if there is a next life

Chapter 1

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Sitting in front of the mirror, Victoria gazed at her own reflection. Time had taken something from her smile; it was no longer as bright and radiant as it had been back when she was a college student. But life had been so relentlessly busy that she had hardly ever had the chance to stop and look at herself.

It was only today, on a day as special as this one, that she finally allowed herself a few brief seconds to realize that she had grown old.

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We don't have to get married. Just love each other deeply, okay?

Victoria chose the most beautiful dress she owned. She had to look beautiful. After all, this was an important meeting.

Perhaps it would do nothing more than salvage the last shred of dignity she still had in that person's eyes. It could not change anything anymore. Still, she needed to look beautiful. At the very least, she did not want to look miserable in that final moment.

Victoria walked into the café, a place that had become far too familiar to her over the years.

Every week, she came here with the same person, at the same hour. They ordered the same drinks and left at almost exactly the same time, as though they had been programmed to do so. It had been like this for years.

By now, it no longer brought either of them any excitement. And yet, strangely enough, neither of them ever grew tired of it. Neither had ever canceled a meeting, not even once.

It was like a routine written into the fabric of their lives—like brushing one's teeth every morning or going to bed when darkness fell.

Neither of them cared enough anymore to wonder why they kept coming back.

They simply did.

As though it were a part of life that had been programmed long ago, something they were destined to repeat without ever needing to ask why.

William was already there. The moment he saw her, he raised a hand to signal her over, a gentle, almost awkward smile on his face.

— “You look beautiful today.”

— “Thank you. Have you been waiting long?”

— “I just got here myself.”

And so they began their conversation with the kind of polite small talk exchanged between strangers.

If no one knew them, no one would ever believe they were a couple who had been in love for five years.

Normally, things between them were never quite this cold. But today, somehow, they both seemed to understand that they were about to face something that would change everything.

Perhaps that was why their conversation began in such a strangely formal way.