The world she knew was slipping through Ha-eun's fingers like sand. Standing on the edge of a cliff, her mind raced, but her heart was a cold, empty void. The air was thick with the scent of the sea, the wind howling in her ears, but all she could hear was the deafening silence inside her head.
She had always believed in him. Joo-hyun, her first love, her soulmate—the man she had trusted with her heart, her time, and everything she had. But the sight she'd just witnessed shattered everything. The trust. The love. The future they had planned together.
There he was, her boyfriend, tangled in a passionate embrace with Min-seo, her best friend—the very woman she had once called her sister. Her stomach twisted in disbelief. Betrayal. Pure and simple.
"Joo-hyun... how could you?" The words slipped from her lips, barely audible as she stumbled back. Her hands trembled, her vision blurred. The image of them together was burned into her mind, an image she would never be able to erase.
He looked at her, his face filled with guilt, but then his eyes narrowed, and something cold replaced the warmth she once saw in him. "Ha-eun, wait! It's not like you think—"
But his words couldn't undo the damage. He had crossed a line. He had chosen Min-seo over her. The one person she had trusted more than anyone in this world had betrayed her in the most unimaginable way.
Her heart broke in ways words couldn't describe, but in that moment, something else burned in her chest—a quiet fury. She had given everything to him. Her money. Her time. Her loyalty. And for what? To be thrown away like yesterday's news? No. Not this time.
"Give me back what I gave you. All of it. The trust. The love. The money. And everything else you've stolen from me," she said, her voice steady but with an edge that cut through the tension in the air.
The sound of her own words seemed to freeze him. His face contorted in panic, then quickly in anger.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Joo-hyun snapped. "You can't just walk in here and—"
But before she could react, his hands were on her. A shove. A hard, unforgiving push.
The world tilted as she stumbled backwards, her feet slipping from under her. No scream. No warning. No hope.
The ground disappeared. She fell. The cold wind whipped around her, the earth rushing up to meet her like an inevitable doom.
But just as the darkness threatened to consume her, something unnatural happened. A brilliant light surged around her, and the world stopped. Time… stopped.
---
When Ha-eun opened her eyes again, everything was the same yet unfamiliar. The warmth of the sun felt wrong. The bustling sounds of the city below seemed distant.
She was no longer on the cliff. No longer on the edge of death.
Her breath hitched. She looked around, and in a shock that rattled her to the core, she realized: she was 18 again.
Had she gone back in time? Had she really been given a second chance to change everything?