The next morning felt deceptively peaceful.
Golden sunlight spilled across campus, students laughed, birds sang ,the world moved as if it hadn't been rewritten overnight.
But Sarah felt the change in the air.
The world was holding its breath.
And she knew why.
Daniel was waiting for her outside the lecture hall.
He leaned casually against a lamppost, holding two cups of coffee, wearing the same smile that had once been her weakness.
"Morning, sunshine," he said, offering her one. "Double shot, no sugar. Your favorite."
Her fingers hesitated around the cup. He remembered.
She forced a polite smile. "Thanks."
He grinned wider, clearly relieved by her reaction. "I thought I'd surprise you. You've been... different lately."
"Different?"
"Distant," he corrected softly. "I don't want to lose you, Sarah."
The words sank into her chest like ghosts from another life.
In her past, he had said those same words right before he betrayed her.
She sipped the coffee, pretending calm. "You're not losing me, Daniel. I just needed space."
"I can give you that," he said quickly. "But I also want to make things right."
She glanced up. His eyes were softer than she remembered almost desperate.
"Then start by being honest," she said, testing him.
He blinked. "Honest about what?"
She studied him for a moment. The past and present blurred until she almost saw two Daniels: the loving boyfriend she had once adored… and the liar who had destroyed her.
"Never mind," she said finally, stepping back. "Forget I asked."
But the seed had been planted.
His smile faltered for the first time. "Sarah… is something wrong? You're not yourself."
Her throat tightened. Not myself? He didn't know how true that was.
"I'm fine," she lied again. "I have class."
He caught her wrist gently, but firm enough that she felt it. "I mean it," he said, voice low. "If someone's bothering you, I'll take care of it."
Her breath caught.
The protective tone. The promise of control. The beginning of the same possessiveness that had once suffocated her.
"Daniel," she said softly, pulling her hand free. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
And before he could respond, she turned and walked away.
---
The day passed in a blur.
But every time she turned a corner, she felt him there, Daniel's gaze following her, always just a few steps behind.
By afternoon, it wasn't comforting anymore. It was unsettling.
When she entered the library, his reflection glinted faintly in the glass doors.
When she left class, his scent of cedar and mint lingered down the hall.
And when she finally sat alone beneath the old oak by the fountain, her phone buzzed.
Daniel: I miss you, Sarah. Can we start over?
Daniel: You're mine. I won't lose you again.
Her fingers went numb.
Again?
How could he say that word "again"as if some part of him remembered too?
The thought sent shivers racing through her spine.
---
That night, she dreamed again.
She was standing on a bridge, rain pouring around her.
Daniel stood at one end, reaching out to her.
Alexander stood at the other, eyes glowing faintly in the stormlight.
"Choose," a voice whispered in the wind.
But when she stepped forward, the bridge cracked beneath her, and she fell into darkness
falling, falling
until a pair of arms caught her.
Cold. Familiar.
She woke with a gasp, drenched in sweat. Her phone buzzed beside her bed.
A new message.
Daniel: I had a dream about you.
Daniel: You were falling. I caught you.
Sarah froze.
Her phone slipped from her shaking hands.
How ,how could he have dreamt the same thing?
Her heart pounded as she scrolled back up. Another message appeared.
Daniel: Don't see him again, Sarah. He's not what he seems.
Her breath hitched. Him?
There was only one "him" that made sense.
Alexander Reed.
She grabbed her phone, typing furiously.
Sarah: How do you know about him?
The typing bubble appeared. Then disappeared.
Appeared again.
Daniel: Because I remember.
Sarah's world tilted.
She sat there frozen, staring at the screen as the words burned into her mind.
He remembers.
Was it possible? Could Daniel the same man who had destroyed her, have carried memories from their past life too?
The sound of her heartbeat filled the room, wild and uneven.
She wanted to deny it. She wanted to call him a liar. But deep down, a terrifying truth whispered through her veins.
That word he'd sent earlier again.
The way he'd suddenly become more protective. More desperate. More intense.
He wasn't just falling in love with her all over again.
He was remembering.
And if Daniel could remember the past…
then maybe his betrayal hadn't been a choice.
Maybe it was a curse.
---
Outside, the wind howled through the night like a warning.
Sarah pressed a trembling hand to her lips, her mind spinning with fear and disbelief.
If Daniel remembered, what else did he remember?
Her death?
The crash?
The truth of who killed her?
Her phone buzzed one last time.
Daniel: I won't let him take you from me again.
The lights flickered.
And in that brief, trembling flash, Sarah saw her own reflection in the window
and behind her, for the smallest second, another silhouette.
Alexander. Watching.