The sound of morning chatter filled the open office. Phones rang, keyboards clicked, and laughter drifted faintly from the break room.
Elena sat frozen at her desk, staring at the computer screen as if it were a ghost. The calendar in the corner of her monitor read March 17, 2020.
Her heart hammered in disbelief. She had died. She remembered the rain, the crash, the screech of tires — and that haunting voice: "Then live again."
She touched her face. Warm. Real. Her reflection on the dark screen looked younger — softer skin, brighter eyes, no traces of the exhaustion and heartbreak that had hollowed her out over the years.
Her mind raced. Every sound, every smell, every detail around her — the faint scent of printer ink, the buzz of the air conditioner, the familiar clatter of her coworker's heels — it was all the same. Exactly the same.
She was back.
"Elena!"
The sound of that voice froze her. Slowly, she turned.
There she was — Maya Trent. Her "best friend."
Maya's honey-blonde hair framed her smiling face, her brown eyes sparkling with that same easy charm that once fooled everyone. Elena's stomach twisted.
"Hey, I've been calling your name! You okay?" Maya asked, setting her coffee down on the desk beside her. "You look like you just saw a ghost."
Elena's lips parted slightly. If only you knew, she thought.
"I'm fine," she said finally, forcing her voice steady. "Just… zoning out."
Maya chuckled, nudging her playfully. "Don't tell me you stayed up all night working again. You're gonna burn yourself out before the weekend."
The exact same words. The exact same tone. The same smile that used to make Elena feel safe — before she found that same mouth on Adrian's lips.
Elena's fingers tightened around her pen until it nearly snapped.
She forced a smile. "I'll be fine, Maya. Promise."
"Good," Maya said lightly. "Oh, by the way, Adrian's been calling me. He said he couldn't reach you."
Elena's head snapped up. "He called you?"
Maya blinked innocently. "Yeah. He was worried. Said you didn't answer your phone this morning. You two okay?"
Elena swallowed hard. That subtle edge of concern — the perfect disguise for betrayal.
"Yes," she said quietly. "We're fine."
"Okay." Maya smiled, leaning in slightly. "You're lucky, you know? A man like Adrian doesn't come twice in a lifetime."
Elena's heart ached at the irony.
"Yeah," she whispered, looking away. "I know."
When Maya finally walked off, Elena exhaled shakily. The air in her lungs felt heavier than before.
She was back at the start of it all — before the lies, before the heartbreak, before her death. She had been given another chance, and she refused to waste it.
Her phone buzzed on the desk. The name flashing on the screen made her chest tighten.
Adrian Cole.
For a long moment, she just stared. Five years ago, that name made her smile without thinking. Now, it felt like poison.
The phone kept ringing. She let it.
A few seconds later, a message appeared:
"Good morning, sunshine. Coffee later? I miss you already."
Elena almost laughed — a sharp, humorless sound.
How easily she'd fallen for those words before. How quickly she'd believed that love was enough.
Not this time.
She picked up her phone, stared at the message for a few seconds, then turned it over, screen down.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Her coworkers chatted, meetings came and went, papers shuffled — but she barely registered any of it. Every time she glanced across the room and saw Maya laughing with someone, her stomach churned.
By noon, she'd had enough.
She left the office and headed to the café downstairs — the same one she and Adrian used to visit. The place hadn't changed. Same cozy lighting, same chalkboard menu, same faint hum of soft jazz.
She took a seat by the window. The city outside buzzed with life, the kind of ordinary chaos she'd missed without realizing it. People hurrying to work, couples holding hands, delivery bikes weaving through traffic.
Elena wrapped her fingers around the warm mug, watching steam curl upward. Her mind replayed fragments of her old life — their first date, their first fight, her tears on the night she found him with Maya.
Her chest tightened, but not from sadness this time. From resolve.
The bell over the door jingled. She looked up — and there he was.
Adrian Cole.
Tall, composed, dressed in a perfectly tailored suit. His dark hair was neatly styled, his silver watch gleaming under the café lights. Everything about him screamed control and quiet power.
He smiled when he saw her, that same charming smile that used to melt her defenses.
"Elena," he said warmly, walking over. "You look beautiful today."
She lifted her gaze to meet his, her face calm, unreadable. "Do I?"
His smile faltered slightly. "Of course you do. You always do."
She stirred her coffee slowly, her movements graceful but deliberate. "You always say that, Adrian. Even when you don't mean it."
He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," she said quietly, setting her spoon down. "Just thinking out loud."
There was a brief silence between them. He studied her face — something was different about her, something sharper in her eyes. The softness he was used to wasn't there.
"You seem… distant," he said finally.
Elena tilted her head slightly. "Do I?"
He chuckled lightly, trying to ease the tension. "Yes. Usually, you'd be smiling by now, telling me about your morning, or asking if I've eaten."
Her lips curved faintly. "Maybe I've learned not to rush into conversations I might regret later."
That caught him off guard. He looked at her for a long moment, confusion flickering behind his calm expression. "Is everything okay between us?"
Elena met his gaze steadily. "That depends," she said softly. "Are you planning to hurt me someday?"
Adrian froze. "What?"
She smiled — not sweetly, but knowingly. "Never mind."
He tried to laugh it off, but something about her tone made him uneasy. "You're acting strange today, Elena. Did something happen?"
"Nothing," she said again, her voice low. "Nothing at all."
When she finally stood, her chair scraped softly against the floor. "I have to go. Work's piling up."
He reached out instinctively. "Wait—"
She stepped back just enough to avoid his touch. "Goodbye, Adrian."
And with that, she walked out, her heels clicking softly against the café floor.
Outside, the sunlight was brighter than before. The breeze brushed against her skin, cool and freeing.
She paused on the sidewalk, closing her eyes for a moment. The city noise surrounded her — car horns, laughter, chatter — but for the first time in a long while, she felt completely awake.
Elena Brooks had died in a storm, heartbroken and lost. But the woman who opened her eyes again wasn't the same one who'd begged for love.
She was sharper. Colder. Smarter.
And as she walked down the busy street, her reflection flashing briefly in shop windows, she made herself a promise — quiet but unshakable:
"This time, I'll build my life before I let anyone else touch it."
The wind lifted her hair as she crossed the street, the sunlight glinting against her eyes.
She didn't know how long this second chance would last, or what it would demand from her — but she knew one thing for certain:
The girl who once died for love was gone.
In her place stood a woman who would learn how to live without it… until love learned how to earn her back.