Chapter 659

Most of the students didn’t object. In fact, many of them cooperated willingly, bringing their backpacks up without a fuss. Seeing that, young Aurora also moved to bring her bag forward.

Watching this unfold, present-day Aurora felt her heart sink. She would never forget what happened next. She would never forget the mocking faces of her classmates, or the look in the teacher’s eyes. No one ever imagined that the quiet, studious girl in class could be the one who stole a classmate’s watch. Was it that she couldn’t afford her own? Or that she just had to steal Emma’s? Sure, the watch was expensive, but what kind of child, attending a prestigious private school, would actually resort to theft?

Aurora wanted to stop it all, but in the end, she closed her eyes. She knew there was no way to change what had already happened. But that didn’t make it any easier to stand there and watch it all happen again. She couldn’t bear it. She didn’t know how to keep going.

So, she walked out of the classroom, passing straight through the little bodies in the hallway. As expected, not a single person noticed her. At first, Aurora tried to avoid touching anyone. But once she realized they couldn’t feel her presence at all, she stopped trying. What did it matter? She was here, yet she still couldn’t change the course of her younger self’s life. All she could do was stand by and watch as that little girl went through the same pain all over again. No, this wasn’t just her younger self suffering. It was her. She was reliving it all over again. And she couldn’t take it anymore. Aurora was exhausted.

If she couldn’t stand by and watch, then she had no choice but to walk away and look at something else. She couldn’t keep doing this. Not like this. Aurora crouched outside the classroom, her beautiful, delicate face filled with helplessness. She didn’t understand why she was here, or what she was even going through. All she remembered was being hospitalized for a stomach infection. But now, everything that was happening had gone far beyond anything she could comprehend. And worse, she couldn’t change a single thing.

Aurora looked down at her own hands, pain clouding her eyes. She didn’t understand why she had been sent into this world, or what it was she was meant to face. Had she missed something? Were the things she’d experienced before real? Or were they just illusions? With those thoughts spiraling, Aurora sank lower, clutching her head in anguish. In this world where reality blurred with fantasy, she could no longer tell what was true.

Suddenly, a strange noise came from the corner by the wall. Aurora slowly lowered her hands from her head. She tilted her head, and that was when she saw young Tessa crouched outside the back door. Her eyes were dark and calculating as she secretly watched the scene inside the classroom. Hiding behind the door, she was observing everything unfold.

Aurora rose to her feet. She stared at the ten-year-old version of Tessa, unable to understand where all that hatred came from. They had never had any major conflicts growing up. Or had Tessa always disliked her? Then she remembered the poolside incident from earlier. Clearly, Tessa wasn’t nearly as simple as she seemed. Once she figured out what was really going on, Aurora was determined to get to the bottom of it.