The jade pendant lay in her trembling palm, its cool surface pressing into her skin with the weight of impossible truth.
Emma stared at it for what felt like hours, breath caught in her throat. She knew this pendant—it had been Ethan's gift on her seventeenth birthday. He had saved for weeks to buy it, slipping it into her hand with the shy pride only a boy in love could carry.
She had worn it every day back then. She remembered how it rested against her collarbone, how Ethan would touch it lightly, like a secret promise between them. But she had lost it years ago, or so she had believed.
And now, here it was.
In the silence of the apartment, the pendant seemed to hum—a physical thread binding two lives that should not have touched again.
"No," she whispered, shaking her head violently. "This isn't real. I'm losing my mind."
But the weight of the jade was undeniable.
Even as she trembled, Emma realized that the impossible was no longer something she could ignore. Something had begun—and it demanded her attention.