Chapter 2

The qualifying competition was a big deal.

The winner would lead the university' s "Phoenix Project" team.

In my first life, I poured everything into it, won easily.

This time, my strategy was different.

I needed to stay out of the spotlight, away from Chloe' s direct orbit.

I looked at my design sketches, intricate, innovative.

Then, I deliberately simplified them, made them good, but not great.

Second place. That was my target.

Let Ryan have the top spot, the attention, the pressure.

The presentations happened.

Ryan, smug and overly confident, presented his flashy, superficial design.

Chloe watched him, a proud mentor.

I presented my toned-down version.

The judges deliberated.

The results were announced. Ryan Bell, first place.

Ethan Miller, second place.

A small smile touched my lips, quickly hidden.

Perfect.

But peace was short-lived.

The next day, Chloe and Ryan cornered me in the hallway.

"Ethan," Chloe began, her voice sharp, "we need to talk."

Ryan stood beside her, looking like a victim.

"Your qualifier sketches," Chloe said, her eyes narrowed. "They bear a striking resemblance to Ryan' s preliminary work."

"You' re accusing me of stealing?" I asked, keeping my voice even.

"It' s not an accusation, Ethan, it' s an observation," Ryan chimed in, his voice dripping with false sincerity. "My early concepts... they were very similar."

A lie. His early concepts were a mess.

Chloe continued, "We saw them, Ethan. The similarities are undeniable."

I looked at Chloe, really looked at her.

There was something in her eyes, a flicker of awareness, a depth that wasn' t there before.

A chilling thought hit me.

She remembered.

She was reborn too.

The game had just become infinitely more complicated.

She knew what happened last time.

And she was still choosing him.

Or was she?

Her expression was hard to read, a mix of her old arrogance and something new, something unsettled.

"I didn' t steal anything," I said, my voice firm. "My work is my own."

"We' ll see," Chloe said, her tone a clear threat.

They walked away, leaving me with a cold knot in my stomach.

Her being reborn changed everything.

My quiet strategy of avoidance might not be enough.