“I’m here for you, A Duy.” Diep Thanh Vy felt herself slowly falling.
Tran Dieu Linh stood at the top of the cliff, looking down, a triumphant smile on her face. In the end, she was the true victor.
Diep Thanh Vy desperately tried to etch this image into her memory. It was she who took his life, she who personally pushed her off the cliff.
If the heavens allowed her to reincarnate, she would absolutely refuse to drink Meng Po’s soup. She would seek out that wicked woman and reclaim everything.
“Vy Vy, Vy Vy.”
Hearing someone call her name, Diep Thanh Vy opened her eyes. Before her was her good friend – Tang Xuan.
“Did you drink too much last night? Do you need to take a day off?” Tang Xuan said, applying her makeup. “I’ve been staying up late recently, my skin looks terrible.”
“Xuan… Xuan Xuan?” Diep Thanh Vy couldn’t believe her eyes. Hadn’t Tang Xuan gone abroad?
“What’s wrong?” Tang Xuan looked at her roommate, puzzled.
Diep Thanh Vy looked around blankly. It was still the apartment near the company.
Then she pulled Tang Xuan, spinning her around. She was fine, perfectly healthy.
“You… you’re scaring me.” Tang Xuan watched Diep Thanh Vy run around the house, looking everywhere, sometimes panicked, sometimes bursting into laughter.
Diep Thanh Vy said nothing, only ran around the house. She looked at the calendar on the table. It was a year before Tran Dieu Linh pushed her off the cliff.
Had the heavens truly given her a chance to start over? She tried slapping herself. It hurt so much, it was real.
“Maybe you should just stay home and rest.” Tang Xuan stopped Diep Thanh Vy from hitting herself. Perhaps she’d drunk too much last night and wasn’t fully sober yet.
“No, no, I have to go to the company.” Diep Thanh Vy shook her head, quickly getting ready. She had to go see him.
According to Diep Thanh Vy’s memories, she had been reborn one day after the company’s anniversary. Which meant, he had confessed his feelings to her yesterday.
By the time she arrived at the company, her heart had calmed down. She hadn’t expected to have a chance to return to this place.
At noon, when she met Jiang Duy Bao, she tried her best to restrain herself.
Otherwise, she would have run to hug him, and told him how much she missed him, how very much.
CEO Jiang Duy Bao was a young man who had just returned from graduating abroad to take over the Jiang family’s assets.
When Diep Thanh Vy first joined the company, he had taken care of her. He had pursued her, but she hadn’t agreed, because she knew there was too much of a gap between them, and she didn’t dare to take the risk.
But in the end, Jiang Duy Bao’s actions had moved her, helping her bravely step towards him.
That was only what Diep Thanh Vy knew at that time in her previous life. In truth, they should have been together much earlier.
If that accident hadn’t happened, if she hadn’t lost a part of her memory, they wouldn’t have wasted eight years.
“You seem a little strange today.” Jiang Duy Bao picked up some food for Diep Thanh Vy. He felt that her gaze towards him had changed somehow, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint how.
“Do I?” She gave an awkward smile. “Perhaps it’s because our relationship has changed.”
In truth, she was no longer as hesitant as she had been in her previous life when they first started dating.
“A…” Diep Thanh Vy was about to call out to him, then immediately fell silent. She couldn’t call him by that name yet. Thinking this, she changed her approach. “Duy Bao, can you promise me that no matter what happens, you’ll still trust me? Can you?”
“Of course I trust you.” He smiled, looking at her, his voice full of tenderness.
Lies. She knew very well that right now, he not only doubted her but also deeply hated her.
It was alright, she wasn’t angry with him. In her previous life, he had protected her. This time, it was her turn to bear everything for him.
“Diệp Thanh Vy, Mr. Giang needs you in his office urgently.”
“Huh? Is something wrong?” Diệp Thanh Vy looked up at the newcomer, her hands still typing away. It was Đường Hoa, her department head.
Diệp Thanh Vy was trying to finish her assigned work a little early.
She didn’t want to work overtime, because today was her parents’ wedding anniversary.
On this very day, her mother had fallen down the stairs and suffered brain damage. The surgery costs were enormous, plunging her family into debt and leading to subsequent tragedies.
“Go ask him yourself.” Đường Hoa shot Diệp Thanh Vy an unhappy glance, then walked away, a hint of triumph in her smile.
Normally, Giang Duy Bảo contacted his subordinates via message or phone call. He only called them to his office for a face-to-face talk if a serious mistake had occurred.
Diệp Thanh Vy smiled confidently. She knew exactly why Giang Duy Bảo had called her.
Just now, she had only pretended to be surprised, Đường Hoa, just to see how long her smugness would last.
Diệp Thanh Vy knocked on the door, and only opened it and entered after hearing Giang Duy Bảo’s reply, “Come in.”
His office was exactly the same as before, impeccably tidy.
“Mr. Giang, is there something you need me for?” She quietly observed him; he still appeared calm.
If he hadn’t admitted it himself in her previous life, she wouldn’t have known how angry he was at this moment.
“Come here.” Giang Duy Bảo didn’t look up, ordering her.
Diệp Thanh Vy obediently followed his instruction and walked to his desk.
She looked at the computer screen. A young man and woman were playfully teasing each other, the girl even climbing onto the man’s back.
She was very familiar with these images, because the girl in them was her – Diệp Thanh Vy.
In her previous life, after seeing these photos, he had been furious and refused to listen to any explanation.
She, too, had been angry at his suspicion and for not giving her a chance to clarify.
But then Giang Duy Bảo had quickly changed the subject. It was only much later that she learned that at that time, he was afraid she would say the person in the photo was the one she truly loved.
Because of the incident eight years ago, he was now in a state of avoidance, afraid to confront her love.
“Will you listen to my explanation?” She asked the same question as before.
“No need.” Giang Duy Bảo smiled at her, just as he had before.
His smile was still as warm as ever, yet Diệp Thanh Vy found it painfully bright; she knew he was in great pain.
“He is…”
“I said there’s no need.” He cut her off, his own heart hammering in his chest.
“Duy Bảo…” She shot him a look, signaling him to be quiet. “This is my cousin, Diệp Thanh Tú. You can have someone investigate.”
Giang Duy Bảo frowned, looking at the person in the photo. Diệp Thanh Tú, how could he have changed so much? Then again, he himself looked like a completely different person compared to his youth.
He had almost misunderstood her.
Realizing his mistake, Giang Duy Bảo could only awkwardly change the subject. “Actually, I wanted to ask if you remember what day today is?”
Diệp Thanh Vy quietly looked at him, thought for a moment, and finally shook her head.
“You don’t remember?” He stood up and stroked her hair. “Aren’t you re-enacting the drama from eight years ago? How could you not remember?”
“I really don’t understand what you’re talking about, but if those photos made you misunderstand. I can explain, actually, that person is…”
“Enough…” Giang Duy Bảo finally erupted in anger. “Didn’t I say I don’t care about those photos?”
Realizing he had raised his voice a little, Giang Duy Bảo took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
This was actually the real reason for his anger. She could forget him, but why did she forget *that person*?
"Explain? Eight years ago, I gave you a chance. Why didn't you explain then?" Jiang Duy Bao sat back down at his desk. "Get out. This no longer concerns you."
"Then calm down a little, if there's anything..." Ye Thanh Vy stopped herself mid-sentence and returned to her desk.
Just now, the image of Jiang Duy Bao's anger in her previous life, which had led to months of cold war between them, flashed through Ye Thanh Vy's mind.
How could she not remember? Today was the death anniversary of a good friend of theirs.
But at this moment, her "dissociative amnesia" had not yet been treated. She couldn't let him know that she recognized him, and she absolutely couldn't let those images repeat themselves.
"Today is my parents' wedding anniversary," she said, smiling sweetly to appease him. "So, President Jiang, could I please ask to leave early today?"
He wanted to say something, but in the end, he just nodded. "Alright, you can go."
Watching Ye Thanh Vy's cheerful figure leave the office, Jiang Duy Bao sighed.
"Did she really not remember..."
***
Ye Thanh Vy rushed home. The door was still locked; her mother hadn't returned yet. So she ran downstairs to wait for her.
In her previous life, her mother had gotten dizzy just a few steps from home and then fell down the stairs.
When her father arrived, her mother was lying there unconscious. She was rushed to the emergency room, where doctors said surgery was necessary, otherwise her chances of survival were very low.
"Mom!" Ye Thanh Vy called out loudly.
After waiting a moment, she saw her mother approaching from a distance, carrying two large bags.
Her parents ran a small restaurant nearby. Every day, her mother would come home earlier than her father to prepare dinner for the family.
"Why don't you go upstairs?"
Ye Thanh Vy rushed into her arms. "I missed you so much, Mom."
"Did someone bully you outside?" Her mother, Lin Mai Ha, gently patted her daughter's back.
Ye Thanh Vy shook her head. To her mother, her daughter had only returned home two days ago, but for Ye Thanh Vy, it had been a lifetime.
"Let me carry those for you, Mom."
The two happily walked up to the house. Just as expected, when they reached the door, Lin Mai Ha felt a little unsteady on her feet.
Ye Thanh Vy quickly reached out to support her. Luckily, she had studied martial arts and was quite strong.
"Mom, can we go to the hospital for a check-up?" Ye Thanh Vy asked anxiously. After all, her mother still had a hereditary heart condition from her maternal side of the family.
"It's nothing," Lin Mai Ha waved her hand dismissively. The cost of a check-up was very expensive.
"Mom..." Ye Thanh Vy didn't give up. What if her mother fell again?
"Alright, if you want a check-up, your father can do it."
Ye Thanh Vy didn't dare argue. Her father had also been a doctor before, and a very skilled one at that.
Her mother's health wasn't good, but fortunately, her father had taken meticulous care of her these past few years.
As for that accident, it had been too sudden and unexpected to control.
In truth, her family wasn't overly wealthy but was still well-off, yet her parents always lived very frugally.
She wondered how her parents would have coped in her previous life, upon hearing of her passing.
Thinking of that, Ye Thanh Vy felt a prickle in her nose. She hugged her mother. "Mom, you have to promise me that if anything happens, you'll go to the hospital immediately. I have money, Mom. Please don't be so frugal, okay?"
"You silly girl," Lin Mai Ha said, realizing that her little daughter had truly grown up.
Being able to change two major events in her life today made her even more confident about the future.
She was determined to change all the tragedies that had once occurred.
Chen Yao Ling would probably return next month. For this month, it was better to happily enjoy time with her loved ones.