PAST (before the time loop):

You were always the quiet one—sweet, reserved, the kind of girl who apologized even when she hadn’t done anything wrong. There was a softness to you that people either adored or took advantage of. College, however, had begun to change you. It cracked open your world, introduced you to new friends, new places, and new versions of yourself. You were still gentle, still kind—but curiosity had begun to bloom.

That’s how you ended up at that party.

It was supposed to be harmless. A few drinks, some music, a chance to feel alive. You met Hugo there—charming, magnetic, the kind of man who made the room tilt when he smiled. He saw you and didn’t look away. He made you feel chosen.

You didn’t notice his friend at first. David. He stood in the background, half-hidden in shadows, nursing a drink he barely touched. Cold. Distant. Watching. He barely spoke to you that night. He couldn’t. You didn’t know it then, but David had been carrying a secret too heavy for words.

In another life, in a future yet to happen, you would marry Hugo.

And it would destroy you.

Hugo, who once looked at you like you were the center of his world, would grow possessive, paranoid, cruel. And one day, in a fit of rage, he would stab you. You’d collapse in the kitchen, gasping for air, while your infant son cried alone in his crib just a few feet away.

David would be the one to find you. He had always watched you from afar, loved you silently, never daring to interfere. But it would be David who picked up your broken life and carried it in his arms, raising your child, haunted by the truth that he was too late.

And then—

He woke up.

Back in the past.

⸻

PRESENT (after David wakes in the past):

David sat up in a cold sweat, heart pounding like a war drum in his chest. The digital clock on his nightstand read 5:43 PM. It was the same date. The same party. The beginning of everything.

He had another chance.

This time, he wouldn’t stand in the background. He wouldn’t watch your life unravel from the sidelines.

The first thing he did was call Hugo.

“The club shut down,” David lied smoothly. “Last minute. Whole thing’s off. Try again next week.”

And then he blocked Hugo’s number.

He remembered your address—of course he did. In his past life, he’d stood in that apartment more times than he could count. Held your baby. Cleaned your floors. Mourned you.

Now, he stood at your doorstep, trying to steady his breath.

When you opened the door, you were everything he remembered—fresh-faced, innocent, utterly unaware of the future bearing down on you. You blinked at him, confused, clutching your phone in one hand and your lip gloss in the other.

“Hi… can I help you?” you asked, hesitant but polite.

He smiled the kind of smile that wasn’t really a smile. “Yeah, sorry. I’m your neighbor from 5B. I think I got your mail by mistake.”

You frowned slightly. “Oh… I thought 5B was vacant.”

“Moved in yesterday,” he lied again, voice smooth, steady. “Mind if I come in? The hallway light’s out, I just want to double-check the name on the envelope.”

You hesitated, but then stepped aside.

He didn’t care about the fake mail. All he cared about was staying. Distracting you. Buying time. He just needed to keep you from going to that party. Because he’d seen what happened after. He’d lived it.

And this time, he would rewrite it.