When I got to Sang-hee’s room, I knocked. Once. Then again.

No answer.

I stood there for a while, shifting from foot to foot, too annoyed to leave but too awkward to knock a third time. Five minutes passed. I was just debating whether to try the handle when a maid spotted me and hurried over.

“Do you need something, Miss Sera?”

I glanced at the door again. “I heard Sang-hee wanted to see me, but... I don’t think she’s in.”

The maid looked puzzled. “Madam went out a few hours ago. She still hasn’t returned.”

Of course she hasn’t. That two-faced snake, Yoo Yuri. She played me like a fiddle. I spun around on my heel and marched back to my room, the tips of my ears burning. I was ready to throw something—preferably a person.

But just as I reached for the doorknob, I froze.

"...wanted to apologize." Yuri’s voice. From inside.

Apologize?

What the hell did she mean by that?

Was this fate’s way of stitching the story back into place? To put everything back on track? My heart did a weird little drop, like it had decided to take a detour into my stomach. Maybe I really did have Kang Minjae fever.

"I'm sorry, Minjae. I thought I could control everything. And when I woke up again in this life, in the body of Yoo Yuri, on the morning of your blind date, I was angry." Her voice was low, guilty. "Furious that I had to relive it all. I wanted to scare Sera. I thought she remembered and she was taunting me. But...now I think I was wrong. I heard you two outside just now."

I didn’t breathe. What did she mean by "woke up again in this life"? What did she mean by "relive it all"? 

There was a moment of silence.

"She doesn't remember." Minjae said, finally. His voice was soft. Softer than I’d ever heard it. "At least, not fully. Maybe it's because we died on our own terms, but she was murdered. We were ready for our deaths, she was forced to face it."

My blood went cold. Died? We? What the hell were they talking about? Did they know I wasn’t the real Sera? No—if they did, why would Minjae sound so calm? So...sad?

"That fall, it stole everything from her. So I think it's trauma that caused her to not remember."

My mind spun. What fall? My fall? Were they saying the real Yoo Sera had fallen? Or were the talking about how I'd fallen on the bus, which ended my life as ahn Eun-seo?

Yuri’s voice picked up again, light and teasing. "How did you end up dying? Don't tell me you killed yourself after marrying that wretched woman."

At that point, my brain just gave up. I stopped trying to understand. Nothing made sense. None of this was real. It was probably just another strange dream.

"That's none of your business." Minjae snapped. "Leave."

"This is my house too, y'know."

I didn’t wait to hear whatever smug thing she said next. I tugged at the hem of my skirt, straightened up, and pushed open the bedroom door like I hadn’t just spent the last two minutes eavesdropping on the plot twist of the century.

And immediately regretted it.

Because there, in the middle of my room, stood my lovely half-sister—in the arms of my "boyfriend".

My breath caught in my throat.

I opened my mouth.

Closed it.

Tried again. Nothing. Just an "Oh. Um." And then the lump was back.

And—well—you know the rest. Minjae pushed her away, shot me a look to act along, more awkwardness on my part, yada yada. 

But then—oh, but then—I got slapped in the face with another bombshell.

After Yuri smugly demanded her hush money and Minjae pulled out his phone to transfer the ₩100,000 (I almost fainted when he agreed that fast—rich people are insane), I happened to glance down at his screen.

And froze.

His lockscreen was me.

Or, okay—technically Yoo Sera. From some old perfume ad she’d done back when she was still living her original, pre-me life.

Still, it was my face on his home screen. My eyes. My smile. My—

I felt my cheeks flush hot. My brain went on red alert.

He didn’t notice, of course. Just tapped away on his phone, transferring money like it was no big deal, while I was busy having a mental crisis two feet away from him.

Once Yuri finally left and Minjae locked the door behind her, I leaned toward him, unable to hold it in anymore.

“I have a question.”

“Yes?” He looked up, phone still in hand.

“Why do you have—”

But just then, a loud ringtone cut through the room. He held up a hand, barely glancing at me before answering.

Of course. Of course that’s when he’d get a call.

Perfect timing, universe. Thanks for that.