The office clock read nearly nine at night, and most of the desks were already empty. The white ceiling lights illuminated rows of powered-down computers and stacks of folders left behind from the day. Only a few screens remained on, and among them was Valeria's.

Her job at the stock exchange was exhausting.

Everyone at the firm thought she was a successful woman. After all, she was one of the top analysts in the department. Her reports were precise, her decisions quick, and her numbers almost never missed. The bosses trusted her, and the new hires looked at her with admiration.

But what no one saw was the weariness she carried on her shoulders.

She lived alone in a small apartment she had been paying off in installments for three years. She was also paying for her car -- not the latest model, but it ran perfectly, and she had bought it with pride after years of hard work.

Her life seemed orderly.

Stable job.

A home of her own, in progress.

Independence.

And yet, Valeria had never been particularly fond of people.

It wasn't that she hated others... she simply found them exhausting.

The trivial office conversations, the parties, the social gatherings, the jokes everyone else seemed to enjoy -- all of it left her feeling empty.

That was why her favorite afternoons were the quietest ones.

When she got home, she would drop her bag on the couch, kick off her shoes, and make a cup of coffee. Then she would open her laptop and start writing.

Stories.

Imaginary characters.

Worlds that existed only in her mind.

In those tales, people were more honest. Love was real, betrayals had consequences, and endings could be happy if she decided they should be.

It was a more comfortable place than the real world.

But reality had also come knocking at her door.

A year ago, she had been in a relationship.

It hadn't been a passionate or dramatic love. It had been something quiet, stable... or so she thought.

Until one day, everything shattered.

She had left work early and decided to stop by the movie theater to watch a film alone. Valeria liked going to the movies by herself -- she could focus on the story without interruptions.

But when she walked into the theater lobby, she saw something that stopped her cold.

Her boyfriend.

And he wasn't alone.

He was with Carolina, a coworker from the office.

They were holding hands.

And when he leaned in to kiss her, Valeria's world went silent.

She didn't make a scene.

She didn't approach them.

She didn't scream.

She just watched for a few seconds, feeling something inside her chest slowly break apart.

Then she turned around and left.

That night she cried.

She cried a lot.

She cried in her bed, hugging the pillow, wondering if she had done something wrong... if she had been too cold, too distant, too focused on her work.

But the next day, when the pain eased a little, something inside her shifted too.

The sadness turned into clarity.

And when her boyfriend came to the apartment that night, Valeria was already sitting on the couch waiting for him.

"We need to talk."

The man set his jacket on the chair, surprised by her calm tone.

"What's going on?"

Valeria looked him straight in the eyes.

"I saw you at the movies yesterday."

The silence that followed was heavy.

"With Carolina."

The man's face changed immediately.

"I... I can explain--"

But Valeria shook her head gently.

"There's no need."

Her voice was calm. Too calm.

"Pack your things and leave."

The man blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"Pack your things and go. We're done."

His reaction wasn't guilt.

It was anger.

"That's it? You're not even going to argue? Not even going to cry?"

Valeria watched him in silence for a few seconds.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're supposed to love me!"

She sighed softly.

"I cried yesterday."

The man went still.

"When I saw you with her. I cried quite a bit."

Her eyes held no tears now.

Only a strange calm.

"But I'm not going to put on some pathetic scene for someone who clearly doesn't love me."

The man frowned.

"Of course I love you."

Valeria shook her head.

"No."

Her voice was firm.

"If you loved me, you wouldn't have cheated on me."

Silence fell between them again.

"So pack your things and go."

But the man didn't move.

Instead, he crossed his arms, defiant.

"I'm not leaving."

Valeria looked at him for a few seconds.

She took a deep breath.

Then she spoke with the same calm as always.

"If you don't walk out that door right now, I'm calling building security."

The man tensed.

"Are you serious?"

"Completely."

She pulled her phone from her pocket.

"You have one minute."

The silence turned uncomfortable.

Finally the man huffed in irritation, walked to the bedroom, and began gathering his things with bad grace.

Ten minutes later, he came out with a suitcase and a backpack.

Before he left, he looked at her with frustration.

"You're a cold woman, you know that?"

Valeria didn't respond.

She just watched him.

"Someday you're going to regret being like this."

The slam of the door echoed through the apartment.

And for a moment, everything went silent.

Valeria stayed seated on the couch.

She didn't cry.

She didn't scream.

She simply got up, went to the kitchen, made coffee... and that very night began writing a new story.

The next day, despite how successful Valeria was, her work life wasn't as perfect as many imagined.

Yes, she was one of the most efficient analysts in the company.

Yes, her reports were impeccable.

Yes, the directors trusted her.

But she had one very big problem.

Her boss.

The woman was known throughout the office for her unpleasant temperament. She was never satisfied, always found something to criticize, and seemed to enjoy it when others had to stay late.

That day, the situation was particularly absurd.

Around five in the afternoon, a loud crash was heard from the street. A few employees near the windows stood up to look.

"I think a car hit the light pole."

And a few seconds later...

Everything went dark.

The screens turned black.

The ceiling lights went out.

The air conditioning fans stopped spinning.

A strange silence filled the office.

"Great..."

From the window, the entire neighborhood was visible without power. A car had crashed into a streetlight and taken out part of the electrical grid.

No power... and no internet.

Which meant something quite obvious to anyone who worked at a stock exchange.

They couldn't work.

But the boss appeared a few minutes later, striding between the desks with her arms crossed.

"Nobody leaves."

The employees stared at her in disbelief.

"But... without internet, we can't do anything."

"We'll wait until the power comes back."

A murmur of frustration rippled through the office.

Valeria sighed.

It was exactly the kind of decision her boss would make.

So, resigned, she turned on her laptop -- which still had battery -- and began to pass the time.

First she reviewed some files, but without a connection she couldn't make much progress.

Then she opened the browser.

And that was when she saw something curious.

The little Google dinosaur.

The game that appeared when there was no internet connection.

Valeria raised an eyebrow.

She had seen that game many times but had never actually stopped to play it.

So she pressed the spacebar.

The little dinosaur began to run.

It jumped over the first cactus.

Then another.

Then two in a row.

Valeria moved her fingers calmly while the dinosaur ran faster and faster.

Several minutes passed.

And then she noticed something interesting.

The further she got... the more the background changed.

First it was light gray.

But then...

It turned dark.

"Hmm..." she murmured to herself.

She hadn't known the game had a night mode.

The dinosaur kept running as small stars appeared against the black background.

A couple of coworkers began chatting near her desk, complaining about the boss and the blackout.

Their voices started to bother her.

Valeria frowned slightly.

She didn't like unnecessary noise.

So she took out her earbuds.

She plugged them into her phone and began scrolling through the downloaded files she kept for listening while driving.

There was music.

A couple of podcasts.

And then she saw something strange.

An audiobook file.

She didn't remember downloading it.

The title didn't ring a bell.

Valeria frowned a little.

"That's odd..."

But she didn't think too much of it.

After all, she sometimes downloaded things without remembering exactly when.

So she played it.

A calm voice began narrating the story.

Valeria leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes slightly as she listened.

She didn't know exactly what the story was about yet.

But it was far better than listening to the conversations filling the office.

And little by little, as time passed...

She became completely absorbed in the narration.

Finally, around eight that night, the power came back.

The screens lit up.

But it was already too late to get any real work done.

After a few more minutes, the boss finally allowed everyone to leave.

The employees practically ran out of the building.

Outside, the neighborhood was completely dark.

Although electricity had returned in some areas, much of the street lighting was still out because of the accident.

The streets were lit only by a few cars and distant lights.

Valeria walked toward the parking lot.

Her steps were unhurried.

The earbuds were still in her ears.

The audiobook's voice continued narrating the story, and she was so absorbed in it that she barely paid attention to her surroundings.

The ground was wet.

Technicians had been working near the damaged light pole, and water had pooled in several spots.

Valeria didn't notice.

Her foot stepped into a puddle.

Water splashed around her shoe.

A second later...

There was a violent spark.

A scream from the people nearby.

Something had gone wrong with the streetlight repair.

Electricity surged through the water on the ground.

It all happened in an instant.

Valeria collapsed.

Her body lay sprawled on the wet pavement.

But she felt no pain.

It was all too fast.

Her vision went white.

The sounds of the outside world faded away.

And the only thing she could still hear... was the calm voice of the audiobook narrating the story through her earbuds.

Valeria didn't know how much time had passed.

Her body felt strange, heavy... as if she were floating in a warm, silent darkness.

Her eyes were closed.

She tried to move her fingers, but felt nothing.

The only clear thought in her mind was a simple one.

I must be in a hospital.

Maybe an ambulance had picked her up.

Maybe the doctors were examining her.

Maybe she was sedated.

She didn't know.

But she did know one thing.

She could still hear the audiobook.

The narrator's voice continued sounding calmly in her ears, as if nothing had happened.

Valeria lay still, listening.

The story spoke of a family called Field.

A respected and kind couple who had made a decision that changed their lives forever.

They had adopted a girl.

Little Valery Johnson.

The audiobook explained that the Johnsons and the Fields had been close friends for years. The two families visited each other frequently, shared celebrations, and looked after each other's children as if they were their own.

But everything changed when the accident happened.

An accident that cost them their lives.

Valery's parents died that same day.

And the girl, barely six years old, was left completely alone.

The narration described the funeral.

Little Valery dressed in black.

Her small hands clutching her dress.

Her eyes red from crying.

The adults speaking in hushed voices about what would happen to her.

And then the Fields made a decision.

They would take her home.

They would raise her as their own daughter.

The narrator explained that the Fields had never had a daughter -- only an older son.

Eric Field.

Five years older than Valery.

When the girl arrived at the Field household for the first time, she was frightened, silent, and her face was streaked with tears.

Eric was the one who approached first.

The audiobook described how the eleven-year-old boy offered her a handkerchief and said, clumsily:

"Don't cry... you can stay here."

For little Valery, that moment became something unforgettable.

From that day on, Eric became the center of her world.

They grew up together.

They played in the garden.

They studied in the same house.

They shared meals with Lord and Lady Field.

To everyone else, they seemed like siblings.

But the audiobook made it clear that, in Valery's heart, Eric was never just a brother.

She admired him.

She followed him everywhere when she was small.

She kept the things he gave her.

She waited for him to praise her when she did something well.

And when she grew up...

That affection transformed into love.

A silent love she never dared confess.

Because Eric always treated her with kindness... but with distance.

To him, Valery was important.

But only as a friend.

As someone he needed to protect.

As the girl his parents had brought home years ago.

The narration moved slowly through the years.

And then came the moment that shattered Valery's heart.

Eric announced his engagement.

It wasn't a marriage for love.

It was a marriage of convenience.

The bride's family had important business interests, social connections, and a position that greatly benefited the Field family.

The engagement was announced at an elegant dinner.

The audiobook described how Valery had sat in silence throughout the entire evening.

With a polite smile on her face.

While she felt her heart breaking into pieces.

After that night...

Valery cried.

A great deal.

She cried alone in her room.

She cried remembering all the years she had kept her feelings hidden.

She cried understanding that Eric would never see her that way.

But the suffering didn't end there.

The narration explained that Eric's fiancee was not a kind woman.

Quite the opposite.

She had noticed something.

She had seen the way Valery looked at Eric.

She had understood immediately that the young woman loved him.

And she found it distasteful.

So she began to treat her cruelly.

Small, cutting remarks.

Contemptuous glances.

Humiliations disguised as jokes during family gatherings.

And Valery...

Endured it all in silence.

Because she didn't want to cause problems for the family that had raised her.

But that wasn't the most painful part.

The most painful part was Eric.

The audiobook explained that, although Eric didn't love his fiancee, he also wouldn't allow Valery to leave.

Every time she tried to bring up moving out or starting her own life...

Eric shut it down.

"You don't need to go. The Field family will always take care of you."

To Eric, that was protection.

But to Valery... it was a chain.

Because he wouldn't let her move forward.

He wouldn't let her love someone else.

He wouldn't let her escape the place where she had to watch, every single day, the man she loved... marrying another woman.

The story continued recounting Valery's silent suffering.

Her impossible love.

Her life trapped in a house that had once been her refuge... and had now become the place where her heart broke a little more each day.

In the darkness where Valeria drifted... her brows furrowed slightly.

There was something about this story that bothered her deeply.

Even though she couldn't open her eyes... even though she didn't know where she was... she thought clearly:

What a cruel story...

And for some strange reason... the protagonist's name kept echoing in her mind.

Valery.

The sound of the audiobook faded little by little.

First the narrator's voice grew distant... then it cut out completely.

Valeria felt her consciousness rising slowly to the surface, like waking from a very deep sleep.

Her eyelids were heavy.

But finally... she opened them.

For a few seconds, her mind couldn't process what she was seeing.

The ceiling above her wasn't the white of a hospital.

It was high, elegant, with delicate moldings carved from pale wood. A crystal chandelier hung from the center, catching the sunlight that streamed through an enormous window.

Valeria blinked several times.

Where am I...?

She sat up slowly in the bed.

The bed was large, with a canopy of sheer fabric that draped softly around the edges. The sheets were smooth, embroidered with delicate details.

Nothing in this room looked modern.

Everything was antique.

But not old.

It was... refined.

Valeria looked around carefully.

There were dark wood furnishings, meticulously carved, a thick rug in muted tones, a vanity table with an oval mirror, and a small table holding fresh flowers in a vase.

She got out of bed cautiously.

The wooden floor was warm beneath her feet.

She walked to the window.

When she drew the curtain aside, her breath caught.

Outside, there were no streets.

No cars.

No buildings.

There were enormous, perfectly tended gardens, stone pathways, tall trees, and beyond them, what was clearly the courtyard of a grand estate.

Valeria studied the landscape closely.

The fountains.

The carriages parked near the stables.

The clothing worn by the workers in the garden.

Everything...

Everything seemed to belong to another era.

Her mind began to race.

"This can't be..."

She walked to the vanity.

There was a large mirror.

When she lifted her gaze to it... her heart lurched.

The woman staring back at her from the mirror was not the same one she had seen her entire life.

Her face was different.

More delicate.

More perfect.

Her skin was fair and smooth, almost like porcelain. Her eyes were a deep, dark green that shimmered with a strange intensity. Her lashes were long, and her nose fine and elegant.

Her hair... It was dark chestnut, straight from the roots, but at the ends it fell in soft natural waves that reached the middle of her back.

Valeria raised one hand slowly.

The woman in the mirror did the same.

Her body was different too.

Slimmer.

More graceful.

The figure of someone young.

Very young.

She didn't look older than twenty.

And she was beautiful.

Not a striking beauty... but a soft, refined beauty that seemed lifted from an old painting.

Valeria was so absorbed in studying her reflection that she didn't hear the door open.

"Lady Valery..."

The voice made her turn.

A young woman in a maid's dress had just entered the room. Her hair was pinned up, and she carried a tray with water and a few items.

The girl gave a small curtsy.

"I'm glad to see you awake, Lady Valery."

Valeria felt a chill run down her spine.

The maid looked up with concern.

"Are you feeling better?"

Valeria took a few seconds to respond.

"I..."

Her mind was trying to sort through everything.

The maid continued speaking respectfully.

"We were so worried when you fell ill this morning."

Valeria frowned slightly.

"This morning?"

"Yes, Lady Valery. When young Master Eric announced his engagement."

The world seemed to stop for an instant.

The words echoed in Valeria's mind like a bell.

Eric...

Valery...

The story.

The audiobook.

Her heart began to pound.

The maid kept talking, oblivious to her reaction.

"We thought you might need rest, so Lord and Lady Field ordered that no one disturb you."

Valeria breathed slowly.

Her mind was quick.

It had always been.

She had worked at the stock exchange making decisions in seconds.

And now her brain was connecting every piece.

The audiobook.

The story.

The protagonist.

The Field family.

And the name the maid had just used.

Lady Valery.

The same Valery.

The girl from the audiobook.

Valeria... or now Valery... felt her body tremble slightly.

But she managed to keep her composure.

"I'm fine."

The maid sighed with relief.

"I'm glad to hear it, Lady Valery. You're always so strong."

She set the tray on the table.

"I've prepared water for you to wash and your clothes for the day."

The maid smiled warmly.

"I knew you'd feel better after some rest."

Valery returned a soft smile.

The maid seemed accustomed to her gentle nature, so she didn't suspect anything unusual.

After arranging a few more things, she curtsied again.

"If you need anything, just call for me."

And she left the room.

The door closed gently.

Silence returned.

Valery walked slowly to the mirror again.

She studied her reflection for a long time.

She didn't need any further explanation.

Everything was too clear.

She had died.

And she had been reborn.

In the body of Valery Johnson.

The protagonist of that sad story she had just been listening to.

The young woman who loved Eric Field in silence.

The young woman who was destined to live a life of suffering... watching the man she loved marry another.

Valery rested her hands on the vanity.

Her green eyes shone with a light completely different from the one the original Valery had carried.

Because she was not that weak girl.

She was Valeria.

A woman who had survived betrayals, workplace pressure, and heartbreak without falling apart.

She studied her reflection calmly.

Then she smiled slightly.

"Well..."

Her voice was composed.

"That's not going to happen."

A plan was already forming in her mind.

Because if she really was inside that story...

Then she also had the chance to change it.

And the first thing she thought was something very simple.

She was not going to stay in love with Eric Field.

If the story wanted to turn her into a woman destined to suffer...

Then she would do something different.

She would change her fate.