Chapter 1
648 Words
Mia sat frozen on the cold, tiled floor, her fingers clutching the corner of the vanity table like it was her last anchor to reality. The silver-blonde girl in the mirror stared back at her with equally stunned eyes. It didn’t make sense. None of it did.
“I’m… Selene Ashford,” she whispered, tasting the name on her tongue like it was poison.
She had read the book only once—mostly because her younger sister, Lianne, wouldn’t stop bugging her about it. The Vows of Thorns and Roses had been Lianne’s world. And now, somehow, it was Mia’s prison.
The sharp chime of the phone startled her again.
Another message.
Reception: Good morning, Miss Ashford. Mr. Vexmor is expecting you at 9 sharp. Shall I have your driver prepare the car?
Mia blinked. “Driver?”
She checked the time. 8:24 AM. Her blood ran cold.
In the book, Selene was a junior staff member in the Vexmor Corporation’s Public Relations division. She wasn’t close to Drake Vexmor, the cold, calculating CEO—but Mia remembered one throwaway scene where Selene nervously presented a file to him and got ignored completely.
If this was that same world, then…
“I’m late.”
She sprang to her feet, wobbling slightly. Her legs were longer, more slender than her real ones. It was like wearing a borrowed body—graceful and unfamiliar. She stumbled toward the closet and flung it open.
Rows of designer workwear, pastel blouses, pencil skirts, heels. She groaned.
"Why couldn't I have reincarnated as a gym teacher or something?”
After a clumsy battle with buttons, she finally settled on a soft blue blouse and beige skirt. Not exactly comfortable, but it made her look like someone who belonged in a high-end corporate building. The heels, however, were another story.
She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped them on, muttering under her breath. “If I break my ankle before I get to the office, I hope reincarnation comes with a second retry.”
A buzz at the door interrupted her thoughts.
“Miss Ashford?” a male voice called politely. “Your car is ready.”
“Coming!” she yelled.
Mia grabbed the sleek, black bag hanging by the coat rack—still tagged with Selene’s initials—and bolted out of the apartment. The hallway outside was eerily clean, like a hotel corridor, lined with soft carpet and gold-framed art. She barely had time to admire it as she speed-walked to the elevator.
Her thoughts swirled as she descended.
I need to think. Think.
What did she know?
Selene Ashford: Minor side character, died tragically in the last arc—stabbed by a stalker that Clarisse had originally attracted but shifted blame to Selene.
Clarisse Morge: Golden heroine of the novel. Beautiful, kind, perfect… or at least, that’s how she was described until she went off-script.
Drake Vexmor: Stoic, powerful CEO. Love interest of Clarisse. Cold to everyone except the “heroine.”
Mia shook her head. That wasn’t the Clarisse she saw in the prologue flashback. No, that version was manipulative and scary. Something had definitely changed.
She stepped into the waiting car—a sleek black SUV with a suited driver who greeted her with a stiff nod.
“Good morning, Miss Ashford.”
“Uh… morning,” she replied awkwardly.
As they pulled into the city streets, Mia stared out the window, watching the world pass by. It was familiar but not. The signs were in English. The traffic lights worked. But the cars were sleeker, the buildings taller, and the people dressed like they belonged in a Vogue magazine.
The book had been set in a fictional modern city called Velmira. That’s where she was now.
She rested her forehead against the glass and sighed.
“How am I supposed to survive this?”
- Writer
