The Second Life of Lenora

"You aren't going to do this to me, are you?" Lenora's expression was one of total shock as she questioned Megan, who was once her best friend. Her breath shook with deep fear as Megan enclosed her with three muscular masked men that were there standing to get her to cooperate in case she decided to run.

Megan let out a mock chuckle, looking at her with pity. "It's a shame that this is how you die, Lenora. But try and understand me, I don't want to be feeling unnecessary guilt knowing that you are alive suffering from my union with Lucian. It's better you are out of the way and don't know at all. Don't you think?" Lenora didn't think this could hurt beyond the pain she already felt, but witnessing Megan say these words to her when she would be dying soon tore her heart into shredded pieces.

"Me... Megan... thir... thirteen years of friendship...what ha...have I done to wrong you?" Lenora's lips quivered in the cold night air, the wind bearing witness, lifting their hairs up as it blew fervently.

Megan walked in a slow circle around her, acting like she was lost in deep thought. She smacked her lips before she said. "I have wanted Lucian to myself the moment you introduced us. And you were so blind to see that. You think I was happy that you were with a rich man, and I kept having heartbreaks in my own relationships for the men I settled for? I would be damned to be happy for you." She chuckled like a lunatic.

"Lucian never loved you like you thought anyway, he only enjoyed controlling your weak ass." She chuckled louder this time around, then her eyes suddenly turned cold. "I hate you Lenora, I hate that you act innocent, get favors from others whenever you are together. I hate you!" She she snatched Lenora's hand harshly from her then touched her belly with it. "Lucian junior is breathing right here, here in my womb. I don't want you to be around when I give birth to my baby boy. That would be torture for you, won't it?"

Lenora couldn't even find the strength to pull her hand away from Megan's belly as another dreadful feeling washed through her. Megan was pregnant for Lucian? She was currently pregnant too.

"Now die!" And just like that, she was pushed off the twenty-story rooftop, and her life vanished before her eyes.

Then, then... the scenario twisted. A sound went off, sounding like an alarm.

"I'm dead, I should be dead by now" Lenora subconsciously muttered, feeling a searing pain lance through her skull. It was so relentless that it triggered a strangled gasp from her lips "Agh!" The short scream came out loud, and weak, her fingers curling into the sheets beneath her as she braced up for death. Wait, sheet... not the gravel of the cold death floor that she should be on right now.

She gasped with a frantic jerk, and woke up. How was that possible? She had plummeted from the rooftop, ready to make peace with death, her best friend's cruel laughter as she fell had made her regret her whole life choices in a few seconds. She looked around her with wonder, feeling her heavy breathing, and headache subsiding, but the deep pain of betrayal was there hiding but lying in her chest. Her mouth fell open in shock as she looked around once again. She was in her room, her old room?

The overwhelming scent of lavender in the room and the surrounding were all so familiar. This was her old room from years ago, why is she here? Or is she dead and now been shown things from her past life? But she felt so alive, how is that even possible?

She twisted her body towards the standing mirror, and when she saw herself, her breath stilled. The reflection staring back at her was her younger self. Not the shattered, betrayed fool who had let herself be tossed aside like garbage. Her lips parted in disbelief as she lifted her hands, trembling as she reached for the delicate silver chain resting against her collarbone.

Her father's chain.

Her precious, irreplaceable chain.

A sob clawed up her throat as she clenched it in her fist. Lucian had stolen this from her. He had snatched it off her neck in a fit of anger, hurling it off the rooftop as though it had meant nothing. She had spent hours searching for it in the cold, her fingers bleeding from scraping against the concrete. She had cried until she could barely breathe, mourning not just the necklace but the loss of her father's memory.

But now, it was here. She was here.

"Wait... what year is it?" she whispered, her voice hoarse with disbelief. She hastily reached for her phone from the bedside table, her fingers shaking as she pressed the power button.

Her eyes widened as she stared at the screen-2020.

Five years apart from her last moment on that rooftop.

Then it suddenly clicked. She had gone back in time. She was back to her past life, it felt like another chance. Her lips tilted slightly into a small smile. Is this her chance to right her wrongs?

"I hate you Lenora, I don't want your happiness." Megan's words ran back to her mind. Megan was having Lucian's baby, and so was she. She had been trampled on, embarrassed by Lucian many times in her past life. She had felt sheer helplessness as Lucian, the man she had loved the moment he spoke to her at that party betrayed her over and over, then he did it with Megan.

As if that wasn't enough, Megan had killed her. To her, this was rebirth, but it didn't change the fact that Lucian and Megan had betrayed her.

She had begged for Lucian's love, swallowed her pride, and let him walk all over her. She had clung to the hope that one day, he would change.

He had charmed her with his effortless elegance, his deep, magnetic voice, and the way he made her feel like she belonged to him in the first few months of their relationship only to change. She had trusted him completely, foolishly, and how had he repaid her?

With lies, With infidelity, With a cruel smirk, as he held her best friend in his arms and mocked her for believing she had ever mattered.

"Stop looking like a helpless chicken and get out," Lucian had told her that night, his voice dripping with indifference. "No one is sorry here."

She had stood there, frozen, her heart shattering into a million jagged pieces as Megan giggled in his arms. The same Megan who had sworn to always have her back. The same Megan who had whispered secrets with her, held her when she cried, and told her she deserved the world.

She hadn't even flinched when Lucian had kissed her in front of Lenora, his hands roaming her body shamelessly. Tears burned at the back of Lenora's mind, but this time, they didn't fall. This time, her mindset had shifted. No devastation, no despair, only rage.

If she had learned anything in her past life, it was that kindness was a weakness. "I would trample on those who dared to betray me, no one would hurt me again, and I would never love again." She muttered to herself.

The beeping sound of her phone jolted her, she glanced at the screen, and the very name that appeared made her stomach churn with disgust. -Lucian.

She remembered this very moment, she had been overly excited to speak to him. She never forgot any moment she had with Lucian, she had lived for his existence in her past life.

She wanted to hang up and block him, but what fun would that be? She had a lot of surprises in store for him that would start right from here. She picked.

"The third ring... you are picking on the third ring, Nora. Where had you kept your damn phone!?"