Chapter 2

Anna’s POV

I walked down the street like a ghost, numb and hollow, with no hope and no place to go.

My husband—ex-husband now—and his pregnant mistress had thrown me out of the house I once called home. The home I built with ten years of sacrifice, love, and silent suffering. A home that was supposed to hold my dreams.

But dreams, I learned, could be stolen.

His words haunted me like a curse.

"I don’t care about the baby. I care about your happiness."

Lies. All of it.

Every smile. Every promise. Every moment we shared—it had all been fake. Just words to trap me beneath his feet, to keep me begging while he moved on without guilt.

I kept walking, barely aware of the world around me. My legs trembled, my body weak, my heart in pieces. Tears streamed down my cheeks, warm and endless.

I could feel the baby inside me—my only reason to hold on—but even that felt distant through the fog of betrayal.

“Why?” I choked, my voice breaking into the night.

Then I screamed—loud and raw.

“AHHH!”

The pain wasn’t just inside anymore.

A flash of headlights.

A blaring horn.

And then—impact.

The world spun.

The sharp, metallic screech of tires filled my ears just before the car slammed into me, straight into my stomach.

My body flew, hit the ground hard.

The air left my lungs all at once.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t speak.

Pain exploded through every vein in my body.

I lay on the cold pavement, gasping, blinking up at the night sky as it blurred and danced above me.

Blood pooled beneath me.

Something warm and wet slid down my thighs.

People screamed in the background, but they sounded far away—like echoes underwater.

My hands instinctively moved to my belly, and I whimpered.

“No… no, please—my baby…”

I blinked slowly, fighting to stay awake. Fighting to breathe. My heart was slowing. My body was fading.

Was this it?

Was this how it all ended?

Thrown away… betrayed… and now bleeding on a stranger’s street?

A tear slipped down my cheek as everything around me faded into black.

But just before the darkness took me, a whisper stirred in my mind—not my voice, but something ancient, something deep.

"You will rise again."

Darkness.

Cold, silent, endless darkness.

I couldn’t feel my body anymore. No pain. No weight. Just floating—suspended between time and space.

So… this was death?

After all I gave, all I endured, I was simply gone?

Then, a flicker.

A small golden flame pierced the dark.

It drifted toward me, gentle but pulsing with something powerful. Ancient. Alive.

“Anna Storm…”

A soft voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. Masculine. Deep. Calm.

“You were betrayed. Broken. Killed with sorrow still in your soul. But your story is not meant to end here.”

My lips trembled. “I lost everything…every single thing I have ever worked for..”

“No. You were given the wrong life.”

The golden light surrounded me now, lifting me up in its warmth. I felt my pain peeling away like old skin. My heart felt... lighter.

“You are being offered a rare gift: a second chance. A new beginning.”

I hesitated. “My baby—what about my child?”

The voice was quiet for a long moment before answering.

“The child was a soul bound by suffering. It is free now. Just like you will be. But when you return, you return as you. Not Max’s wife. Not anyone’s shadow.”

Tears slipped down my cheeks—not of pain, but release.

“Do you accept this gift, Anna?”

I whispered, “Yes.”

And then—blinding light.

A shock ran through my body like thunder, and I gasped—my lungs filled with air, heavy and real.

---

Somewhere Unknown – Present Time

My eyes flew open.

I was no longer on the street. No longer broken. No longer bleeding.

I was in a quiet room, wrapped in warm sheets, my skin unbruised, my belly flat. I blinked fast, trying to make sense of it.

Was this a dream?

The door creaked open.

A man stepped in, tall and elegant, with midnight-black hair and eyes like steel wrapped in silk.

“Ah. You’re awake,” he said softly.

I tensed. “Where… where am I?”

“You were found on the edge of the Spirit River,” he said, placing a cup of tea beside me. “You weren’t breathing when I found you.”

My hands trembled. “How… am I alive?”

The man tilted his head slightly, studying me with curiosity. “Because you were chosen,” he said. “And because I carried you here.”

He took a step closer, then paused. “My name is Hae-Jae.”

I sat up slowly, still dazed. “Why would you help me?”

He smiled faintly, not unkind. “Because you’re not the woman who died that night. You’re something else now.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He met my eyes. “You were given back your life, Anna. But not to return to the past. You’re meant to rewrite your future. One that belongs to you, not the man who discarded you. Not the pain that defined you.”

I blinked, heart racing.

No pregnancy.

No Max.

Just me.

Anna.

Alive again.

But different.

This time… I would choose my own path.