Chapter 2: The Memories That Refused to Die

The phone continued to ring.

Emily.

The name flashed across the screen like a curse.

Sophia stared at it.

Her fingers trembled.

A cold chill traveled down her spine.

The wounds she thought had disappeared with her death suddenly tore open again.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

The sound echoed through the room.

And then, the memories returned.

Five years later.

The engagement hall was filled with laughter.

Crystal chandeliers sparkled above the guests.

Flowers covered every corner of the room.

It should have been Sophia's wedding.

Her dream. Her future.

Instead, she stood alone at the entrance while everyone looked at her as if she were a criminal.

On the stage stood Emily.

Wearing the wedding dress Sophia had chosen.

Holding the hand of the man Sophia had loved for seven years.

Daniel.

The man who once promised he would never leave her.

The man who now looked at Emily with love in his eyes.

Sophia remembered her heart shattering.

"Daniel..." Her voice had been barely a whisper.

"Why?"

Daniel avoided her gaze.

That simple action hurt more than any knife.

Before he could answer, Emily stepped forward.

A victorious smile played on her lips.

"You should leave, Sophia."

Leave?

Sophia laughed bitterly.

"Leave my own engagement party?"

The room instantly fell silent.

The guests exchanged awkward glances.

Emily lowered her eyes.

Tears appeared instantly.

The perfect victim. The perfect actress.

"Sophia, please don't make a scene."

Those words had destroyed everything.

Because the moment Emily cried,

Her parents rushed to her side.

Not Sophia.

Emily.

Their daughter. Their precious daughter. The daughter they chose.

"Sophia!" Her father's furious voice echoed through the hall.

"That's enough!" Sophia stared at him.

Her chest felt hollow.

"Enough?" She pointed toward the stage.

"They stole my fiancé." No one spoke.

"They stole my future." Silence.

"They stole everything." Her mother frowned.

Instead of comforting her, she said words Sophia would never forget.

"You've always been selfish."

The entire hall gasped.

Sophia felt as though the world had stopped spinning.

Selfish?

Was she selfish for loving them?

Was she selfish for wanting her family?

Was she selfish for protecting what belonged to her?

Emily leaned into her mother's embrace.

Sophia could still remember the smile hidden behind Emily's tears.

That smile haunted her until the day she died.

Sophia squeezed her eyes shut.

The memory felt so real.

As if she were standing there again.

As if she could still hear their voices.

Still feel their rejection.

Still taste her heartbreak.

The phone stopped ringing.

The room became silent.

Too silent.

Sophia looked at herself in the mirror.

Her eyes were red. Her face was pale.

For a brief moment, she saw the broken woman from her previous life staring back at her.

The woman who begged for love.

The woman who kept forgiving people who never deserved forgiveness.

The woman who died alone.

"No." Sophia shook her head.

That woman was gone.

Dead. Buried.

This was her second chance.

She would never make the same mistakes again.

Never.

Yet another memory surfaced.

The final memory.

The one she could never forget.

Rain poured from the sky.

Sophia lay on the cold ground.

Blood stained her clothes.

Every breath hurt.

Every movement felt like torture.

She had lost everything.

Her company. Her reputation.

Her family. Her future.

The people she loved had personally destroyed her.

And the worst part?

They never regretted it.

Not even once.

Sophia remembered seeing Emily standing beneath an umbrella.

Watching her suffer.

Smiling.

That smile.

That horrible smile.

"You should've known your place."

Emily's voice mixed with the sound of rain.

"You were never supposed to compete with me."

Sophia could barely breathe.

She looked toward her parents.

Begging. Hoping. Praying.

Maybe they would help her.

Maybe they would save her.

Maybe, they turned away.

As if she didn't exist.

As if the twenty years she spent loving them meant nothing.

The pain in her chest was worse than death itself.

That was the moment Sophia realized the truth.

She had never lost her family.

Because they had never truly been hers.

A tear slid down Sophia's cheek.

She quickly wiped it away.

No.

She had cried enough in her previous life.

This time, her tears were too valuable.

They would not be wasted on people who didn't deserve them.

Suddenly, the phone vibrated again.

A message appeared on the screen.

From Emily.

"Sophia, can you come meet me? I really need your help."

Sophia froze.

The message looked innocent.

But she remembered.

Perfectly. This was it. The beginning.

The first trap. The first lie.

The first step toward the nightmare that destroyed her life.

A slow smile appeared on Sophia's lips.

For the first time since her rebirth, she wasn't afraid.

Because she knew something Emily didn't.

This game had already been played once.

And this time...

Sophia knew every move before it happened.

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