Jin Yi

It was supposed to be my graduation celebration, a dinner hosted by my best friends. Brandon, our class president, raised a glass to me, "The quiet genius." But their smiles felt like traps, and when Chloe, my fiancée, squeezed my arm, her touch was cold, her perfume reeked of secrets. Then I saw it-a text on Chloe' s phone from Brandon: "The laxatives are in the sauce for everyone else. Just make sure he doesn't leave." My celebratory dinner wasn't a party; it was a setup to frame me, leave me with a massive bill, and ruin my future. When I tried to leave, they blocked the exit, and Brandon, with a triumphant smirk, snatched my backpack. He pulled out my sealed Stanford acceptance letter and scholarships, then ripped them to shreds, letting the confetti of my future flutter to the floor. Before I could process the devastation, they dragged me, screaming, into a dark, windowless utility closet-a cruel echo of a childhood nightmare Chloe herself had orchestrated. The walls closed in, and I gasped for air, panic seizing me as their laughter mocked me from outside. "We'll let you out when you learn some respect," Brandon' s voice taunted. How could these people, my supposed best friends, my fiancée, plot such a cruel, calculated destruction of my life? Why did they hate me so much? Clutching my phone, I knew I couldn't just survive; I had to fight back, not with their petty cruelty, but with every weapon I had. This wasn't a prank; it was a war, and I was just getting started.

The soft glow of fairy lights was supposed to mark a perfect first birthday for our daughter, Lily, in the grand living room of the Vance mansion. Then the front door burst open, and in walked Brenda, the nanny we' d just fired, her face a mask of bitter resentment. "Quite the party," she sneered, "A party for my granddaughter." My husband, Liam, stiffened beside me, while I tried to process her insane claim: granddaughter? "Brenda, what are you doing here?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly. "You need to leave. Now." "This is my son' s house, after all," she declared, pointing at Liam, "Liam is my son. My long-lost son." My mind reeled at the absurdity, as she brazenly twisted reality. She then called me a "gold digger" and the "help," her words dripping with venom. Before I could even respond, her hand shot out, slapping me across the face with a painful crack. Liam roared, grabbing her, "Don' t you ever touch my wife again! Get out of my house!" But Brenda simply smiled, unhinged, before her son Ethan and his thuggish friends appeared, a silent, menacing reinforcement. "This is my real family," she declared, "And we' re here to stay." She pulled out a faded photo of herself with a young Richard Vance, Liam's father, announcing, "This is the proof! Richard was there, he knows the truth!" She spun a wild tale of a secret baby swap at the hospital, claiming Richard stole Liam from her. Then, Eleanor Vance, Liam' s formidable grandmother, descended the stairs, proclaiming, "Brenda is telling the truth. Liam, she is your birth mother." She denounced my mother-in-law, Lisa, as "too plain" and "not our kind," commanding Liam to "honor your true mother." She dismissed my marriage, declaring, "This family needs a proper heir, from a proper woman!" My plea for a DNA test was met with her furious command, "You will be silent! You are a guest in this house, and you have no standing here!" Eleanor then turned to Brenda, giving her an order, "Put her in her place!" As Ethan and his friends pinned Liam, Brenda advanced on me, her eyes gleaming. She slapped me again, harder, sending me crashing to the floor, my wrist screaming in pain. Lily' s terrified wail pierced the air, and Brenda snapped, "Shut that brat up." My blood ran cold as she approached my daughter, pulling a dark vial from her pocket. She forced a few drops of dark liquid onto Lily' s tongue, casually stating, "It' s just a little something to help her sleep." Lily' s cries choked off, her body went limp, eyes fluttering shut. A primal, icy fear seized me; my daughter was silent, still.

For three years, my Nashville apartment was a vibrant storm of Jenny' s laughter and music, a shared dream with my girlfriend. But on our anniversary, the silence screamed louder than any note when her text popped up: "Jenny Smith has blocked you." It was Caleb, her narcissistic best friend, throwing another tantrum, and I was the sacrificial lamb again. I thought I knew the script-her swift unblock, the empty apologies, the constant cycle of her choosing him over me. Then, on my birthday, Jenny dropped to one knee, a beautiful Gibson guitar in her hand, proposing right in front of our entire social circle. Suddenly, Caleb' s shrill voice tore through the room from her phone, berating her for daring to get engaged without his "blessing." Without a second thought, she snatched the holy grail guitar back from my hands and declared, "The party's over!" leaving me humiliated and empty-handed. The next day, Caleb posted a video of him smashing a replica of that very guitar, calling it "trash," followed by Jenny gifting him a diamond-inlaid one, saying, "My girl knows who really matters." How could someone who claimed to love me treat me like collateral damage, over and over, all for the approval of a spoiled, vindictive man-child? I blocked them all, packed my battered guitar, and called Sylvia Hewitt, the legendary producer, ready for a new beginning.

My maternity leave was almost over, and registering my newborn daughter, Lily, at the Social Security office was supposed to be a simple, routine step, given the new "Family Unity Act' s" strict one-child policy. But the clerk' s words hit me like a blow: "The SSN for your family has already been issued, for a boy named Ryan Todd. Registered by your husband." Ryan, the son of Sabrina, Matthew' s 'friend' whose husband died. My perfect life shattered. My husband, Matthew, the man I loved, had sacrificed our daughter' s future, dedicating her only slot to another child, an act that condemned Lily to state custody by her first birthday. When I confronted him, he dismissed my pain as "selfish," then his hand lashed out, leaving my cheek stinging and my heart aching. Seeking answers, I went to his office, only to find him openly intimate with Sabrina, who then gaslit me, implying Lily wasn't his, a lie Matthew instantly embraced. Branded "crazy" and thrown out, my marriage, my love, my hope for a family, all died in that moment. But as I left, one chilling thought remained: I wouldn't let them win. I would save my daughter, even if it meant doing it alone.

My first life ended with the smell of cheap whiskey, a throbbing leg, and the bitter irony of my ex-wife' s golden boy getting the scholarship that should have been mine. I died alone, broke, and knowing I was a failure in the eyes of my kids and the woman I' d sacrificed everything for. Then, I woke up. The sun was hot on my face, the air thick with popcorn, and I was nineteen again, in my football uniform, standing on the side of the road. It was the homecoming parade, the exact moment my life had been destroyed. I saw Sabrina Johns, the town' s golden girl, laughing on the wobbly float. In my past life, I' d heroically saved her from that collapsing monstrosity, letting it crush my leg and shatter my future. That act of self-sacrifice led to a lifetime of misery, a marriage fueled by her guilt and my ruined dreams. She' d always despised me, painting me as a cripple who trapped her. To my dying breath, I thought saving her was the beginning of our tragic story. I never knew my future was already stolen, my dreams already dead, long before the float ever fell. Did my sacrifice even matter? What twisted game was this? This time, as the float lurched and the giant hornet head tilted, I didn't move forward. I stepped back. I was back, and this time, things would be different.

Sarah Prescott, once left heartbroken at the altar, finally found peace. She lived a serene life on the sprawling Prescott estate, a beloved wife to Arthur Prescott Sr., and a devoted mother to their two-year-old son, Cody. Then, like a ghost from a past she' d buried, Ethan Prescott Jr. swaggered back. Her ex-fiancé, the man who' d vanished hours before their wedding, stood there with a heavily pregnant woman, ready to reclaim his perceived territory. He expected tears, or pathetic pining. He smirked, announcing his new wife, Ronnie, and their coming "heir," then condescendingly offered Sarah a pittance to remain. But his arrogance quickly dissolved as Sarah introduced Cody, her son, who bore the undeniable Prescott eyes. Ethan' s smug face contorted in disbelief. "Whose child is that?" he stammered, demanding answers. How could she have moved on, let alone with Artie? The commanding patriarch now stood declaring with steely resolve: "Sarah is my wife. And Cody is our son." The revelation shattered Ethan's world. The woman he'd discarded was now the lady of the house, his uncle's wife, and mother to his heir's half-brother. Stripped of everything, Ethan faces a brutal new reality, setting off a dangerous chain of events he never saw coming.

For generations, my family bore a strange, ancient burden: the Karmic Concord, an ethereal tether binding one Hayes woman to a destructive "catalyst." For me, it was Julian Thorne, a man born to inflict torment. I silently understood that each public humiliation, every calculated cruelty he dealt, was a necessary cut, a step towards my ultimate soul's liberation. But his games grew crueler; after forcing me on a grueling, body-breaking trek for his superficial girlfriend, he then, without blinking, bruised and twisted my already injured leg in a remote hospital, publicly accusing me of theft. Left in agony, he abandoned me, only to reappear with an unthinkable demand: my healthy kidney, to save his dying lover, Brynn. His offer-a grotesque marriage, a lifetime of "care" under his thumb, knowing my own health would be shattered-felt like an insult after so much already endured, and for a bond that had just begun to loosen its grip. How could one man possess such audacious cruelty, expecting not just my spirit, but my very body, as payment for his desires, for a life linked to a lie? Yet, shivering, broken, and coerced into a cold storage cell to await his will, a profound, luminous dream broke through: a divine revelation that sacrificing a part of myself, not for him, but by my own choosing, was the true, final path to complete spiritual ascension.

I woke up in my own bed, my familiar floral comforter, my slightly messy room. The sun was too bright, and a wave of nausea hit me. Then, Jessica’s sickeningly sweet voice drifted from the kitchen, "Emily? You up?" My digital clock flashed 7:32 AM, April 12th – the day before my world ended. Just then, Jessica appeared, her smile too wide, wanting to borrow my Mustang for the Desert Bloom festival. The image of my beautiful car, mangled, a body on the asphalt, flashed before my eyes. Last time, I’d been blind to her manipulative ways, handing over the keys to my dream car. She drove it drunk, killed an innocent man, then, with my boyfriend Mike’s help, used my own driver’s license to frame me. My denials were useless against their calculated lies and her fake tears. I was abandoned, accused, then dragged from my apartment by the victim’s son and his crew. They left me broken on the side of the highway, my body never recovered. The phantom pain echoed through my limbs, the memory of her betrayal and my agonizing death so vivid, so raw. How was I back? Why was I here, staring at these two people who orchestrated my destruction, their faces masks of innocence? A choking rage, hot and living, simmered within me. But this time, my eyes were wide open, and my voice was steady as I said the single, defiant word that would change everything: “No.” This time, they wouldn’t get away with it.

I woke up to the hum of the office lights, keyboards clattering. This was my desk at Visionary Films. I was alive, and it was October 14th – the day before everything went to hell. Last time, my identical twin sister Jessica stole my script, getting me accused of plagiarism, leading to my parents disowning me and my career's ruin. It ended with my death at the hands of a crazed fan. Now, I was inexplicably back, but the horror was far from over. I soon realized Jessica didn't just steal finished work; she could pluck ideas straight from my mind, instantly. Even a simple drawing, conceived moments before, would appear on her social media, claimed as her own. My entire creative future was being systematically looted by this parasitic twin. How could she reach into my thoughts, my unformed dreams, and claim them? The injustice burned, the confusion maddened me. This wasn't just sibling rivalry; it was a soul-sucking tether. Desperate, I fled LA, burning every piece of my work. But a frantic phone call from Jessica revealed her creative well had run dry without me. This led me to Mama Martha, who confirmed a dark Hoodoo binding: a cursed doll, made with my essence, stealing my life force. Now, armed with a powerful gris-gris bag, I'm back. I'm ready to expose her and shatter the source of her stolen talent on the biggest stage imaginable.

When Heidy sneaked into her boyfriend’s office, she only wanted to give him a pleasant surprise. However, he gave her a bigger one. She not only found out that he was cheating on her with another woman, but also that he was dating her just for money. As she walked away in a daze, all kinds of emotions surged through her mind. From anger to sadness, to helplessness, she was in a maelstrom of emotion. Unable to think clearly, she entered the first bar she came across to calm down. The man she met in that bar, however, was worse than a devil. The handsome stranger lowered his head and stole a deep and passionate kiss. Then their story started.

"Stella once savored Marc's devotion, yet his covert cruelty cut deep. She torched their wedding portrait at his feet while he sent flirty messages to his mistress. With her chest tight and eyes blazing, Stella delivered a sharp slap. Then she deleted her identity, signed onto a classified research mission, vanished without a trace, and left him a hidden bombshell. On launch day she vanished; that same dawn Marc's empire crumbled. All he unearthed was her death certificate, and he shattered. When they met again, a gala spotlighted Stella beside a tycoon. Marc begged. With a smirk, she said, ""Out of your league, darling."

Elliana, the unfavored "ugly duckling" of her family, was humiliated by her stepsister, Paige, who everyone admired. Paige, engaged to the CEO Cole, was the perfect woman-until Cole married Elliana on the day of the wedding. Shocked, everyone wondered why he chose the "ugly" woman. As they waited for her to be cast aside, Elliana stunned everyone by revealing her true identity: a miracle healer, financial mogul, appraisal prodigy, and AI genius. When her mistreatment became known, Cole revealed Elliana's stunning, makeup-free photo, sending shockwaves through the media. "My wife doesn't need anyone's approval."

For three quiet, patient years, Christina kept house, only to be coldly discarded by the man she once trusted. Instead, he paraded a new lover, making her the punchline of every town joke. Liberated, she honed her long-ignored gifts, astonishing the town with triumph after gleaming triumph. Upon discovering she'd been a treasure all along, her ex-husband's regret drove him to pursue her. "Honey, let's get back together!" With a cold smirk, Christina spat, "Fuck off." A silken-suited mogul slipped an arm around her waist. "She's married to me now. Guards, get him the hell out of here!"

Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."

After five years of playing the perfect daughter, Rylie was exposed as a stand-in. Her fiancé bolted, friends scattered, and her adoptive brothers shoved her out, telling her to grovel back to her real family. Done with humiliation, she swore to claw back what was hers. Shock followed: her birth family ruled the town's wealth. Overnight, she became their precious girl. The boardroom brother canceled meetings, the genius brother ditched his lab, the musician brother postponed a tour. As those who spurned her begged forgiveness, Admiral Brad Morgan calmly declared, "She's already taken."

Maia grew up a pampered heiress-until the real daughter returned and framed her, sending Maia to prison with help from her fiancé and family. Four years later, free and married to Chris, a notorious outcast, everyone assumed Maia was finished. They soon discovered she was secretly a famed jeweler, elite hacker, celebrity chef, and top game designer. As her former family begged for help, Chris smiled calmly. "Honey, let's go home." Only then did Maia realize her "useless" husband was a legendary tycoon who'd adored her from the start.

Sunlit hours found their affection glimmering, while moonlit nights ignited reckless desire. But when Brandon learned his beloved might last only half a year, he coolly handed Millie divorce papers, murmuring, "This is all for appearances; we'll get married again once she's calmed down." Millie, spine straight and cheeks dry, felt her pulse go hollow. The sham split grew permanent; she quietly ended their unborn child and stepped into a new beginning. Brandon unraveled, his car tearing down the street, unwilling to let go of the woman he'd discarded, pleading for her to look back just once.

After two years of marriage, Kristian dropped a bombshell. "She's back. Let's get divorced. Name your price." Freya didn't argue. She just smiled and made her demands. "I want your most expensive supercar." "Okay." "The villa on the outskirts." "Sure." "And half of the billions we made together." Kristian froze. "Come again?" He thought she was ordinary-but Freya was the genius behind their fortune. And now that she'd gone, he'd do anything to win her back.

In their previous lives, Gracie married Theo. Outwardly, they were the perfect academic couple, but privately, she became nothing more than a stepping stone for his ambition, and met a tragic end. Her younger sister Ellie wed Brayden, only to be abandoned for his true love, left alone and disgraced. This time, both sisters were reborn. Ellie rushed to marry Theo, chasing the success Gracie once had-unaware she was repeating the same heartbreak. Gracie instead entered a contract marriage with Brayden. But when danger struck, he defended her fiercely. Could fate finally rewrite their tragic endings?

Two years of marriage left Brinley questioning everything, her supposed happiness revealed as nothing but sham. Abandoning her past for Colin, she discovered only betrayal and a counterfeit wedding. Accepting his heart would stay frozen, she called her estranged father, agreeing to the match he proposed. Laughter followed her, with whispers of Colin's power to toss her aside. Yet, she reinvented herself-legendary racer, casino mastermind, and acclaimed designer. When Colin tried to reclaim her, another man pulled Brinley close. "She's already carrying my child. You can't move on?"