"I failed you my angel and I'll never forgive myself for it. If I could get another chance to protect you, I promise I'll fight harder and fiercely to keep you safe, to keep you with me."

"I'm so sorry, my angel."

I felt the cold hands of death pull me into a bottomless pit of darkness.

I didn't fight it, I gave in.

~~~~

Somewhere in that dark bottomless pit, I began to hear voices.

At first, I believed it was my memories replaying in my head.

"We cannot launch this without proper research."

"We need to conduct more tests before launching this."

"This is too dangerous."

The voices become louder and clearer.

How was that even possible?

"You're just against the research."

"We've had promising results in the past...."

"Nothing was promising about that failure of a research. Efforts and resources were wasted...."

The louder the voices became the warmer I felt.

I got confused when I suddenly felt light seeping through my eyelids.

What was happening?

My eyelids that should be still, fluttered.

I felt air rushing into my lungs.

I felt...... alive?

No, it couldn't be. Maybe I was transcending to heaven or hell.

Hell couldn't be this warm and comfortable.

I felt something warm beneath me.

It wasn't a mattress, it was a chair.

My eyes suddenly came open.

My vision is blurry for a few seconds and when it becomes clear, I am unable to recognize my environment.

The first thing I see when I open my eyes, is a long polished table.

"What...?"

A laptop is sitting on the table, right in front of me.

I looked around me, there were many other laptops, sitting in front of people wearing white coats.

This couldn't be heaven.

Where was I?

As I looked around the table, I realized that the voices I heard were coming from the people wearing white coats.

Looking down at myself, I realized that I took, like them, was wearing a white coat.

A few people are speaking.

Actually, arguing.

Some are taking notes while others are nodding in agreement or disagreement.

However, they're all looking ahead.

I looked ahead too and saw a man also wearing a white coat and glasses, listening to what the others were saying.

"If I could have a minute of your time," The man finally speak and the room fell silent.

"There indeed have been promising results....."

I stared at each person in the room, unable to recognize anyone of them.

There was no way I was alive.

A second ago, I was dead.

I had died, I was sure of it.

Every bit of the pain I felt when I realized my plans to escape with my child had fallen through, I had felt it.

I was paralyzed and unable to move my body.

I had felt my heartbeat begin to slow down until I couldn't breathe.

It was all too real to have been a dream.

Something caught my attention, distracting me from my confusion.

The reflection on the screen of the laptop in front of me wasn't mine.

How was that even possible?

I bent my head to the left and the reflection on the screen did the same thing.

I bent my head to the right and the reflection did the same thing.

I picked up the laptop, staring intently at the reflection.

I made several other movements and the reflection did the same thing.

I touched my face, getting even more confused.

The person staring back at me wasn't me.

My black hair was gone and was now replaced with platinum blond curls.

Instead of brown eyes, eyes as blue as the ocean stared back at me.

This wasn't me.

"Miss Wright?"

This body seemed to recognize the name as my attention snapped to the man.

"What is your take on the research proposal? It's yours anyway."

All eyes fell on me, curiously waiting for me to say something.

What was he talking about?

Who was he?

I was so confused, I had no idea what to say in response to his question.

Thankfully, someone walked in and took away the attention of everyone.

"I apologize for my lateness." The lady who had barged in smiled at everyone before moving to the man who had called me a second ago.

"Father," She kissed his cheek before taking a seat beside me.

She looked strangely familiar and it wasn't just because she looked like the reflection staring back at me from the laptop screen.

I could have sworn that I had seen her somewhere.

"Have we met?" I blurted out and once again, all eyes fell on me.

They looked at me like I was crazy,

"This is not the place nor time for this, Gracelynn." She rolled her eyes and bumped my shoulder with hers.

Her voice made her seem even more familiar, it was uncomfortable.

When she focuses on her own laptop, I studied her side profile and just then, an image that I could never forget; that image that destroyed everything I had believed in, resurfaced in my head.

I knew why she felt so familiar.

I had seen her before, she was the woman Noah was kissing in the picture.

She was his wife!

"You!" I pushed the chair back and stood up with so much force, my head began to spin.

I struggled to stand still but my body had suddenly become frail.

My vision blurred and the whole world seemed to tip to the left.

Everyone rushed to me, screaming.

The last thing I saw before falling unconscious was the engagement ring wrapped around my finger.

The next time I regain consciousness, I'm in a hospital ward, not a conference room.

There's no one else in the room but me.

I took the opportunity to connect the scattered dots.

Hours ago, I was a dead woman.

Someone had done something to the IV drip and somehow, I had ended up paralyzed, unable to save my child.

Strangely, I woke up, not in hell and most definitely not in heaven but in a conference room.

Those white coats....they were doctors.

Also, I had woken up in a different body and the woman that had ruined my entire life by simply appearing on a picture with Noah, was a sister to the owner of this body.

The resemblance was uncanny and they both looked like the man she had kissed.

The way he called that name, the way this body had reacted...

He definitely was their father.

However, Noah's wife looked different.

I mean, she looked the same but she looked different.... younger.

That was one dot I found difficult to connect.

How was it that she suddenly looked different?

My head snapped to the door when I heard it open.

A nurse walked in with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, you're awake!" She stopped a few feet away from the bed.

The way her makeup was done looked really strange and outdated. It brought a crazy idea to my head.

"What year is it?"

"What?" She blinked, taken aback by my question.

"What year are we in? Today's date? In full."

She remained quiet for a while but eventually answered after seeing the serious expression on my face,

"It's 2010. February ninth, 2010."

2010.

I hadn't just been reborn, I had been reborn ten years into the past.

I thought such kind of things only ever happened in books or movies.

Rebirth wasn't real.

Rebirth wasn't supposed to be real.

"The doctor will come in soon to examine you again. If you feel strong enough to, your family wishes to see how you're doing." She smiled at me again.

I was ten years in the past.

That explained why she looked younger.

How was this even possible?

"Miss Wright?" The next time she called me, she was standing closer to the bed, staring at me , concerned.

Miss Wright.

Gracelynn Wright.

That was who I had been reborn as.

I laughed, ignoring the scared and confused look on the nurse's face.

Life really wasn't fair.

I hadn't just been reborn in a stranger's body.

I had been reborn into a family that most likely conspired with Noah to use me, deceive me and then possibly kill me.

Life wasn't just unfair, Life was cruel.

"I...I...I'll.." I still ignored the nurse even as she walked out of the ward.

I stared down at my hand, wondering who Gracelynn was engaged to.

I was still lost in thoughts when the door burst open and someone walked in.

It was.....Noah?

How...what... what the hell was he doing here?

"Grace!" He rushed to me and cupped my face in his hands.

Before I could push him away, his lips landed on mine.

"I came as soon as I could. How do you feel, my love?" His eyes were practically filled with hearts as he stared at me.

What?!

I finally snapped out of the shock and pushed him away.

I had so many questions to ask but my voice remained stuck in my throat.

"Ah! I see your fiance made it here already." The man from earlier, Gracelynn's father, walked in, with her sister strolling behind him.

Wait, did he just say fiance?

Noah was my fiance?

Noah was Gracelynn's fiance?

But how was that even possible?

Her sister, Marcie was Noah's wife ten years from now.

How then was he engaged to Gracelynn?

This didn't make any sense.

I looked at his right hand, an engagement ring was wrapped around his finger too.

I looked at Marcie's hand, there was nothing.

Noah was indeed Gracelynn's fiance.

But how was that possible?