Chapter 4: Breaking the Spell

When I got home,

The house was dark, the porch the only place still lit—Mrs. Carter watering her geraniums. My hands shook as I fumbled with my keys.

I submitted my application to Doctors Without Borders.

I didn’t even change out of my dress. Sitting at the kitchen table, the glow of my laptop screen was the only light. My essay poured out of me like a confession, raw and desperate.

After my parents died one after another overseas, I wanted to inherit their legacy.

Their deaths were front-page news for a day, but for me, the silence lingered—no more late-night calls, no more crossword puzzles left on the counter. The only way to honor them was to follow their path, no matter how hard.

But in my previous life, I never even got the chance before everything ended.

Regret clung to me, thick as humidity before a summer storm. I promised myself that if I got another shot, I wouldn’t waste it on impossible love.

Fortunately—

Fate took pity and gave me another chance.

This time, I’d live for myself. For my parents. For every life I could touch if I just took the leap.