Chapter 2
TESSA POV
"What? Is she insane?"
"How could she choose the lame uncle over Soren, the man she loved?"
"Something must be wrong with her."
The whispers exploded around the hall the moment the words left my mouth. People turned to one another, their faces filled with disbelief. Some openly stared at me as if I had sprouted a second head, and I could feel their eyes following me, their low voices spreading from one corner of the hall to another.
But I didn't care. I had already made my choice.
"Do you know what you are talking about, Tessa?" Master Silas asked, his voice filled with shock.
Even Soren looked as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. His face had gone stiff, his eyes fixed on me, searching for some sign that I would laugh and admit it was only a joke.
I didn't.
"Yes, I'm sure." I lifted my chin and met his eyes. "I want only him. I want him to be my man." My voice came out firm, without hesitation.
In my previous life, I had spent years chasing Soren's affection, mistaking the way he'd once protected me from bullies for love. I had held on to that one memory even as he treated me like I was worthless.
But I remembered everything now, the insults, the humiliation, Maya, the burning car, and I remembered Malcolm, the only one who had truly supported and helped me when almost everyone else had turned their backs on me. I would never make the same mistake again.
"Please, Master," I said, turning to him. "Grant me this request. I want only him."
Master Silas studied me for a long moment, confusion plain in his eyes. He knew better than anyone how much I had once loved Soren, had watched me follow that man around for years, defending him, praising him, making excuses for every cold thing he did to me. Of course he couldn't understand how I could suddenly choose someone else.
Finally, he sighed. "The decision is not in my hands. If you really want to be with him, ask him yourself."
I nodded and turned toward Malcolm. My heart beat faster, not from fear of Soren, but because I was still asking a man to accept me in front of a room full of people who already thought I deserved to be laughed at.
I took the first step. Then another. The sound of my heels against the floor seemed louder than the whispers around me, and I could feel people watching every movement as I walked. I kept my head up and let my hips sway with every step, unhidden, unashamed. In my previous life I had let Soren's words teach me to hate the body I was born with. Not anymore.
I was almost at Malcolm's seat when a sharp voice cut through the hall.
"Do you think I'll relent and choose you if you try to play hard to get by choosing my uncle?"
Soren. I stopped for a second but didn't turn around. His voice carried the same old arrogance, he really believed I was doing this for him, trying to make him jealous. A bitter smile touched my lips. He still didn't understand.
"No wonder," someone whispered behind me. "She's trying to play hard to get."
"I knew it. How could she fall out of love so suddenly?"
"She thinks this will make Soren want her. It'll only push him further away."
"Foolish, choosing that lame uncle."
"Even Ronan would've been better than a cripple."
Their words followed me, but I didn't stop.
"Even with all this," Soren called again, "I won't choose you. You disgust me."
I only shook my head. He still thought I was the same Tessa who would cry when he rejected me, who would run after him no matter how badly he treated her. He had no idea that the woman standing in front of him had already died once. He had no idea I had already seen the ending of our story, and I had no intention of walking toward it again.
I glanced around the hall. Everyone looked down on Malcolm, certain he was a powerless, broken man with nothing to offer. They didn't know what I knew. They didn't know what he had done for me in another life, or what would happen when the truth about him finally came out. A small smile touched my lips. Let them guess. When they learned who Malcolm really was, they would be shocked.
I reached his seat. He sat calmly, almost detached from everything happening around him, the noise of the hall seeming not to touch him at all. His posture stayed relaxed, his expression unreadable, not angry, not embarrassed, simply watching me approach with a stillness that felt less like emptiness than control, the kind that came from years of learning not to give anything away.
I crouched in front of him, and the room went even quieter. I could feel every eye in the hall on us. I ignored them and looked directly at him.
"Would you accept me as your fiancée, Malcolm?" My voice has become softer now. "You won't want me to be laughed at by turning me down, right?"
A few people shifted in their seats. Someone gave a quiet laugh. I didn't look at them. My confidence held, but underneath it, a small flicker of uncertainty stirred.
I knew the man Malcolm had been in my previous life, but knowing someone from another life didn't mean I could predict what he would do in this one. This was a different life, a different moment, and I was asking him to decide in front of everyone.
"So tell them," I said. "Do you accept me as your fiancée?"
Malcolm said nothing.
The silence stretched. One second. Then another. I could hear the faint creak of someone shifting in their chair behind me, and my fingers curled slightly against my palm. Why wasn't he saying anything? I had expected surprise, questions, not this silence, which made my heart beat harder with every passing second. I looked into his calm eyes one last time. He still said nothing.
A small disappointment settled in my chest. Maybe I had been too confident. Maybe I had assumed too much.
I slowly began to turn away.
Then his voice finally came.
"I accept.”