Raindrops tapped softly against the window lattice. Lin Yue jolted awake from a dream, the chill of her past life still lingering in her fingertips. She looked at the calendar on her phone: there were only three days left until the rainstorm that would change everything. Memories came rushing back like a tide. Her boyfriend’s fake smile and her best friend’s false concern had both ended as hands pushing her into the abyss.
Given another chance at life, she quietly dried the tears that had not yet fallen. This time, she wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. The System interface glowed gently before her, as if fate were offering her a second chance. She began making preparations methodically: fever medicine neatly lined up in the first-aid kit, rice, flour, cooking oil, and other staples filling the storage room, and clothes for every season already hung out to dry on the balcony.
When the hardware store worker came to install the security bars, Lin Youyou stood in the morning light and watched the metal frame cast a web of fine shadows on the wall. This time, she would make those who betrayed her understand that some mistakes can never be forgiven.
