Grandmother had passed away.
"Your right hand, what happened to it?" The doctor noticed Claire's hand.
Claire looked at her arm, which was at a very strange angle.
Even a layperson could tell that it was definitely broken.
She declined the doctor’s offer to take an X-ray and stumbled home alone.
On the way, a girl stopped her.
The girl wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and a white shirt, looking as refined as Claire, about the same age:
"Do you want to start over?"
The girl seemed to be saying something, but Claire couldn’t hear clearly.
Finally, the girl thrust a slip of paper with a string of numbers into her hand:
"If you want to start over, write your name, birthday, and address in a text message and send it to this number."
"I can let you start over."
……
Claire sat on the rooftop.
She thought about the girl’s words.
Start over.
What would starting over change?
This life, she had really tried her hardest.
How could starting over make things better?
Give the opportunity to someone who needs it.
So, Claire took out her phone. She was the class representative, and in the class records, there were details for everyone.
She found the girl’s information.
It was said that because the girl didn’t want to get involved with a wealthy second-generation heir, her parents had confined her and beaten her badly. It was pitiful.
Let her start over.
She had so much strength. If given the chance to start over, she would surely have a better life.
Claire picked up her phone and, with her broken right hand, clumsily typed the girl’s information using her left hand.
The text message was sent successfully.
Claire sighed with relief.
With overwhelming despair.
And a small blessing.
She jumped.
……
Claire woke up.
She remembered jumping off a building, but she woke up in bed.
There were many chaotic shadows in her mind, unclear whether they were dreams or forgotten realities.
It probably wasn’t real, after all, she was just an ordinary person, not destined for a rebirth like the heroines of novels.
So, it must have been a dream.
The alarm clock rang, and Claire got up to go to school.
Today, a big event happened at school—the eldest daughter of the Daugherty Family transferred to their class.
Claire vaguely remembered that she seemed to have dreamed of this scene.
In the dream, the eldest daughter of the Daugherty Family was bullied in the restroom, and Claire approached her, offering a towel and encouraging her to speak out.
But the girl waved her hand away: "Speak out? That’s my brother! What do you know? He’s my brother!"
So this time, Claire didn’t intend to meddle.
She simply handed over a towel and then turned to leave.
However, the eldest daughter of the Daugherty Family called out to her: "Claire!"
Claire stopped in her tracks.
For a moment, she felt that she had heard this voice many times in her dreams.
……
The eldest daughter of the Daugherty Family seemed to be a very friendly person.
She invited Claire to dinner and asked Claire to tutor her.
Claire taught her twice and realized that the eldest daughter was better at conic sections than she was.
She was trying to find ways to give Claire money while preserving her own fragile self-esteem.
Claire had never cried from childhood.
But at that moment, her nose felt a little stuffy.
……
Thanks to the eldest daughter of the Daugherty Family, besides living expenses, Claire had accumulated considerable savings.
She arranged for her grandmother to have surgery at a good hospital, and the operation was successful.
As for her father, he was mysteriously beaten and hospitalized.
Claire discreetly probed the eldest daughter of the Daugherty Family to see if she had anything to do with it.
The eldest daughter of the Daugherty Family played dumb throughout, but her smile was harder to suppress.
Claire was a bit speechless. She was just quiet, not stupid.
Later, Claire’s father was discharged, but he incurred new debts, and the previously fractured area was broken again, this time penetrating his heart.
It was said that when he was discovered, there was still a slight chance of saving him, but Claire signed the papers, indicating that the family voluntarily chose to forego treatment.
Claire scattered her father’s ashes in a foul-smelling ditch and hired a caregiver for her grandmother. After settling these two major concerns, she fulfilled her wish to enter T University.
She had so many things she wanted to do.
For example, Destiney said she wanted to start a business.
So, she hoped to become her partner.
……
Later, the content of the dreams became clearer.
Claire remembered.
It turned out that the eldest daughter of the Daugherty Family was the girl from her previous life.
In this life, she had indeed changed her fate.
Her choice had been worth it.
Later, Claire asked Destiney:
"In the past life, was there anything particularly memorable for you?"
Destiney looked a bit lost: "Too many, which one do you mean?"
Claire said: "Not a specific thing, actually, just a scene."
……
That day, under the still-dark sky, two girls wearing thin school uniforms were jogging.
They were the earliest risers and the most diligent students at the school.
Their long and barren adolescence was like a winter night, seemingly endless.
The short-haired, skinny girl couldn’t run anymore; she wanted to stop.
So, the other girl with long hair ran to her side, grabbed her hand, and pulled her toward the faint light ahead.
The light grew brighter, and the world was about to be illuminated.
"Will we really... have a bright future?"
"Certainly!"
……
At that moment, Claire and Destiney held hands, standing under the spotlight.
She thought, it didn’t matter if she didn’t remember.
Because the promise had already been kept.
They truly stood in the future they had once hoped for.
