Chapter 2: The Missed Meeting
The next year, in our previous life, Xie Yao, the poor student my mother had sponsored for years, showed up at our villa with a basket of homegrown vegetables to thank us. That's when we first met—a shy, handsome boy blushing as I teased him. This time, I prepared carefully, waiting by the villa's gate, heart racing for that moment. But he never came. I waited from dawn to midnight. Had I misremembered the date? Or had my mother not sponsored him this time? I checked her company's records—his name was there. Maybe my actions had caused a ripple effect?
I wanted to find him, but it was his senior year, crunch time for college entrance exams. I couldn't distract him. In our last life, he aced the exams and got into the top university, Tsinghua. I, too, would get into the same school through my art exams. So I buried my longing and waited.
Chapter 3: A Different Path
When the exam results came out, Xie Yao wasn't the city's top scorer. I ran to his old alley, but neighbors said he'd moved away. In September, I arrived at the university in Beijing, walking past the lake where we once held hands, the bridge where we made promises. I searched his old classrooms, dialed his old number—only to hear a stranger's voice, a woman. I scoured every place we'd been together in our past life. Nothing.
By the fifth year, the year he confessed to me in our last life, I flew back to our hometown, to the beach where he'd promised me the world. The salty breeze stung my lips as I stood there, seeing ghosts of us—a young couple embracing, his awkward but sincere vow. But it was just a memory. He never showed. I fell ill, feverish, and my mother rushed back from a business trip. When I asked if she knew where Xie Yao was, her secretary laughed. "That kid's sharp. Made a fortune in stocks. Even came to your mom with an investment tip, trying to borrow money."
It hit me. Xie Yao had been reborn too. Earlier than me. He'd deliberately avoided every moment we were supposed to share.
Tears blurred my vision. Decades of love felt like a dream I'd conjured alone. Why? The answer I'd buried deep surfaced: he wanted a new life. One without me.
I'd lived a sheltered life—first under my mother's wing, then Xie Yao's. I'd never imagined a world without him. I burned with fever for three days, crying until I was empty. My mother stayed by my side, her fierce face softened by worry. I noticed a single white hair on her head, and something shifted in me. I'd been so consumed by Xie Yao, I'd never considered how hard my mother worked. After her death in our last life, her company faltered under hired managers, drowned in the tides of change.
Clarity cut through the fog. If Xie Yao could choose a new life, so could I. I wiped my tears and looked at my mother. "I want to learn the business."
