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My best friend and my childhood sweetheart came to celebrate my new apartment. When the wine wore off, there was a strange man in my home.
He jabbed a finger at me. "Who are you? Why are you in my apartment?"
I froze.
This was the apartment I'd emptied every cent of my savings to buy. How had it become someone else's?
I went straight for the deed, opened it, and my mind went blank.
The name on it really was Zachary Mason. The name of that strange man.
I thought it was a prank, so I went to the building management for proof. They said they'd never seen me.
I called the real estate agent. He said he had no idea who I was.
Even my best friend and my childhood sweetheart insisted I lived paycheck to paycheck and could never have afforded a place.
Losing it, I called the police.
But not even the police could find any trace of my ever buying the apartment.
Everyone said something was wrong with my head.
Zachary's wife beat me black and blue as some mistress and drove me out of the complex.
I was locked in a psychiatric ward, dosed with drugs, shocked with electricity.
I tried to run, and fell from the fifth-floor balcony.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my best friend and my childhood sweetheart showed up with gifts to celebrate.
……
"Congratulations, Lucy finally has a little place of her own!"
Doris Fox held a durian up in front of me, beaming.
Joe Simmons patted the big box in his arms. "The oven you've been going on about for half a year. I had someone bring it back from overseas. Well? Pretty generous of me, huh?"
The scene was painfully familiar.
But my whole body was tense. I didn't take it happily the way I had in my last life.
Doris had been my best friend for over ten years. She knew I loved durian but never let myself buy it.
So she'd bought some for my housewarming, on purpose, so I could eat my fill.
Joe and I had grown up together. His mouth was sharp, but once he'd nearly lost a tooth protecting me.
And yet it was the two of them who, in my last life, after my apartment inexplicably became Zachary's, swore up and down that I'd never bought a place at all.
"Lucy? What's wrong? You look terrible."
Doris leaned in, reaching to feel my forehead.
I stepped back on instinct.
Her hand hung in the air, and Joe's brows drew together at once. "Lucinda Winters, what is your problem? We came all this way with gifts to celebrate for you, and you're going to give us attitude?"
I forced out a smile. "Sorry. I didn't sleep well last night, I'm a little dizzy."
Doris's eyes flickered, but she smoothed it over fast. "Totally understandable, moving is exhausting. You rest, and Joe and I will cook. Tonight we're not stopping till we're all drunk!"
She turned toward the kitchen.
I grabbed her arm.
"How about we do this another day? I'm really not feeling well today."
The air froze for two seconds.
Joe's face went completely dark. "Lucinda Winters, are you out of your mind? We're already through the door and you're saying another day?"
Doris shot him a look. "It's fine. If Lucy's not well, we'll do it another day. Leave the durian here so we don't have to lug it back."
With that, she grabbed Joe's arm and pulled him toward the door.
Once it shut, I leaned against the wall, cold sweat all over me.
In my last life, every disaster had happened after the housewarming.
This time, if I just didn't hold the housewarming, maybe none of it would happen.
Once I'd steadied myself, I rushed into the bedroom and dug out the property deed.
I found the page with my name printed on it, took a photo, and posted it to my feed.
The caption: 【Finally have a little place of my own. Ten years of savings, paid in full.】
Comments came flooding in at once:
"Whoa! Lucy bought an apartment? Amazing!"
"Congrats! When are you going to have us over to the new place?"
"You're way too low-key, pulling off something huge without a word."
I screenshotted and saved it, then dialed the real estate agent.
"Hey, is this Nigel Lambert? It's Lucinda Winters, the one who bought Unit 802 in Building 8."
"I remember you!" The agent was warm. "A woman who could haggle like you? Only one I've met in ten years on the job. I even picked up a few tricks from you! How's the place treating you?"
"It's great. I just wanted to double-check, my name's spelled right on the purchase contract, isn't it?"
He laughed. "How could that be wrong? If it'll put your mind at ease, I'll send you an electronic copy!"
After I hung up, I recorded the call and uploaded it, along with the photo of the deed and the electronic contract, to my cloud storage.
Once it was all done, I let out a breath.
This time, as long as I had these, then even if someone tried to erase my record of buying the apartment, I had the evidence to strike back.
But the next second, the doorbell rang again.
I looked through the peephole, and my chest tightened.
It was Doris and Joe.
They'd actually come back.
