Chapter 2

I returned to my office and stared at the files spread across my desk.

I couldn't read a single word.

Memories from my previous life came rushing back anyway.

I had grown up in foster care.

Back then, I was never jealous of the kids who got new clothes after being adopted.

What I envied was the way they would run into someone's arms whenever their new parents came to pick them up.

“Mom.”

I used to wonder in secret,

If I ever found my biological parents, would I finally have a family of my own?

In my previous life, when I found the Bennetts and went to meet them, I was overjoyed.

I followed my parents and brother home, convinced that I had finally found somewhere I belonged.

But the moment I opened the front door,

I discovered there was already another daughter in the house.

Emily was a few months younger than me.

The Bennetts had adopted her as a baby, and she had grown up spoiled and adored.

From the very beginning, Emily made no effort to hide her hostility toward me.

Whatever I had, she wanted.

Most of the time, I simply gave in.

But one day, Mrs. Bennett gave me a necklace.

It was the first gift she'd ever given me.

Emily immediately reached for it.

Everyone in the room looked at me,

waiting for me to do what I always did—

give it to her.

But I stood there without saying a word.

The silence stretched across the living room.

Finally, Mrs. Bennett sighed and turned to Emily.

“Emily, that's your sister's. Give it back.”

I took the necklace back.

But before I could even feel happy about it,

tragedy struck.

Emily stormed out of the house.

She was killed in a car accident on the way.

She died instantly.

From that day on,

everything changed.

My family stopped smiling at me.

They stopped asking how I was.

Eventually, they stopped speaking to me altogether.

They still gave me everything I needed materially.

But beyond that,

our house became a freezer.

I cried and begged them not to treat me that way.

Not to shut me out.

But Mrs. Bennett only looked at me coldly.

“Why couldn't you just let her have it that one time?”

Ethan looked at me as if I were a complete stranger.

“Why did you have to push her that far the moment you came home?”

From then on,

I lived in that house for ten years

as if I didn't exist.

I wiped the tears from the corner of my eye.

But now that I'd decided not to return to the Bennetts,

Emily wouldn't have to die this time.

And I wouldn't have to spend another life walking on eggshells in a family where I never truly belonged.

Just then,

my office door opened.

I looked up.

The man standing in the doorway made my breath catch.

“Professor Hayes,”

After two lifetimes,

I'd gone far too long without seeing him.

Professor Daniel Hayes stood there.

His hair was grayer than I remembered,

but his eyes were still as warm and kind as ever.

He was a renowned physicist,

the director of our research institute,

and the mentor who had guided me into the world of research.

I'd grown up in foster care, and Professor Hayes had been my sponsor.

He supported me throughout school and eventually helped me get into the institute.

Yet in my previous life,

I still chose my biological family.

He never tried to stop me.

He simply placed a hand on my head and said,

“Go. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters.”

Later, he joined the Alaska Space Program.

After that,

I never saw him again.

And now,

he was standing right in front of me,

smiling gently.

“I just heard that you've applied for the Alaska Space Program.”

“Have you really made up your mind?”

“You've spent so many years wanting to find your biological parents.”

“If you've changed your mind, it's not too late.”

“Don't make a decision in the heat of the moment. I don't want you regretting it someday.”

I looked at him,

my chest aching so badly I could barely breathe.

He had always been like this.

Always thinking about me first.

Even when he didn't want me to leave,

he never once tried to make the decision for me.

I shook my head firmly.

“I've made up my mind.”

“If they never came looking for me all these years, I don't want to go looking for them anymore.”

“I just want to build a life of my own.”

Professor Hayes was silent for a moment.

Then he smiled.

“All right.”

“Then your mentor will take you with me.”

The days that followed passed peacefully as I waited to leave for Alaska.

But then,

without warning,

the secret I'd spent my entire life keeping quiet was exposed.

The news broke:

I was the Bennett family's biological daughter.