status on the roof of Zhang Industries. Elena recalls Sophie's first steps and Luke's infectious snicker. The city light fixtures beckon. Rebecca's smartphone vibrates with her 20th name. She moves forward and closes her eyes.
"i am sorry, my loves."
The wind whips her hair, conveying a scent of rain and shattered promises. Three days have passed since the divorce papers landed on her desk. Three days of pretending, forcing grins for the twins, and avoiding involvement from colleagues.
Uncle Wei was not mentioned to again.
Her phone vibrates once more. This time, it is Samuel. "Where are you?" The twins are inquiring.
She silences it and slips the device into her pocket. Under, Seattle flickers like scattered diamonds, indifferent to her pain. Forty stories higher, the sector appears smaller and more attainable. Much less realistic.
The roof door crashes open. "Elena!"
Rebecca's voice pierces through the wind, resolute and breathless. She had to have sprinted up all of those stairs.
"do not come closer." Elena doesn't turn around. She cannot bear to see the pity in her quality pal's eyes.
"The twins need you."
"They need their father too." Her voice breaks. "however he is too busy together with his new circle of relatives now."
She'd overheard Mia inside the women's room on the phone earlier that day: "The pregnancy test became advantageous... sure, I've already informed Ryan..."
The final treachery. Now she is not only being changed, but completely erased.
"Step again from the edge." Rebecca's voice shakes. "anything you're questioning"
"I already tried the whole thing else." Elena's giggle sounds hollow. "Known as his mother and father." I begged him to reconsider. Even offered to give up my profession totally." She pauses. "Did you understand he's going to be a father again?"
Rebecca's rapid breathing confirms her failure.
"Mia is pregnant. Six weeks. Elena eventually turns to see her friend's scared stare. "He's giving her everything that I believed had been mine. "I sacrificed everything for this."
Police sirens sound in the distance. Someone had to have seen her up here.
"Sophie requested me this morning when daddy's coming home." Elena's voice catches. "Luke stopped consuming his preferred cereal because it changed into some thing they shared." She takes another step back. "How do I tell them their father has chosen another girl? "Some other infant?"
"Elena, please." Rebecca moves forward, hands outstretched. "We can combat this. Your father's legal professionals.
"discovered proof in their affair six months ago." Elena cut her off. "Ryan has been planning this, Becca. Making plans to replace me. "Keep us updated."
The wind picks up, accompanied by remote shouts from below. There are more sirens now.
"don't forget while we were in college?" Elena asks unexpectedly. "You told me there are not any second probabilities in life. just repercussions we have to stay with."
"i used to be incorrect." Rebecca's voice cracks. "we are able to repair this. The twins"
"Will understand at some point." Elena reaches into her pocket, pulling out wrapped packages. "give these to them while they're older. when they are ready to realize why their mother could not..."
She throws the letters. They flutter in the wind until Rebecca grabs them.
"Uncle Wei used to tell us testimonies," Elena says, her tone distant. "About historical Chinese language magic. Take a time tour. Second probabilities." She laughs bitterly. "I truly called him 3 days in the past, believing in fairy testimonies."
Police lights flash from beneath, turning the clouds pink and blue.
"If you soar," Rebecca begs, "you may never see them grow up."
"If I stay, I'll watch every other female help my children. Watch Ryan form a new circle of relatives while ours crumbles. Elena takes another step and returns. "I cannot do that, Becca."
Her heel comes into contact with nothing.
The rooftop door bursts open once more. Samuel rushes out, followed via security guards. "Elle!"
but she's already falling.
Time slows. In that eternal moment between sky and floor, Elena sees all of it: Sophie's first ballet recital, Luke's prevailing intention, own family dinners full of laughter, Ryan's smile across their morning espresso, the twins' beginning, their wedding day, the first time they met...
Her telephone slips from her pocket, screen lighting up one ultimate time. A textual content from Ryan: "The twins are soliciting for you. where are"
The message remains unfinished because the tool plummets alongside her.
Wind rushes past. The floor procedures. Elena closes her eyes, thinking of Sophie's smile, Luke's giggle, the existence she's leaving at the back of.
"i'm sorry," she whispers once more.
the sector goes black.
Then...light.
sparkling, brilliant light.
Elena gasps, her body twitching as though bowled over. Her eyes snap open, assembling now not concrete but a known ceiling. no longer agony, but softness underneath her.
The aroma of cardboard and new paint enters her nostrils.
She sits up slowly, heart hammering. She's in her former rental — the only she lived in before marriage. earlier than Ryan. earlier than the twins.
Unpacked crates surround her. A calendar hangs on the wall, its date not feasible yet clear:
March 15, 2014.
Ten years in the past.
Her phone – an antique version she hasn't seen in years - buzzes on the nightstand. The caller ID says "Zhang Industries - Interview Reminder."
The process interview. The day she first met Ryan.
Elena touches her left hand. No wedding ring. There was no callus where it had sat for ten years.
Outside her window, a youthful Seattle skyline greets her. A village untainted by her sorrow, choices, and fall.
Her phone vibrates once more. Samuel says, "I wish you proper success nowadays, sis." Do not worry. "It is simply an interview."
Memories rush her mind: corporate galas, charity events, and board meetings where she proudly stood by Ryan, performing the role of the appropriate spouse. The several nights she stayed up to help him prepare shows while the twins slept upstairs. She darkened her own mild to make his shine brighter.
"By no means once more," she says to her mirror image.
Her laptop, an old model by her standards, lies in a cardboard crate labeled 'workplace'. She opens it and types 'Mia Johnson' into LinkedIn. The profile depicts a recent Harvard Business School graduate who is already generating headlines in the financial world. On this timeline, she hasn't stopped thinking about Ryan. Has only sown the seeds of devastation in Elena's ideal existence.
A text message from Rebecca appears: "Breakfast before the big interview? "That cute café on Fifth?"
Elena's fingers shake as she responds. Rebecca is unaware of the affair at this point. would not realize how she will spend endless hours comforting Elena and cleaning up the pieces of her broken lives. On this timeline, they are just bold women ready to tackle the corporate world.
Her phone rings with one last message. From an unknown source: "The rate of converting destiny is reminiscence." Only you will remember. Choose wisely, niece. - Wei"
Elena squares her shoulders as she deletes the message. Outside, Seattle awaits, more youthful, full of possibilities, and unblemished by her grief. She takes her keys, the load unexpected after years of driving in luxury vehicles.
"Watch me," she murmurs to her reflection, Ryan, Mia, and fate itself. "This time, i am now not falling for all people."
She walks out of her flat, closing the door on her previous existence. In three hours, she would meet Ryan Matthews again. But this time, she had 10 years of knowledge, a steel heart, and nothing left to lose.
The elevator doors close on
Elena Zhang, now not the woman who fell, but the woman who rose from the ashes of her own decisions.
This time, she'd fly.