Seira died, but her consciousness remained for exactly seven minutes...
Seven minutes of remembering, reminiscing, and recovering small, quiet moments that once made her heart feel full or foolish.
She remembered her childhood first, that soft garden morning where her grandmother was watering rows of lush, overgrown plants and suddenly said, "You're too young to fall in love, Seira... True love feels like a fairy tale, but sometimes you still need to think carefully about who you choose to marry."
Then her memories shifted.
Her parents were fighting in the kitchen, voices raised but not cruel, just tired and human, until they softened and solved their misunderstanding in the quiet way couples do when they still want to try.
That scene stayed with her for years, filling her young heart with hope.
Hope that one day she'd find a man who would love her fully, quietly, and for the rest of her life.
So she started chasing that feeling.
She read romantic novels under her blanket with a flashlight on bed nights.
She downloaded otome games and CYOA apps on her phone, the kind where you pick between mysterious princes and cold CEOs and childhood best friends who always waited for you.
Her face would burn with happiness as she imagined falling in love, getting her first kiss, hearing someone say she was their whole world.
High school came and she changed everything about herself.
She went from loud and headstrong to sweet, timid, the type of girl who always smiled and nodded and never talked over anyone.
She dressed softer, tried harder, studied more, and memorized what boys liked.
She even once whispered to her diary, "I will be the most perfect wife in the world. Hehe."
In college, she met Alona and Noelle.
Alona hated men.
Noelle loved it passionately, but lost interest just as quickly.
But Seira? She was trained by loyalty.
She believed in slow, forever kind of love.
She once told them during sophomore year, "If one man loves me, I'll make sure to love him endlessly."
Then came Max.
Maximilian Cortez a varsity player.
Campus crush...
Perfect smile....
He asked for her number after a school event, and she couldn't believe it felt just like the beginning of a fairytale.
Alona immediately raised a brow and said, "Girl, wake up! You're not his first he already has eight exes."
Noelle, on the other hand, defended her with bright eyes.
"Hey, don't be like that! Maybe Max is ready to commit this time, right? Seira's perfect... beautiful, smart, kind and she's wife material."
"I warned you," Alona said again, softer this time.
"I can sense when a man's affection isn't real."
But it all moved too fast.
One date led to another.
Then weekends together.
Then he started texting her about what to wear, how late she should stay out, which friends made him "uncomfortable." Alona was confused, even more so when Seira started asking for Max's permission to go out.
"Wait, what?" Alona said during one call.
"Yes. I need to ask Max first."
"Nooo. You're just his girlfriend. Why is he controlling your time and your clothes?"
"You see…" Seira tried to explain, but her words felt smaller every time.
Alona went cold.
For weeks, she barely spoke.
But she still came to the wedding with Noelle, standing quietly near the back.
Before the ceremony, she pulled Seira aside and said something that marked itself into Seira's brain for years.
"You can say no. Max isn't the right man. I swear."
But....
Seira still said yes at the altar.
Alona walked out of the church before the vows finished.
Years passed in blurred grays and silences.
Then one day, Alona visited again to tell her that her brother had died in a car crash.
Seira barely knew him.
Alona used to tease her about him, but she never got to meet him.
There was never a Bennet surname in their class list.
She wondered if Alona had a half-brother
Then Alona said something else.
The kind of truth that stings even after decades.
"You gave up your dreams before they even had a chance to grow. All because he said staying home was 'better for you.' You're stuck in a house that isn't even paid off. And he accused you of cheating for what? Because you smiled at someone? Because he's so scared someone else might see your worth, even when he's the one destroying it?"
Seira never saw Alona again after that.
But every word came back to her.
Especially after Max cheated.
After she found the late-night chats with his coworker.
After he missed the night Thia had a cardiac arrest.
And now, in death, in this in-between of remembering, she finally understood.
Her life wasn't a fairytale.
She wouldn't just be someone's wife.
She wouldn't just be someone's possession.
She would live loud again.
She would laugh in the middle of a crowded café.
She would chase all her dreams like she was seventeen again and no one told her not to.
She swore she'd never let anyone chain her to the idea of "perfect."
Not even love..
Moving her hands, she touch something soft.
Shifting to her right, she felt the plush pillow, its texture urging her to squeeze it tighter.
Then, realization hit.
She quickly opened her eyes, gazing at the ceiling... not a plain hospital ceiling, but one ornate designed with beautiful phoenixes.
It felt dreamlike, yet the pillow remained tightly in her grasp.
"Am I in heaven?" she whispered.
She sat up slowly, feeling the soft brush of unfamiliar fabric as it slid against her skin.
That's when she noticed the clothes she was wearing... long and white with golden embroidery that glimmered softly under the light, like threads of gold woven into silk.
Her sleeves draped past her wrists, elegant and weightless, and the material felt like something only royalty would wear.
When she reached up to remove the hair from her face, her hand paused halfway.
Her hair wasn't dark anymore.
It was now silvery white, soft and glowing faintly like light bouncing off snow under the moon.
She blinked, confused, then turned her head toward the edge of the room where a tall mirror stood quietly.
Her steps were hesitant, heart picking up speed, and when she finally looked into the glass, her breath caught.
The girl staring back looked at her, but it wasn't her.
Because the woman in the mirror had a face that was slimmer than hers, skin brighter, and the entire presence almost otherworldly, like someone pulled out of a fantasy painting, and for a moment she couldn't tell if she should be amazed or afraid.