Chapter 3

Ethan’s eyes flew open; he quickly shut them back and opened them slowly to adjust his sight to the lightning in the room. His eyes met with an unfamiliar ceiling; he slowly pushed himself to a sitting position as he looked around. “Where am I?” He thought.

After thirty seconds, memories began flooding in: him getting kidnapped, Lucien showing up after days and upon seeing him in such a situation, he still said hurtful things to him and left; the mocking laughter from the kidnappers; the torture; the gunshot, and he…… wait, he died?

Ethan held his head, “Am I already in heaven?” He couldn’t understand a thing, and that was when he realized something: he could feel his hands around his head!

He pinched himself, and he actually felt it. He rushed to the mirror, hurriedly took off his clothes to check for a bulletproof wound on his chest, but he found nothing- no scar, no cut, no blood.

“What’s going on?” He yelled out of frustration. He looked around the room; this was his room in Lucien’s house. He ran his hands through everything: the dressing table, the dressing chair, the couch, the mirror, the doors, the closet, the bedside lamp- everything, and there wasn’t even a speck of dust.

“Was I dreaming?” He asked no one in particular, “Was it all a nightmare?” He added.

“It was a dream.” He concluded and went back to bed. He sat on it, ran his hands through the bedspread, and he noticed this wasn’t the bedspread he was using. Well, he was using it, but he had changed and thrown this one out. Why is it back here?

“Why is everything so weird?” He groaned. He picked up his phone from the nightstand, “Why is my old phone back? I got a new one already!!!”

He jumped down from the bed and started searching his room for the new phone. He searched for minutes, and by the time he stopped, his room was already in a mess, and still he couldn’t find the phone.

He picked up the old phone again and scrolled through it. He was just going to call Lucien and ask him what was going on, why everything was so confusing and why their old ones were replaced.

In the middle of that, his eyes caught the time on the phone: 1:00 p.m. “Did I sleep that long?” He wondered out loud and almost shrugged it off when his eyes moved to the date: 3 June 2024? “Is the phone broken or what? Hmm, maybe the phone lost signal and the settings were tampered with or something.” He assumed.

Lucien wasn’t picking up; huff. Ethan picked up the small calendar on the table to replace its position, and he casually checked the date, still 3 June 2024. He raised his brows, “Hmm, did Lucien tamper with this?”

He turned the calendar, trying to reset the date, but there was no 2025 on it; the last page had December 2024. “Okay, what’s going on? First the bedspread was replaced with the old one, next the phone, and now the calendar?”

Ethan grabbed his phone; yesterday was 6 April 2026, so today is supposed to be 7. He got into G****e and searched for today’s date, and it gave him 3 June 2024. Ethan’s eyes widened, something clicked in his head, and he gasped, letting go of the phone in the process.

“I’m somehow back two years earlier in my life?” He covered his mouth, “How is that even possible?” Is this some kinda short film stuff where they wake up in the past, where they get…reborn?” He gasped again.

“I was… reborn to… two years earlier?!!!” He yelled and fainted dramatically on the bed.

He sat up immediately and tried to calm down so he could process everything, “Whoa!!” He exclaimed. “Now everything makes sense, the old stuff...”

“If I was given another chance, then it means my story isn’t over; it means there is something I need to change, and I know what that is, Fuck Lucien!” He got up from the bed and headed to the closet to pick an outfit. “This is crazy.” He chuckled.

As he was picking out his outfit, he’s mind ran back to the date: Wait, 3 of June 2024? This was the exact day Carlos had made a grave mistake that affected him badly.” He quickly picked out a random outfit; he wouldn’t let that happen again in this lifetime.

He hurried into the bathroom to freshen up, in a few minutes, he was out, he dressed up, grabbed his phone and wallet, he opened to be sure he had cash and his credit card was in, when he confirmed it, he walked to the mirror and hurriedly arranged his hair with his hands before rushing out of his room, he got into the sitting room, he didn’t even wait for a second before barging out of the house.

He flagged down a cab, “CK EMPIRE” The cab man nodded, and Ethan got in. After about thirty minutes, the cab pulled up at the parking lot of CK EMPIRE; It was a very big place; it wasn’t just a business under the name. They had Automobile companies, jewelry companies, wine companies, cloth brands- not Calvin Klein, but Carlos Kings. The list of companies is endless, and this was the jewelry store. In Ethan’s past life, this was where Carlos was on that day he made that costly mistake.

Ethan paid the cab driver; he checked the time: 2:30pm, not bad. In his past life, the time Carlos made the mistake was 3:00pm. He composed himself and walked in; if he ran in, security would just throw him out.

He got in and pretended to be shopping; Carlos’s office was on the top floor; how would he get there? Only staff can go there. As if God was giving Ethan an answer, a staff member came out of the elevator; without thinking, he ran in before it would close. The staff noticed and started screaming, “No, sir, you can’t use that elevator!!” The elevator had already closed before they could get to him.

The staff started making calls to security to somehow stop the elevator. Ethan took a deep breath as he clasped his hands together “Please God, help me!” The elevator dinged, and Ethan walked out. A security man was waiting outside the elevator to stop him, but Ethan was determined.

He dribbled the security guard and ran as his life depended on it because it did. He got to Carlos’s office and barged in. Behind a well-polished desk, a young, handsome man sat; glasses sat at the bridge of his nose. Ethan didn’t have enough time to admire him.

Ethan screamed, Don’t sign that!!” Carlos's gaze darkened, and " And who are you?”

“That is not important!!”

“Security!!”

Ethan’s eyes widened. What a fool. He could hear the steps of the security guards getting closer. He ran to Carlos's side and grabbed his shoulder. Carlos’s sharp gaze shifted to Ethan beside him, hands on his shoulder.

“How dare you touch Mr Carlos!” The man with him finally spoke. Ethan’s gaze swept to him. Humph, this was the jerk that made Carlos make that mistake that almost cost him a fortune.

Carlos grabbed Ethan’s hand and shoved him away, “Who the fuck are you and how did you get into my office?” Carlos growled.

The security guards entered the office. “We are sorry, Mr Carlos; we didn’t do our job well. You can punish us however you want.” They all bowed their heads.

“Get this thing out of my office!!!” He barked. The security guards started rushing towards Ethan. Ethan’s eyes widened, and he screamed,

“Did you check the goods you are about to sign off? You idiot!”

The room seemed to freeze; Carlos's eyes widened.