Noelle's eyes snapped open, struggling to breathe while she clawed at her throat. Disorientation washed over her, a dizzying wave of confusion when she felt nothing. The last thing she remembered was the cold, sterile room, the masked executioner, the prick of the needle as it entered her skin… the darkness. Now, she was staring at the familiar floral patterns of her bedroom wallpaper, the soft morning light filtering through the curtains.
Panic gripped her. She sat bolt upright, her heart pounding in her chest. Had it all been a dream? A horrifying, hyper-realistic nightmare? She touched her arms, her neck, feeling for the marks from the manacles, the lingering pain. There was nothing. Her skin was smooth, unmarked.
She threw back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed, her feet landing on the plush carpet. The familiar texture grounded her slightly, but the confusion remained. This was her old bedroom, the one she had before… before everything. Exactly three years before she was arrested.
While she was still trying to grasp the impossible, wondering if it had been a bad dream, the door to her room opened, and her assistant, May, entered, carrying a stack of files and a garment bag. May's face, smiling and pretty, brought another wave of disorientation.
"Good morning, Noelle," May chirped, her usual cheerful demeanor in place. "You have a meeting in less than two hours at the Grand Azure Hotel. It's with Mr. Henderson about the new fragrance campaign."
The words hit Noelle like a jolt of electricity. The Grand Azure Hotel. Mr. Henderson. The fragrance campaign. It was all flooding back, not as a memory, but as a premonition, a chilling sense of déjà vu.
She remembered this day. She remembered this meeting. And she remembered what followed: a carefully orchestrated setup by Ma-Ri. A trap designed to ruin her reputation, to alienate her from her family, to pave the way for Ma-Ri to take her place as lead singer and Caine's wife.
The details were vivid, almost visceral. The opulent hotel suite, the smooth-talking stranger, the compromising photos, the devastating fallout. It had been the beginning of her downfall, the first domino in a chain of events that had ultimately led to her wrongful conviction and death sentence.
Noelle stared at May, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and disbelief. "The Grand Azure?" she repeated, her voice barely a whisper. "The meeting with Mr. Henderson?"
May frowned, her brow furrowed with concern. "Yes," she said. "Is everything alright? You seem… pale."
Noelle took a deep breath, trying to organize her thoughts. She knew she would sound crazy if she even tried to tell someone what had happened to her. All she knew was that she had to prevent what was about to happen.
"Sorry May." Noelle sighed, "I literally just woke up from sleep, so the sleep fumes are still in my head."
May looked at her, her expression unreadable then she nodded and dropped the coffee she held on the table before unzipping the garment bag.
Noelle studied her assistant as she worked. She had never thought about it before, but now she was suspicious about May's role in everything that had happened to her. She was the closest person to her and she knew every step that she took. It would be easy for her to feed someone who wanted to harm her information about what she was doing.
"May," Noelle called out and May turned to look at her with a questioning look.
"I need you to go get me that basque cheese cake I love from Candy." She said with a pout.
Noelle watched as a nerve ticked in May's throat and there was a storm in her eyes which cleared almost immediately.
"Now?" She asked and Noelle nodded.
"But Candy is across town," May said through gritted teeth, "with the traffic, it would take me all morning to go and come back and I need to take you for the meeting, why don't I place an order instead?"
She pulled out her phone and started to place an order but Noelle grabbed the phone out of her hand and said in a whiny voice. "I don't trust those delivery people, the cake will arrive all smushed up and ugly! I will not be able to eat it if it looks so disgusting."
She watched as May struggled to keep her composure and she continued, "I can go to Grand Azure by myself."
May hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Promise me that you won't go late, this meeting is very important."
"I promise." Noelle said as she handed over May's phone back to her.
May took a deep breath and looked around, "fine, since you are sure that you don't need me, I will just leave."
"Don't forget." Noelle called out after her, "Salted caramel."
Once May had left, a sense of grim determination settled over Noelle. She could not afford to be paralyzed by fear or disbelief about the strange circumstances she had found herself in. She had a limited window of time to change the course of events, to prevent the devastating chain reaction that had led to her wrongful conviction and death sentence.
She sat down at her laptop, the familiar glow of the screen illuminating her face. A quick search confirmed the meeting with Mr. Henderson at the Grand Azure Hotel. It was scheduled for 10:00 AM, giving almost two hours, just enough time for her to prepare.
A wave of nausea washed over her as she looked at the details. The same date, the same time, the same location. It was all unfolding exactly as she remembered, or rather, as she knew it would.
She forced herself to focus, pushing aside the rising panic. She knew that she needed to be methodical, to gather as much information as possible before dealing with Ma-Ri.
With a renewed sense of purpose, Noelle closed her laptop and went to her closet. She saw the outfit that May had chosen for her, it was a simple but elegant dress that she remembered wearing to the fateful meeting.
She flung it aside and looked through her clothes until she something else she liked. As she dressed in the tweed two piece, the tiny skirt showing off her long and slender legs, she felt like she was putting on a battle dress. After all, it was a fight for her life if she did not want to have to relive that nightmare.
Before leaving, she decided to take one crucial step. She picked up her phone and dialed the Grand Azure Hotel. "I'd like to confirm a reservation," she said to the receptionist, her voice steady. "The reservation is under Ryu Areum."
After a brief pause, the receptionist confirmed the booking. The confirmation was a small but significant victory, a tangible piece of evidence that this wasn't just in her head.
As Noelle left her wing and made her way to her car parked outside waiting for her, she encountered a figure she had not anticipated. It was Alice, her uncle Vernon's wife, a woman with a perpetually pinched expression which was probably thanks to the hundreds of Botox injections she had gotten and a thinly veiled disdain for Noelle, she standing near the entrance, seemingly waiting for someone.
"Areum, darling!" Alice exclaimed, her voice laced with a false warmth that did not reach her cold eyes. "What a pleasant surprise."
Noelle forced a polite smile, her guard immediately going up. She had always sensed her aunt's disapproval, a subtle undercurrent of resentment that had never been explicitly addressed and now she knew for sure that she had not been imagining it.
"Aunt Alice," Noelle greeted her, her voice carefully neutral. "What are you doing out here?"
"Oh, just running a few errands," Chung Cha replied, waving her hand dismissively. "And what about you, dear? All dressed up. Off to an important meeting, I presume?"
"Yes," Noelle confirmed, her eyes narrowing slightly. She couldn't shake the feeling that this encounter was more than just a coincidence.
"Well, you always were ambitious," Beatrice said, her smile tightening. "Just like your mother. Always striving for more."
The subtle jab, the veiled criticism of her mother, didn't escape Noelle's notice. She had always been aware of the tension between her mother and this woman, a rivalry that had simmered beneath the surface for years.
"I suppose it runs in the family for some," Noelle replied, her voice carefully controlled, also throwing a jab at Alice's husband who was lazy and reckless with money.
Alice chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. "Indeed," she said. "Well, I mustn't keep you. You wouldn't want to be late for your important meeting."
She paused, her eyes narrowing slightly, a flicker of something dark and calculating flashing across her face. "Just be careful, dear," she added, her voice laced with a false concern. "The world can be a very dangerous place for ambitious young women."
Noelle met her gaze, her heart pounding in her chest. She could sense the hidden meaning behind her aunt's words, the thinly veiled threat. She knew that Alice, like Ma-Ri, harbored a deep resentment towards her, a resentment that had been shown to be dangerous.
"Thank you for the advice, Aunt Alice," Noelle said, her voice firm. "I will keep that in mind."
She turned and walked towards her car, her mind racing. The encounter with that woman had only heightened her suspicion, confirming her belief that she was walking into a trap. She knew she had to be careful, to be vigilant, to anticipate Ma-Ri's every move. She had been given a second chance, and she wasn't going to waste it. She would do everything in her power to change the past, to protect herself, and to expose the truth.
She drove straight to the hotel and met the receptionist, there she declined the offer to allow a porter show her to the room. As she walked towards the elevator, she was completely oblivious to the fact that someone had been watching her the whole time she stepped into the building with a calculative gleam in their eyes.