Pain. That's the first thing Mei Lin felt.
It stabbed deep into her body, spreading like fire through her limbs. Every breath hurt. Every inch of her skin throbbed as though her body had been smashed from the inside out. She curled into a ball, clutching her stomach, trying to ease the sharp sting. For several minutes, all she could do was lie there and wait for it to end.
Eventually, the pain dulled. She opened her eyes slowly, expecting the familiar cracked ceiling of the filthy hospital she had been lying in for the past two weeks. But instead, she was met with soft golden light… and a chandelier?
She blinked hard. Once. Twice.
This wasn't the hospital.
Her eyes moved across the room; cream-coloured walls, soft white curtains, polished wooden furniture, a faint scent of fresh lilies hanging in the air. It was too familiar. Too perfect.
Her breathing quickened.
This was her room. Not the stuffy corner of a government facility but her old room. The one she had stayed in after marrying Shen Lei.
"What…?" she whispered, sitting up slowly.
She looked around, heart pounding, confusion flooding her senses. Everything was exactly as she remembered the books she had never read stacked on the shelf, the silk bedsheets and everything else.
Her fingers came up to her face, trembling.
No…her hands. Her eyes locked onto them.
They weren't the scarred, bruised, hardened hands she had come to accept as hers. No callouses. No burns. No broken fingernails from years of mining, scrubbing, and being dragged by the arms. These were pale, unblemished. Soft, whole and fat.
She stared at them in silence.
"Is this… real?"
Her voice was quiet, hoarse, barely more than a breath.
Slowly, she stood up. Her legs felt steadier than they had in months. She walked toward the mirror. Every step made her pulse thump louder. She stopped in front of the mirror. The reflection staring back at her made her freeze.
It was her. Her younger self, back when she still had pride in her posture and a sharp edge in her eyes. The girl who had just gotten married and her cheeks were full, her skin glowing, her hair still rich and black.
She couldn't move. Her mind was racing.
This couldn't be a dream.
The pain she had felt moments ago had vanished. The weight of her terminal illness was gone. The weakness, the nausea, the sickness that had clung to her every day; none of it remained.
Hands shaking, she reached for the phone on her bedside table.
She tapped the screen.
The date hit her like a thunderclap.
She stumbled back a step and sat down on the edge of the bed.
It was years ago. She had gone back in time.
Her breath came in short bursts. Her mind couldn't keep up. She rubbed her eyes, blinked again, looked around the room.
Same walls. Same bed. Same room.
She pressed her fingers against her temples. "Okay, Mei Lin… okay. Either I'm dead, insane, or… I've time-travelled?"
She tried to laugh but couldn't.
All those years she had spent mocking the schoolgirls who read cheesy online stories about reincarnation and rebirth and now she was apparently living one.
"This has to be some twisted karmic joke," she muttered, standing up and pacing the room. "Great. I finally die, and instead of peace, I get… the sequel."
But no matter how many times she pinched herself, nothing changed.
The room was real.
Her body was real.
This wasn't a dream.
And slowly, the truth began to sink in.
She had been given another chance.
Tears stung her eyes. She covered her mouth with her hand and took a shaky breath. Her mind flooded with memories; bitter ones.
Years of pain. Betrayal. Mistakes.
She had hurt the people who loved her. Pushed away those who tried to help. She had screamed, insulted, thrown tantrums like a child. All because she was too proud to listen. Too angry to look within.
And now… she was here again.
She didn't understand why she deserved this chance. She had done nothing to earn it. Only racked up bad karma and regret.
But for some reason, life or whatever force was behind this, had given her a second chance.
She fell to her knees beside the bed, folding her hands, tears streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Thank you. I don't deserve this. But thank you…"
She had never believed in gods or fate. But at that moment, she had no one else to thank.
She wasn't the same girl anymore. The old Mei Lin had been prideful, naive, spoiled. Life had beaten that version of her to the ground. And in its place, someone quieter, older, and wiser with regret had emerged.
And now… that person had returned to the starting line.
She turned her eyes to the phone again.
The date flashed at her.
Exactly two days after her wedding to Shen Lei.
She closed her eyes.
She remembered her wedding day where she walked down the aisle and how her and Shen Lei were pronounced has husband and wife. To her past self that wedding meant nothing and because she couldn't resist her family and was forced into it, she hated the wedding and more than the wedding she hated Shen Lei.