Whispering of the Past

They said death was the end.

Li Xinyue used to believe that too-until she opened her eyes again in a classroom filled with teenage voices, the smell of chalk dust, and the faint echo of a teacher's scolding.

She blinked.

No pain. No blood. No hospital beeping machines. No cries at her funeral.

Only-

"Li Xinyue, if you don't stop daydreaming, you'll fail the final exams again!" snapped Teacher Ma from the front of the classroom.

Xinyue's eyes widened.

This wasn't the hospital room she had died in two nights ago. This wasn't her miserable 23-year-old self who had just been betrayed by her best friend, dumped by her boyfriend, and left in an alley in the rain.

This was...

She looked around in disbelief.

Third Year, Class 2 of Jinling High School.

The year was 2017. She was 17 again.

She shot up from her seat.

"What-?"

The class burst into laughter, some boys teasing, "Li Xinyue is finally awake!" while a familiar voice whispered behind her, "You okay? You look pale..."

That voice.

Xinyue turned slowly and saw Lin Zeyan, the boy who would one day become her greatest enemy... and the man who would destroy her future.

He looked the same-cool, quiet, and annoyingly handsome in a school uniform. The boy who would rise from a troubled background to become a powerful CEO. The boy who stole her dream internship. The boy who ruined her career in her last life.

Or so she thought.

Now, as she stared into those calm eyes, one thought burned inside her:

"I'm back. And this time... I won't let anyone step on me again."

This time, she wouldn't fall into her ex-best friend's trap. She wouldn't waste years loving the wrong people. She wouldn't let her talent go unnoticed.

She clenched her fists under the desk.

"Li Xinyue is reborn. And she's going to take back everything."

Including her future.

And maybe, just maybe...

Even the truth behind why Lin Zeyan had always watched her from the shadows.

Li Xinyue sat down slowly, her heart thudding wildly.

It was real.

She pinched her arm under the desk. Hard.

"Ow-" she hissed.

No dream. No illusion. No filming set. This was real life, and she was seventeen again, in her final year of high school. The beginning of everything. Before the betrayal. Before the fall.

Before she became the joke of everyone who once called her "best friend."

She glanced sideways at Lin Zeyan.

In this life, he still looked like the cold top student who never talked much. Everyone either admired or feared him. But Xinyue remembered. In her past life, it was his cruel words at that one interview that had destroyed her career.

"You're not the type of person our company wants."

She'd hated him since that day. But now... things were different. She knew too much.

"Lin Zeyan," she whispered under her breath, eyes narrowed, "let's see who you really are this time."

Suddenly, a folded paper hit her arm.

She flinched, unfolding it quickly.

"You good? You seem weird today. - Tang Xiaomei"

Xinyue's chest tightened.

Tang Xiaomei. Her best friend.

Her ex-best friend.

The one who'd smiled sweetly through years of fake friendship. The one who had slept with her boyfriend and stolen her job-all while pretending to care.

Xinyue swallowed her fury.

In this life, she wouldn't let Tang Xiaomei get close. She would play the game smarter. Act clueless. Let Xiaomei think she was still that naïve little girl who trusted too easily.

She scribbled back, "Just tired. :)"

Fake smile. Fake friendship.

Let the game begin.

After school, as the sun dipped low and bathed the schoolyard in golden light, Xinyue stood by the bicycle rack, watching students chatter and laugh.

She felt like an outsider in her own life.

Then, a shadow fell across her.

"You've been staring at me all day," said a calm, low voice behind her.

Xinyue froze.

Lin Zeyan.

Of course he noticed.

"I wasn't," she said quickly, turning around with a forced smile.

"You were," he replied, watching her with unreadable eyes. "If you have something to say, just say it."

Xinyue looked up at him. This boy would one day hold her fate in his hands.

She stepped closer.

"I don't trust you," she said quietly. "But I'll keep an eye on you."

Lin Zeyan raised a brow. "...Okay?"

"And one more thing," she added, stepping past him. "Stay out of my way."

She left him standing there, confused but intrigued.

Because in this life, Li Xinyue wasn't the victim anymore.

She was the player.

And she had just made her first move.