aria whispered, her heart swelling with an absurd amount of pride. ”He really committed to the role. Look at the micro-expressions! If he actually wanted to, he could easily quit the corporate world and become a massive movie star.”

She stared at her husband’s face as he performed, wondering if there was literally anything on this earth that Damien wasn’t exceptionally good at.

Zoe paused the video, turning her head to look at Aria. Her eyes narrowed with intense, burning curiosity.

”By the way,” Zoe asked, tilting her head. ”How exactly did you convince him to do all that?”