The night was suffocating.
Rain hammered against the windshield, each drop blurring Sarah's vision as her trembling hands clutched the steering wheel. Her husband's words still echoed in her ears, sharp, cruel, laced with the venom of betrayal.
"Did you really think I loved you, Sarah?"
His lips had curled into a smirk she once kissed with devotion.
"You were nothing but a pawn… a stepping stone. And now, you're disposable."
Beside him stood her best friend ,no, her sister in spirit, the woman Sarah had trusted with her secrets, her laughter, her tears. But the warmth in her eyes was gone, replaced by a cold mockery that sliced deeper than any knife.
"Bestie, I'm really sorry," she'd said, her tone dripping with false sympathy. "You've always yielded everything to me. Since you're going to die anyway, give me your blessing to take care of Alex." Her lips twisted into a smirk. "You always said we'd share everything. Don't be stingy now."
Sarah's heart splintered. Love. Friendship. Trust.
All shattered in a single night.
And then the impact came.
The headlights of a truck tore through the storm, swerving into her lane. There was no time to react. Her scream never escaped. Metal collided, glass exploded, and her world was swallowed by fire and darkness.
When Sarah's eyes snapped open again, it wasn't the mangled wreckage or the acrid scent of smoke that greeted her.
It was silence.
The soft rustle of silk sheets.
The faint aroma of lavender.
And walls painted in warm, familiar colors.
She blinked rapidly. The room around her… she knew it. The posters, the desk cluttered with notebooks, the soft light filtering through the curtains
It was her college dorm room.
Her heart thundered in her chest. She sat up, clutching the familiar quilt, her fingers shaking. Her gaze landed on the mirror across the room and her breath caught.
The reflection staring back wasn't the weary, broken woman in her thirties.
It was her, but younger.
Bright eyes. Smooth skin. A face untouched by heartbreak or years of exhaustion. Ten years gone.
Sarah's trembling hands flew to her face, to her body. This wasn't a dream. The tears sliding down her cheeks were too real.
She stumbled out of bed and rushed to the door. As soon as she flung it open, she nearly collided with someone,her college boyfriend.
"Sarah?" he said, startled. "What's wrong?"
She looked at him, horror flooding her chest. The man who had once broken her heart stood before her, alive, smiling,clueless.
"No…" she whispered, shaking her head. Her voice cracked. "No, stay away from me!"
And she ran.
Barefoot, through the dorm corridors and into the night, rain once again soaking her clothes. She didn't stop until her lungs burned and her feet bled from the gravel beneath them.
She collapsed by the roadside, panting, trembling. Her reflection shimmered in a puddle beside her young, beautiful, alive.
"I'm… back?" she whispered, voice shaking. "Ten years… back?"
Memories flooded in like a tidal wave. the betrayal, the crash, the cruel laughter of those she had loved most.
But this time, something inside her shifted. Her tears dried, replaced by a steely glint in her eyes.
This time, she would not love blindly.
This time, she would not be weak.
This time, Sarah would rewrite her fate.
And somewhere, hidden in the shadows of destiny, a pair of cold, calculating eyes were already watching her eyes belonging to the man who would either ruin her plans... or become the most dangerous love of her second life