Chapter 2

My hand, the one I couldn' t feel but could see in this strange system space, trembled. I needed to understand. This had to be a mistake, a glitch in the system.

"Why?" I managed to type into the communication interface. The word looked small and pathetic on the screen.

A "..." icon appeared, indicating that future Liam was typing a response. The delay was agonizing. My mind raced, trying to find any logical explanation. Maybe he thought it would make my life better? Maybe something terrible happened because of that proposal?

The message finally came through.

"I'm tired. I'm just so, so tired of this marriage."

The words hit me like a physical blow. Tired? We had been married for five years. We had built a life together. I supported him when he started his own company, and he celebrated with me when I became a junior partner at my architecture firm. What happened in the next eight years that could make him so tired of me?

My mind instantly went to my accident. The coma.

"Is it because I'm sick?" I typed, my fingers fumbling with the virtual keys. "Because I'm in a coma?"

Another pause. Longer this time.

"That's part of it," he finally replied. "Seeing you lying in that bed... it's a burden. But it's more than that. I think the whole thing was a mistake from the start. We were just kids. We didn't know what we were doing."

A burden. The word echoed in the void around me. All my efforts, all my pain, all the 98 lives I had changed just to get back to him... and to him, I was a burden. A cold, heavy feeling settled in my chest, a weight that made it hard to breathe.

"So you want me... to stop you from proposing to me?" The sentence felt like poison in my mouth.

"Yes," his reply was instant. "Stop me. Make sure it never happens. Tell your past self to reject me, to run away, whatever it takes. I can't look at her anymore. Every time I see her picture, all I can think about is... this. The hospital room. The smell of antiseptic. It makes me sick."

He was disgusted by me. The thought was so horrific, so completely devastating, that my mind went blank for a moment. The vibrant, loving man I married, the man who promised to love me in sickness and in health, was disgusted by the very memory of me because I was now sick.

The system pinged again, a cold, impartial sound.

[Mission 99: Accepted. Client Request Updated. Please review.]

I forced my eyes to focus on the screen. There was a new line of text, an addendum from Liam.

"And another thing," the message read. "There was this other girl back then, Chloe Davis. She had a crush on me. She was smart, pretty... a lot less complicated than Ava. If you can, maybe... push me towards her. I think things would have been better with her. Simpler."

Chloe Davis. I remembered her. She was in my chemistry class, a quiet, sweet girl who always had her head in a book. I remember seeing her look at Liam sometimes, a hopeful, shy look in her eyes. I had even felt a little bad for her back then.

Now, my husband from the future was asking me, his sick wife, to go back in time and not only destroy our relationship but also set him up with another woman. He was rewriting our entire history and casting me as the villain who should never have been in it.

The pain was so sharp, so overwhelming, that it felt like my non-existent heart was being ripped out of my chest. All the love letters, the late-night talks, the promises... were they all lies? Was his love so shallow that a simple twist of fate could wash it all away and leave only disgust?

A single, cold tear rolled down my virtual cheek.

[System Prompt: Confirm mission parameters?]

I stared at the screen, at the words that had just shattered my world. My path to recovery, my chance to wake up, was tied to fulfilling the cruelest wish of the man I loved.

With a hand that felt like it was made of lead, I typed my reply.

"I'll do it."