Chapter 10

Jericho froze. His heart dropped. That glimpse of someone on campus the other day, it really had been Reina.

‘So why did she vanish the second I saw her? Why had she disappeared without a trace?‘

Then it hit him. Back when he was digging into Vaughan’s past, he had read an old article where the media gushed about Vaughan and Mavis’s relationship.

One line stuck with him, Vaughan had once said, “It felt like she appeared out of thin air.”

Now Reina had vanished the exact same way her mother had on arrived. It couldn’t be a coincidence. It took Jericho another two weeks to finally track down the system.

But by that time, I was long gone, living a new life he knew nothing about. This new world was where my mother had come from.”

Years ago, she traveled here using the system. She completed her mission, but instead of leaving, she stayed behind, married the man she was assigned to and eventually gave birth to me.

For a while, she was happy. We were happy. Then my father got involved with a female singer.”

When my mom found out, he begged her to stay. She almost didn’t. She thought about leaving with me, using the system to escape. But in the end, she couldn’t do it. She saw him crying and she let herself believe he was truly sorry.”

For a while, it seemed like things were okay. But years later, that same woman came back, this time with a kid.”

Turned out, my dad never ended the affair. He just got better at hiding it. That crushed my mom. Her health declined fast and she died bitter and heartbroken.

After that, my dad spiraled. He lost weight, looked sick, couldn’t seem to move on, until he did. One woman after another came and went, all of them sharing some resemblance to my mother.

Eventually, people started rewriting history. They said he had only made one mistake, that he had always loved my mom, that he just never got over her.

I couldn’t believe it. People like him could pretend for years, long enough to convince everyone else and maybe even themselves. But fake is fake, no matter how long you wear the mask.

Right before she died, my mom told me the truth about the system. Her voice was soft, but I still remember every word.

“Reina, if there’s ever a day when you want to disappear, really disappear, the system can take you somewhere no one will ever find you.”

She hesitated, her gaze flickering with something hard to read and her voice dropped so low I almost missed it. “But I hope you find happiness… and that you’ll never have to use this escape.”

I nodded, tears streaming down my cheeks, promising her I wouldn’t. But in the end, I used it anyway.

The system gave me a fresh start; new name, new life and dropped me into a world that didn’t know me.”

Luckily, I had kept my job even after marrying Jericho. He had tried to convince me to quit, to stay home and play the role of a perfect housewife, but I held my ground. I loved my work.

That decision ended up saving me. It made it easy to find a job here and settle into a new routine.

At work, there was this guy, young, fresh out of college, full of energy. Always smiling, always finding reasons to hang around me. Asking if I wanted to grab dinner or catch a movie.

I knew what he was trying to do. I’d always just smile and say no. But sometimes, when I saw how his eyes lit up around me, I kind of got it, what Jericho might’ve felt when Margot came into the picture.

When you were stuck in the same loop for so long, it was easy to get pulled in by something, or someone, who felt new. Like a burst of wind cutting through a long, suffocating summer afternoon.

It was not the feeling that’s wrong. It was the lying. That was what broke me.”

I told him before we ever got married, “I believe in real love. But I also get that people change. So if you ever fall for someone else, don’t lie to me. Just tell me. Let’s at least end things with some honesty and respect.“