How could I forget Mandy?

  She was one of the first peers I met on the very first day of work. All the new hires gathered in a luxury hotel function room for training before we officially started our careers. I still remembered the parking lot that morning.

  Her car rolled in and parked directly beside mine.

  A large SUV. Expensive. Elegant.

  Meanwhile I stepped out of my tiny Picanto, the small and cute car I deliberately chose so I would not burn through my financial reserve too early. Seven million in the bank did not mean I should start living like a fool.

  When she stepped out of the SUV, I noticed her immediately.

  Slightly dark skin tone. Healthy figure. Confident posture. The type of person who had no hesitation speaking to strangers.

  In my previous life, I liked her from the beginning.

  And in this life, that feeling returned instantly.

  During our early weeks at work she often messaged me. Not about random topics. Mostly anxiety.

  “Do you think HR will kick me out?”

  “Do you think my work is too slow?”

  “Everyone else seems so capable.”

  Every time she messaged, I would reply calmly.

  “You are doing fine.”

  “You met the deadline.”

  “You already did better than most juniors.”

  I always gave her concrete reasons so she could calm down.

  Eventually she always replied the same way.

  “Thanks… I feel better now.”

  Looking back, maybe that was why she kept coming back to me.

  One night she suddenly sent a message.

  “Have you watched Marvel Avengers?”

  The timing was almost funny. I had literally just finished watching it on a pirate DVD my friend gave me.

  But I typed back.

  “No, not yet.”

  She took a while to reply.

  “Oh… okay.”

  Anyone with half a brain could see what she was doing.

  She wanted to watch it with me but was too proud to ask directly.

  So I simply wrote back.

  “Why not we watch it together?”

  Three dots appeared.

  Then her reply came.

  “Sure.”

  She suggested meeting directly at the mall.

  “I can take the train there.”

  That statement immediately made me suspicious.

  “You take the train often?” I asked.

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  A long pause.

  Then she replied.

  “…actually no.”

  I laughed when I saw that message.

  “So how many times have you taken the train?”

  Another pause.

  “Zero.”

  That confirmed my suspicion.

  “Then don't start today,” I replied. “I'll pick you up.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  When I drove my Picanto to meet her, I honestly thought she might laugh at the car.

  Instead she simply opened the door and sat inside like nothing was wrong.

  That surprised me.

  The movie date itself went extremely well.

  For some reason I was in peak form that day.

  Every joke landed.

  Every comment made her laugh.

  At one point she laughed so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes.

  “Why are you so funny today?” she asked.

  “I've been practicing,” I replied.

  “Practicing what?”

  “Making you laugh.”

  She rolled her eyes but I could see she was enjoying it.

  Everything was going perfectly.

  Until the end.

  When the movie finished we walked out of the cinema and she said something that seemed casual.

  “It's still early.”

  I nodded.

  “Yes.”

  Then she said it again a few minutes later.

  “I don't really feel like going home yet.”

  I still nodded like an idiot.

  “Ah.”

  She glanced at me.

  “You're sending me home already?”

  And that was where I completely ruined everything.

  “It's getting late,” I said. “Better I send you home.”

  Looking back now, I still don't understand what happened to my brain.

  Maybe I was tired.

  Maybe I panicked.

  Maybe I simply did not recognize the opportunity right in front of me.

  She didn't argue.

  She just nodded.

  “Okay.”

  The car ride back was quiet.

  I dropped her off.

  She smiled politely.

  “Thanks for the movie.”

  After that night, she never texted me again.

  I tried messaging her several times.

  No response.

  That was my first lesson in life.

  When a girl closes a window, sometimes it closes forever.

  Now years later, the same situation appeared again.

  Same girl.

  Same movie.

  Same sentence.

  After the movie we walked out of the cinema and she stretched her arms slightly.

  “It's still early,” she said.

  Then a moment later she repeated the exact line.

  “I don't really feel like going home yet.”

  This time my brain did not short circuit.

  Instead something clicked immediately.

  Ah.

  So this is the moment I destroyed last time.

  I smiled.

  “Then let's not go home yet.”

  She looked slightly surprised.

  “Oh?”

  “I know a place.”

  Twenty minutes later we were driving up a quiet road to a high viewpoint overlooking the city.

  When we arrived I opened the trunk of the Picanto.

  She watched curiously as I took things out.

  A picnic carpet.

  An icebox.

  And a small folded tent.

  “You came prepared,” she said.

  “I like being prepared.”

  We spread the carpet on the ground. The city lights stretched across the horizon below us.

  Then I opened the icebox.

  Inside was chilled sashimi.

  Her eyes widened.

  “You brought sashimi?”

  “Of course.”

  I pulled out a chef knife and began slicing the fish carefully.

  She watched with interest.

  “Since when can you do this?”

  “Hidden talent.”

  “You are full of surprises.”

  “Wait until you taste it.”

  She tried the first piece and nodded approvingly.

  “Okay I admit this is impressive.”

  Then she noticed the tent.

  “Why did you bring a tent?”

  “In case we stay late.”

  She looked around the quiet hilltop.

  “There is only one.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why not two?”

  I shrugged casually.

  “One should be enough.”

  Her eyebrow lifted.

  “Enough for what exactly?”

  “To sleep.”

  Her cheeks turned slightly red.

  “You planned this?”

  “I planned the possibility.”

  She laughed softly.

  “You are dangerous.”

  “Only a little.”

  We opened the wine next.

  The night air was cool and quiet.

  For a while we just talked and laughed the way we did in the cinema earlier.

  At one point she leaned back against the carpet and looked at the stars.

  “This is much better than going home.”

  I smiled.

  “I thought you might say that.”

  But as she laughed beside me, another thought slowly surfaced in my mind.

  A complicated one.

  In my original life, the woman who eventually became closest to me was Lynn.

  She appeared later in my life.

  She was supposed to be my other half.

  But if tonight went well.

  If Mandy and I truly got together.

  That entire path would change.

  And Mandy was not just any girl.

  Her family background was extremely wealthy.

  The kind of wealth that could change the scale of everything I planned to do.

  Investments.

  Connections.

  Capital.

  Being with Mandy could multiply my future leverage dramatically.

  That thought lingered in my mind longer than I expected.

  Not in a cold way.

  But in a calculating way.

  If I choose Mandy tonight, Lynn may never appear in my life.

  Was that the right decision?

  Was I altering something that should not be altered?

  Or was this exactly the kind of opportunity my second life was meant to capture?

  While I was lost in those thoughts, Mandy suddenly nudged my arm.

  “Hey.”

  I blinked.

  “Hm?”

  “You went quiet.”

  She tilted her head slightly.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  For a moment I almost told her everything.

  Then I shook my head lightly and smiled.

  “Nothing.”

  She squinted at me suspiciously.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Just thinking how lucky I am tonight.”

  She laughed and leaned back again.

  “Good answer.”

  I raised my wine glass slightly.

  But inside my mind, the question still lingered.

  Was tonight the moment that would change my entire future again?