Chapter 2

Night had fallen, but Uncle Hubert replied almost immediately. He was overjoyed and went on and on about how my father and stepmother would only hold me back. If I was willing to go abroad, he insisted, I would surely have a better life.

But as I stared at the screen, a needling pain spread through my chest, sharp and unrelenting.

Of course I had not stayed here for them. So why had I stayed?

I gazed at the sea beyond the window, lost in a haze of pain. There was only one person I could not let go of.

So why was he entangled with Dawn?

The familiar voice broke the silence. "It's not your fault."

My future self sat on the edge of the bed, hazy as a patch of moonlight. "It's his heart. It was never steady. Not once."

I stared blankly at "her."

Never?

Aiden and I had known each other for more than 10 years. He had moved in next door when he was six. His father was violent and beat him every single day.

My mother had taken pity on him. She often invited him over for meals, bandaged his wounds, and gave him a place where he could breathe for a while.

Before my mother died, he knelt beside her sickbed and swore that he would take care of me for the rest of my life. He promised he would never let anyone hurt me.

Yet now, his own hand gripped the knife buried in my heart, twisting the blade until everything inside me felt raw and torn.

I smiled bitterly.

Then my future self continued, "Tomorrow, he'll give you a birthday gift. It belonged to your mother, but you can't let it move you. You can't soften toward him because of it.

"Because Dawn gave it to him. And Dawn is the one who killed our mother."

My head snapped up.

"Our mother didn't fall by accident. Dawn pushed her down the stairs during an argument. Then she took the necklace your mother was wearing. She kept it as a trophy."

"What did you say?" I reached out instinctively, desperate to stop her, but before I could sign another question, the hazy figure vanished again.

…

It was not until the following evening that the aquamarine necklace appeared in Aiden's palm as he held it out to me.

Every drop of blood in my body seemed to freeze.

"Ves, haven't you always wanted something of your mom's back? Don't you like it?"

Aiden did not get the tearful, touched reaction he had apparently expected.

He looked slightly surprised, then gave a quiet laugh. "We're limited by what we can do on the ship. Once we're back, I'll make it up to you and celebrate your birthday properly. What else do you want?"

I raised my eyes to him, my expression blank and hollow.

Then I smiled.

"Then I want Dawn and her mother to disappear," I signed. "If it weren't for them, my mother would still be alive."

Aiden's face darkened instantly. "Dawn's mother was in the wrong, but Dawn is a victim too, just like you."

It was the first time he had ever called her that.

"People call her the mistress' daughter. That's how she ended up with depression. None of that was something she could help."

"Something she couldn't help?" I gritted my teeth and stared at him, my hands signing faster and faster. "Every single day at the Tyson house, she provoked my mother and flaunted herself in front of her. The day my mother fell, it might have been because of her..."

"That's enough!" Aiden cut me off sharply.

At that moment, I saw a brief flicker of panic in his eyes. Aiden knew the truth.

The instant the realization struck me, it felt as though I had fallen straight into hell. I could barely breathe.

"You're being too rash. Calm down." Aiden turned and walked away without looking back.

I sat alone in a corner of the dining hall.

"What would the original me be doing right now?" I signed calmly.

My future self stood beside me. "Moved by his gift, you're confessing your feelings to him right now.

"He accepted your confession. But when he returned to his room, he found Dawn so worked up that she was on the verge of an episode. So, to comfort her, he confessed to her too.

"The fireworks went off above the ship all night, and you thought they were a birthday gift for you."

The moment she finished speaking, a firework bloomed beyond the window.

Across both lives, Aiden's feelings for Dawn had never changed.

A cold laugh escaped me. Then I rose and left the dining hall, heading toward the secluded corner of the deck where the two of them stood wrapped in each other's arms.