2. Never Again

Thunder was heard from afar, followed by the heavy rain. It was early morning, but the dark clouds covered the sun, dimming the surroundings. Within the mansion of the Xiong family, a girl woke up and sat up straight.

Her face was pale and full of sweat. Her heart was beating fast. She looked at her surroundings. She recognized the place, but she could not believe what she was seeing.

She was dazed for a while, then realizing something, she stood up and ran towards her dressing room. Facing the full-length mirror, she touched her face.

'It cannot be... how come I became so young?!'

'Is it all a dream?... But, it felt so real....'

Her face was full of disbelief.

She still had a pale translucent skin that seemed to have never been reached by the sun. Her long, straight, and shiny black hair reached to her waist. She still had a dark pair of cold and empty eyes surrounded by long curly lashes.

Her thin brows, her straight nose that gathered envy from her cousins, her thin red lips that spoke only a few words, her pointed chin, and her little heart-shaped face were still the same— except she looked younger like a maiden who was still blooming.

The maiden in the mirror had a perfect proportion of a woman's body: full breasts, small waist, and long legs. Even if the girl appeared to be in her teens, it could still capture the eyes of full-grown men.

But that's not what the girl focused on.

She quickly went outside her room and grabbed a maid.

"What date is it today?"

The maid was startled at her sudden action. The Young Miss in front of her, who had never spoken to them, suddenly came and asked a question. They only know her as the indifferent Young Miss. The girl that was alone in her world.

"What date is it today?" She asked again with slight desperation in her voice. Hope was evident in her eyes.

The maid was shocked again. Never ever did she saw the young miss showed any emotion. But in front of her, the girl looked so vulnerable, with even a hint of desperation in her voice. The maid felt like she won the lottery.

'This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience! The Young Miss talked to me and opened up to me...'

(A/N: lol..she just asked you...)

The maid felt like crying. But when she felt that her arm was grabbed tighter, she remembered to answer.

"Yo... Young Miss... Today is June 4," the maid answered.

"No, I mean... What year?"

"Eh... 2011?" The maid said hesitantly.

Why was the Young Miss asking this?

"2...2011?!" The girl was shocked.

"So, I'm sixteen this year?!" With wide eyes, she looked at the maid.

The maid was equally startled.

The Young Miss was SHOCKED! Wide-eyed!

The maid seemed to want to write in her diary right now and add this scene as the most unforgettable moment of her life. She had seen many facial expressions on the usually stone-cold face of the Young Miss today. That stoic face that would not flinch even with Mount Tai's collapse.

'I will brag about it later to them, hahaha.'

"Linfeng? Where is he?" The maid was pulled out from her thoughts by the Young Miss' antics.

"Who's Linfeng, Young Miss?"

The maid looked at her strangely. There was no Linfeng in their household. The maid knew the names of all the people, from maids to bodyguards.

Hearing this, the girl was confused, and fear and panic were seen in her face.

Another maid came up, bowed, and said:

"Young Miss, your bath is ready. The uniform is already on your bed."

"Uniform?" The girl asked.

"Yes, from TIHS.. "

The girl was shocked again. She ran to her room and looked at her uniform.

The two maids look at each other questioningly. Both were thinking that their Young Miss was strange today.

The girl in the room held her uniform.

'It's the same... same school. It's not a dream... If it's not a dream, then what is it? Did it really happen? Or did I reincarnate?

Or time travel? It's crazy.....'

The girl was none other than Xiong Zhi. The Young Miss was the eldest daughter of the Xiong family.

A moment later, her eyes suddenly lit up.

'Sixteen... June 4... First day of school... This is the day, the day Linfeng was introduced to me.'

With that thought, she ran to her bathroom. Not even glancing at the bathtub with warm water and rose petals, she turned on her shower.

Closing her eyes, her thoughts wandered to the scenes in her dream, or she must say her past life. She was not sure. It felt so real.

This time, her grandfather was still alive. After her grandfather died, the impending doom on her started.

The scheming relatives pounced at her. Her fiancé took off his mask. Her wealth, her inheritance, and the company were stripped away from her.

It would all start two years from now. If she really traveled from the future to the past, she must prevent them from happening. Or, she must be prepared when facing them. This was her second chance. The heavens gave her a second chance to make no regrets in her life. Everything she got, she will use it.

Her wealth.

Her brains.

Her beauty.

Her surname Xiong.

This time she would make everything right.

'To never again be weak… to never again waste our precious time… I promise… In the next lifetime… I will protect you… and… love you…'

Her final words rang clearly and loudly in her ears. The water from the shower was like the heavy raindrops of that night.

The same sound of droplets and the coldness were all familiar to her.

Opening her eyes, the emptiness was gone, replaced by sharpness and determination. The old Xiong Zhi was gone. A new and reborn Xiong Zhi was standing now.