The world smelled the same.
Warm street food. Car exhaust. Rain drying on hot pavement.
Yet everything had changed.
Aria stood frozen at the bus stop, clutching the railing as if it were the only thing keeping her upright. People hurried past—businessmen, students, couples arguing, mothers dragging toddlers—but no one spared her a glance.
Eleven years had passed.
Eleven years of silence.
Eleven years in which she had been… nowhere.
When she opened her eyes that morning, she was lying on a rooftop—an unfamiliar building overlooking the city skyline—her head still throbbing at the exact spot where the boy had struck her long ago. But the bruise was gone. Her wounds were gone. Her uniform was gone.
Time had moved on.
But her body—
Her body was still seventeen.
Her reflection in the shop window proved it: same eyes, same hair, same slim frame. As if the universe had pressed pause on her while everything else ran forward like an unstoppable river.
Aria swallowed hard.
Was this the novel's doing too?Was she restored because she still had a role to play?
She didn't know.
She only knew one thing:
Her brothers were still alive.
The tragedies she had seen in her vision—bankruptcy, prison, death—were still in the future.
She had woken up in time.
Her phone buzzed suddenly, interrupting her spiraling thoughts.She jumped. The device was newer, sleeker than anything she remembered, but when she pressed the button, it unlocked with her old fingerprint.
A message notification slid down the screen:
NEWS UPDATE: "Heir of Aldermann Corp spotted at Rosewood Bistro"
Aria's heart stopped.
Aldermann Corp.Elias.
Her eldest brother.The future ruined businessman.The first victim of the "Moonlight" and her male lead.
Without thinking, Aria began weaving through pedestrians, following the map in the article. Her heartbeat thudded painfully fast—part fear, part hope.
Please let him be okay.Please let him be stable.Please let him still be the brother she remembered—
The warm glow of a restaurant sign broke through the crowd.
Rosewood Bistro.
Press vans surrounded the entrance. Microphones. Cameras. A polite but firm ring of security.
Aria slipped between bodies until she reached the front. Reporters chattered excitedly, adjusting their equipment.
"He should be out any moment.""Rumor says he's planning a major acquisition.""Finally showing his face after months of silence—"
The door opened.
Aria's breath hitched.
A tall man stepped out—clean suit, broad shoulders, the familiar calmness in every step. His hair was slightly longer now, his jaw sharper, but she would recognize him anywhere.
Elias.
Her big brother.
Alive.Whole.Untouched by the tragedies that were meant to destroy him.
Aria's throat tightened. For a moment she forgot how to breathe. Eleven years of longing crashed against her ribs like a wave. She took a step forward—
But then his expression changed.
His phone buzzed.He checked the screen.
Everything in him shifted instantly—tension, worry, urgency.
He turned to the reporters, lifting the phone to his ear.
"Yes, I'm here."
Silence as he listened.
Aria strained to hear but caught only fragments.
"…hurt?""…where?""…alone?"
Her stomach dropped.She knew that tone—too gentle, too protective.
The Moonlight.
The woman who would betray him.The woman who would stand beside another man and destroy Elias's future without remorse.
"Cancel the interview," Elias said suddenly.
Cameras clicked wildly. Reporters shouted questions.
"CEO Elias, is the acquisition falling through?""Is this about your rumored girlfriend?""Why are you leaving so suddenly?""Is someone hurt—?"
Elias raised a hand, his voice steady but final.
"Apologies. Something urgent has come up. The interview will be rescheduled."
He didn't wait for follow-up questions.Didn't spare a glance at the crowd.Didn't notice the girl trembling at the sidewalk edge, staring at him like she had seen a ghost.
He stepped into his car, doors closing behind him, and within seconds, the black vehicle disappeared into traffic.
Aria stood there long after everyone else lowered their cameras.
Her mind churned.
Her brother—Her kind, foolish brother—had just abandoned a crucial interview for a single call from that girl.
That girl.
The one who would destroy him.
Aria's fists curled until her nails dug into her palms.
"No…"
The word came out a whisper.
She felt anger rise from the deepest corners of her chest—anger she didn't know she could hold. It spread through her like fire through dry leaves.
"How dare he cancel the interview… for her?"
A reporter brushed past her, muttering to his colleague.
"Unbelievable. He dropped a multimillion-dollar announcement because of a woman?"
"That 'Moonlight' again," the other whispered. "He's obsessed."
Something inside Aria snapped.
She took a step back from the restaurant, her breath rasping.
"He dares…"Her voice trembled with fury."He dares to throw away his career… his future… for a girl who will betray him?"
Pedestrians walked around her, unaware of the storm building inside her.
Aria's eyes burned with a sharp, icy determination.
"No," she whispered. "Not again."
Her brothers weren't pawns in a novel anymore.
And she—
She wasn't the disposable side character destined to watch them die.
Her fingers tightened around her phone until the plastic creaked.
"I will not spare him," she said through clenched teeth."That male lead who ruins everything…I won't let him touch my family."
Her voice lowered into a vow.
"And as for that Moonlight—if she thinks she can ruin Elias again…"
Aria lifted her chin, eyes blazing.
"She has picked the wrong sister to mess with."