Chapter 1

Introduction

I waited four years for Shawn, only to end up receiving the news of his engagement to my younger sister, Chloe.

Four years ago, after he was gravely injured and blinded in an accident, I kept it from my family and stayed by his side in the hospital for six months, reading the daily paper to him every single day. He told me that the very first person he wanted to see after his bandages came off was me.

Yet when his sight returned, he mistook Chloe for his savior.

I reached out to him twenty-two times, only to be met with humiliation and driven away every single time.

In my previous life, I spent an entire lifetime hopelessly entangled with him, ultimately dying cold and alone on an operating table while the live broadcast of his and Chloe's fairy-tale wedding played in the background.

Given a second chance at life, I'm done fighting. All I want is to vanish before their wedding day.

Skylar's POV

I waited four years for Shawn, only to be handed the news of his impending marriage to my younger sister, Chloe.

He was entirely convinced that Chloe had been the girl looking after him all those months ago.

Four years back, I spent half a year inside that sterile burn unit, sitting by his bedside every day reading the newspaper to him, holding onto the promise that I’d be the first face he saw once the gauze was unwrapped.

I tried to talk to him twenty-two separate times, desperately wishing he would remember those six months, but his entourage hauled me away before I could even finish a sentence.

Now that I have a second chance at life, I have zero desire to wait for him to turn around. My only goal is to leave the country before their lavish wedding—the sooner, the better.

At noon, I was seated at the Sterling family dining table, listening to my mother, Margaret, lay out the travel arrangements she had made for me.

"Skylar," Margaret began, not even looking at me, "Chloe and Shawn’s wedding date is set. You need to be out of the country before the ceremony. I’ve already pulled some strings to get your paperwork sorted. Stop throwing yourself at Shawn and embarrassing this family."

I merely lifted my eyes. "Okay."

The edge of my ceramic bowl burned against my fingertips, making me flinch. The sharp sting finally grounded me, proving I truly was sitting back at this dining table.

In my past life, I died on a hospital operating table.

Right before my heart stopped, the radio in the OR was blasting live coverage of Shawn and Chloe’s star-studded wedding. The host's voice had been so loud, so sickeningly cheerful.

I died carrying the truth that nobody in the world ever cared to hear.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back before the wedding, sitting right here in the Sterling home, staring down at a hot meal.

In my previous life, hearing Margaret say those exact words had driven me to shatter my dishes in outrage.

My father, Robert, and Margaret exchanged a loaded look.

Robert slammed his fork onto the table. "You agreed awfully quickly. Are you scheming something again? Let me make one thing clear: if you sabotage your sister's wedding in any way, I will make you pay."

I picked up my fork and took a bite of rice. "Nothing will happen."

Margaret chimed in, "All your documents are packed away for you. Once you land, buy whatever else you need yourself."

Robert glared at me with an icy scowl.

I chewed steadily, calm and unbothered, as if I had just agreed to run a quick errand down the street.

The moment I was born, my umbilical cord blood was drawn and transfused into Chloe, my sickly, premature twin sister.

From that day forward, the entire family treated me like Chloe’s personal maid.

Chloe got first pick of everything—food, clothes, affection. Eventually, even the boy I had secretly loved for years became her fiancé.

Four years ago, when Shawn was in that horrific car wreck, his face and eyes wrapped completely in bandages, not a single person in the Sterling household was willing to nurse someone who might never recover.

So I went behind their backs. Every day right after classes, I ran straight to the hospital, perching beside his bed to read the paper to him.

I never dared use my real name, Skylar. I just called myself Mustard.

Because he couldn't see, his hand would constantly reach up to touch the little floral hairpin in my hair. "When these bandages come off, you’re the very first person I want to see."

I held onto that promise for six long months.

The evening before the bandages were scheduled for removal, Margaret stopped me at the door with rimmed, teary eyes. "The doctor had to reschedule last minute. Don't go tomorrow; he needs his rest."

I believed her.

When I finally hurried to the hospital two days later, Shawn's bandages had already been removed. Chloe was sitting gracefully beside his bed, holding a bowl of warm oatmeal, smiling with angelic poise.

The look I had waited six months for had landed square on Chloe's face.

From that moment on, Chloe was Mustard. I was cast aside as the shameless, pathetic homewrecker.

Every time I went to see him, I’d hear Chloe’s sweet, sugary voice whining behind him: "Skylar, please stop embarrassing yourself."

Every single time, I foolishly thought he would hear me out, that he would finally remember those six months.

In this life, I won’t be making a twenty-third attempt.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

It was a text from Shawn. Just one cold line: *Southern Heights Lounge tonight. Come by.*