He smiled.
“You’re different.”
“I had to become different.”
Meanwhile, Chloe kept appearing in my life.
At first, she acted confused.
Then angry.
Then desperate.
She wasn’t used to Ethan saying no.
One afternoon, she showed up at my apartment.
She stood outside holding a small gift bag.
“I miss you.”
I stared at her.
In my previous life, those words would have destroyed me.
Now they sounded rehearsed.
“Why?”
She looked offended.
“Because I love you.”
“No.”
She frowned.
“No?”
“You miss what I provided.”
Her expression changed.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
“Ethan, what’s happened to you?”
“I woke up.”
Then I closed the door.
That night, the System appeared.
[Ding!]
[Emotional Independence Mission Complete.]
[Reward: Enhanced Memory.]
I sat on the edge of my bed.
Then something strange happened.
Memories from my first life became sharper.
Not just major events.
Small details.
Conversations.
Names.
Dates.
Faces.
And one memory suddenly stood out.
A conversation between Chloe and Daniel.
I had heard it once in my first life.
I had forgotten it.
But now I remembered.
Chloe had been talking to Daniel six months before I died.
She had said:
“Ethan will work himself to death if I keep giving him a reason.”
