[8:00 PM...]
The choking smell of burning ash filled the air like a heavy fog, and the suffocating heat wrapping the room didn't make it any better.
Panicked, Poppy Langford's eyes snapped open. She sat up with a sharp gasp, her chest rising and falling in confusion.
Her trembling hands moved over her body.
There was no pain, bruises, or broken bones.
She froze. "What the…?"
She touched her face again, slower this time. But everything was intact.
She was alive.
How?!
The last thing she remembered was lying in a pool of her own blood on the cold floor of her matrimonial home.
Her husband, James Langford, and his mother, Claudia Langford, were standing over her, kicking and screaming for her to hand over a memory card.
She winced at the memory.
The card was from the hidden camera she'd set up earlier that day in her home. Because it was their wedding anniversary, she had wanted to surprise James by recording their beautiful night together.
But instead of love, that camera had captured a betrayal she still couldn't believe.
A sharp pain gripped her heart. The kind that hurt so bad it burned.
The scene of James tangled up with a familiar woman, moaning sharply like he couldn't get enough of her, replayed in her mind, and Poppy shut her eyes.
That was the same woman he'd brought into their home on their wedding eve, and had introduced as his sister, Sarah.
For three years, he made her care for her, pamper her, and even quit her modeling career for her.
But everything she'd done was for her husband's lover!
Poppy's throat tightened.
And when she threatened to expose them, promising she would upload the video everywhere to destroy them since James and Sarah were both in the entertainment industry, James had shoved her into a glass table.
His mother, Claudia, who had been a witness to everything had gotten furious and called her ungrateful. And then the kicks started when she refused to let go of the card. Over and over again, until everything went black.
She should be dead.
So why was she still breathing?
Overwhelmed, Poppy looked around.
She wasn't home or anywhere familiar. Instead, she was lying on a steel slab completely naked and alone. In a cremation room.
Poppy sighed. They couldn't even wait to dispose her body.
But then she felt something wasn't right.
She frowned and looked down. Her body felt… different. It was lighter, smaller, and softer.
Her stomach turned and she stood to her feet weakly.
That was when she saw the small tag tied to her toe with a name written in black ink.
Bella Highland.
This wasn't her name!
Her mouth fell open. "No… no, no, no… this isn't real!"
Pulled by instincts, she staggered toward the glass door. The faint reflection that stared back at her made her knees weak.
It wasn't her!
Poppy's heart pounded.
The reflection showed a young girl with delicate features. She had soft, sculpted cheeks, a pointed nose, and long, glossy hair that flowed past her shoulders. She was beautiful.
But Poppy Langford wasn't.
She had always been on the chubbier side, with a round-face, a little too much extra weight that clung to her hips and arms. Her hair too had been shoulder-length, and simple, the kind of hair most working wives wore.
She was never the prettiest in the room, but she was confident. She never saw her body as a flaw. It was hers, and she had learned to love it.
But this…
This body wasn't hers!
Poppy touched her cheek, then her hair. She had a flawless skin, and a body that curved in ways she never knew it could. The face was real. The body was real.
But it wasn't hers!
Her head suddenly started pounding as memories, faces, and images she didn't recognize flooded it.
She dropped to the floor, clutching her head as the visions kept coming.
These memories were filled with abuses, maltreatments, and pain from the people she called family, till she was finally killed in the most cruel way.
She was left to die on a highway by her half-sister.
When it finally stopped, Poppy was trembling and drenched in cold sweat.
Two lives and two sets of memories were now tangled in her mind.
It took her some time to understand.
These memories belonged to the owner of this body — Bella Highland.
And somehow, she, Poppy Langford, now lived inside Bella's body.
Was this what they call reincarnation?
She opened her cold eyes slowly.
She didn't understand how it happened, or why. But one thing was clear.
She had been given a second chance.
And this time, she wouldn't waste it.
She would make James, Claudia, and that shameless woman pay for what they did.
But something bothered Poppy. From the memories, Bella Highland was also a chubby girl who was hated by her family. How did she become this pretty?
Also, why did this girl let her family treat her this way?
Poppy felt pity for her. Then she made another resolve.
She was going to take revenge for the girl whose body she now possessed.
Her thoughts were broken by the sound of a lazy slapping of flip-flops approaching the room.
It stopped directly in front of the door.
Poppy's heart skipped, yet she stayed still, waiting for the door's handle to turn.
But no one came in.
Curious and tensed, she leaned closer to the glass.
The moment she peeked, she caught sight of the most handsome face she'd ever seen.
"What the—!" He flinched.
Poppy bit her lip, embarrassed. But, "H-hi…" she managed.
Then, remembering she was completely naked, she blurted out, "G-Give me your clothes!"