Chapter 4 Rebirth

Kehlani slowly walked up to the bed. She stared down at Hyera with a smirk curling her painted lips.

"There's one more thing you didn't know, Hyera," she said in a low voice, filled with venom. "Your mother's death? That wasn't fate. That was me. I had people take care of her."

Her eyes sparkled with cruel pleasure as she dropped the final bomb.

"And your father?" she continued. "He stood there and watched it all happen. He didn't lift a finger."

Hyera's eyes widened in horror.

Kehlani's voice dropped even lower-cold, deliberate. "And that man who raped you years ago? That wasn't just some random monster."

"It was my son."

Her voice rang out like a death knell.

"But now that you're finally dead," Kehlani said with a satisfied smile, "I don't have to keep secrets anymore. Because you know what they say-the dead keep secrets best."

The words echoed in Hyera's ears, but they felt like explosions going off in her chest.

Her mother's death wasn't an accident?

Her father... let it happen?

That man-the one who ruined her life-was Silvia's brother?

The truth was unbearable.

It all made sense now. The vague memories. The doctor's words. The way her mother could still walk, still talk, still help with her homework just days before she suddenly... died.

And her father-his silence, his avoidance.

It wasn't grief.

It was guilt.

Hyera's whole body went cold. Her spirit trembled.

She turned her head toward the man she still wanted to call "Dad."

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Dad..." she whispered. "I'm your daughter. Your real daughter. You're all I had left. Why...?"

Her voice cracked.

"Why would you do this to me?"

"Why did you do this to Mom?"

"Didn't Mom love you?" Hyera sobbed.

"She gave you everything. Everything she had. The company, the shares, even the deed to the old Sherwood estate-she handed it all over to you without hesitation. Whatever you wanted, she gave. Because she loved you!"

Her voice cracked with grief.

"So why-why did you do this to her? To me? What did we ever do to deserve this?"

Tears streamed down her cheeks. Hyera gripped the edge of the hospital bed with both hands, using all her strength to try and sit up. But no matter how hard she pushed, her body wouldn't budge. She was just as paralyzed as before.

Her face turned red with fury. Her features twisted in pain and rage, her entire being consumed with hatred. Her voice thundered through the quiet hospital room as she screamed:

"Hans Sterling! Kehlani Brooks! Silvia Brooks! Tim Brooks!"

"I swear-I swear I'll make you all pay for what you've done to me and my mom! I'll drag you to hell where you'll suffer for eternity!"

Suddenly, a strange force-like a magnetic pull-gripped her.

It yanked her hard.

She tried to resist. She twisted. She thrashed. But the force was too strong. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't break free.

Then-darkness.

...

When Hyera opened her eyes again, she was lying in a different hospital bed.

The room wasn't lavish or modern. It looked... old. The medical equipment was basic-no state-of-the-art monitors, not even an oxygen wall. Everything was simple, outdated even.

Where... where am I?

Warm sunlight poured in from the window, spilling across her body like a soft blanket. As it touched her skin, a strange calm came over her. She took a long, deep breath.

Then a sharp pain stabbed through her head.

"Ow... my head," she muttered, clutching her temples. "It hurts... so bad..."

A familiar voice rang out from just outside the room:

"Hyera? Sweetheart, are you okay? Does your head still hurt?"

"That little brat! Who throws a basketball at someone's head? How dare he hit my Hyera? I swear I won't let him get away with it!"

The voice grew louder as it neared, warm and scolding at the same time.

The door opened.

Hanabi Sherwood walked in.

And suddenly, time stopped.

That voice.

That voice...

Wasn't that... her mother's?

But... her mom was dead. She'd died. How could she possibly be here?

Hyera stared, frozen.

Then she leapt off the bed and ran straight into her mother's arms, throwing herself into her embrace. Her hands clutched at her mother's waist like she was afraid she'd disappear again.

"Mom... Mom! Mom!"

She sobbed so hard her body trembled.

Hanabi gently stroked her back, humming a soothing tune like she used to when Hyera was little. Her voice was soft, like a lullaby.

"It's okay, Hyera. Don't be scared. Mommy's here. Mommy's always here. No one's ever going to hurt my little princess again."

'But this doesn't make sense...'

'Mom's dead... Isn't she?'

'How can I be holding her?'

'Wasn't I just... dead in that hospital room?'

'How am I still alive?'

'Why is Mom saying someone hit me with a basketball?'

'What is going on?'

Hyera clutched her mother tighter, confused, trembling, her thoughts spinning in circles.

Just then, footsteps echoed from outside the room. Someone was coming in.

Hyera was still crying into her mother's shoulder when the sound stopped beside her. She slowly opened her swollen eyes and looked up. For a moment, her world froze.

She blinked hard, then rubbed her eyes with both hands as if to confirm she wasn't seeing things.

"...Ken? Ken, is that really you?"

Kenny Stark.

Her boyfriend.

In her past life, they were separated after high school. He had been accepted to a prestigious university in the U.S. thanks to his stellar grades. She, on the other hand, had failed her entrance exam miserably. She'd stayed behind while he flew across the world, and just like that, they drifted apart.

But now...

Could she change it this time?