POV: Maya Chen
I can breathe.
My eyes snap open. I gasp and grab my chest. My heart is beating. Strong. Healthy. No pain.
I'm not dead.
But that's impossible. The truck hit me. I felt my bones break. I tasted blood in my mouth. I died.
I sit up fast, and my head spins. Something's wrong. Everything feels... different.
My hands look strange. I hold them up to my face. The skin is smooth. Perfect. No scars from the IV needles. No wrinkles from ten years of stress and crying. These are young hands.
My heart pounds harder. I throw off the blanket and look down at my body. I'm wearing pink pajamas I haven't seen in years. My legs are strong and healthy. My stomach is flat. No stretch marks from the pregnancy that wasn't even real.
I touch my face. My cheeks are full. My skin feels soft. My hair is long and thick, not thin and falling out from medicine.
"No," I whisper. "This isn't real."
I jump out of bed and run to the mirror on the wall.
The girl staring back at me makes me scream.
She's eighteen years old. She has my face, but younger. So much younger. No dark circles under her eyes. No hollow cheeks. No grey hairs. She looks... happy. Healthy. Alive.
I touch the mirror. The girl touches it too. It's me. It's really me.
"I'm eighteen," I say out loud. My voice sounds different. Stronger. "I'm... I'm eighteen again."
I spin around and look at my bedroom. My childhood bedroom. The same pink walls I begged my father to let me repaint when I was sixteen. The same bookshelf full of romance novels. The same stuffed bear on my bed that Derek made me throw away because "married women don't need toys."
My desk is covered in papers. I walk over on shaking legs. There's a letter on top. Official. Important-looking.
Shanghai University Acceptance Letter.
My hands shake as I pick it up. "Dear Miss Maya Chen, Congratulations! You have been accepted..."
I know this letter. I got it fourteen years ago. I was so excited. I wanted to study literature and become a writer. But then my stepmother Jennifer said it was too expensive. My father agreed. They made me stay home and work instead.
One year after I stayed home, I met Derek at the coffee shop where I worked. He seemed so kind. So perfect. He lied.
But this letter... if I have this letter... that means...
I run to my phone on the nightstand. The date on the screen makes my knees weak.
June 15th. One year before I met Derek. One year before everything went wrong.
"Your wish is granted," the voice had said in the darkness.
I got sent back in time. I got a second chance.
I start laughing. Then crying. Then laughing and crying at the same time. I'm eighteen again. I can fix everything. I can avoid Derek. I can save myself.
I remember everything from my first life. Every betrayal. Every lie. Every person who hurt me. I know exactly what they'll do and when they'll do it.
This time, I'll destroy them first.
A knock on my door makes me jump.
"Maya!" My stepmother Jennifer's voice is sweet like poison. "Are you awake, darling? We need to talk."
My stomach turns. I remember this conversation from my first life. This is the day Jennifer tells me the university is too expensive. The day she convinces my father to make me stay home and work. The day my future died.
"Come in," I say, my voice cold.
Jennifer opens the door. She's beautiful in a fake way, with blonde hair and too much makeup. She's holding a cup of tea. In my first life, I drank that tea and felt sick for three days. This time, I know the truth. She put something in it to make me weak, so I'd be too sick to argue about university.
"Good morning, sweetheart!" Jennifer smiles. "I brought you tea. We should discuss your university plans."
She hands me the cup. I take it and smile back. "Thank you, Mother."
Jennifer's smile gets bigger. She thinks I'm still the stupid girl who trusts her.
But I'm not.
I walk to my window and pretend to look outside. "The weather is beautiful today."
"Yes, lovely. Now, about Shanghai University—"
I pour the tea into the plant on my windowsill when she's not looking. "What about it?"
"Well, your father and I have been talking. The tuition is very expensive. Maybe you should wait a year. Work and save money first."
In my first life, I cried and agreed. I believed she cared about money problems.
This time, I know the truth. Jennifer wants me to stay home so I won't learn anything. So I'll stay weak and controllable. So she can steal my mother's inheritance that I'm supposed to get when I turn twenty-one.
"Actually," I say slowly, "I've been thinking the same thing. University can wait."
Jennifer's eyes light up. "Really? Oh, Maya, you're so mature!"
"But I want to learn about business instead. Father's company, Chen Group. I want to work there and learn everything."
Jennifer's smile freezes. "That's... that's not necessary—"
"I insist." I look her in the eyes. "After all, I'm Father's only real daughter. Shouldn't I learn about the family business?"
Her face goes pale. She knows what I'm saying. I'm his blood daughter. Lily is just a stepdaughter.
"We'll discuss this with your father," Jennifer says tightly. She leaves fast, forgetting to take the teacup.
I sit on my bed, my heart racing. That felt good. So good.
My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number.
I open it, and my blood runs cold.
"Welcome back, Maya Chen. I've been waiting for you. We have so much work to do. Meet me at the Silver Moon Café tomorrow at 2 PM. Come alone. Don't tell anyone. Your second chance depends on it. - A.X."
My hands shake. Who is A.X.? How do they know I came back in time?
A second text arrives: "P.S. - I sent you those texts before the truck hit you. I know everything, Maya. Your past. Your future. Your secrets. Tomorrow, 2 PM. Don't be late. Your real enemy is closer than you think."
The phone slips from my hands.
Someone else knows I died and came back. Someone was watching me in my first life. Someone knows about Derek, Lily, everything.
But who? And what do they want from me?
My door slams open. My father Victor stands there, his face red with anger. "Maya! Jennifer says you're refusing university and demanding to work at my company?"
I stand up straight. In my first life, I would have apologized and cried.
Not anymore.
"Yes, Father. I'm your daughter. It's time I learned about my inheritance."
His eyes narrow. "Your inheritance?"
"Mother's shares in Chen Group. The ones that legally become mine when I turn twenty-one." I smile sweetly. "Three years from now. I should start learning how to manage them, don't you think?"
My father's face goes white. He turns and leaves without another word.
I hear him yelling at Jennifer downstairs. "You told me Maya didn't know about the shares! You said the lawyer never told her!"
Their voices fade as they argue.
I pick up my phone and read the mysterious text again.
Someone knows I'm back. Someone is watching me. Someone wants to meet me.
Tomorrow at 2 PM, I'll find out who.
But a cold feeling runs down my spine. What if it's a trap? What if someone sent me back just to hurt me again?
What if my second chance is actually my second death?