The Plan to Save the Boss in Reincarnation

Alice Zhang slammed her red grading pen into the cup with a sigh of profound relief. The long summer break at St. Mary’s Preparatory Academy had officially begun. Gathering her things, she slung her tote bag over her shoulder and stepped out of her physics classroom. As she turned the key in the lock, her phone vibrated incessantly in her pocket. The screen flashed: *Mom - Sophia Zhang.* “Hi, Mom… Yeah, finals are done. I’ll be home this weekend… I know, Mom. I *know*.” Alice’s voice held a weary edge she couldn’t quite mask. Lately, every conversation with her mother ended with Sophia’s escalating anxiety about Alice’s “ticking biological clock.” Sophia was convinced that a successful, thirty-something woman like Alice, if she didn’t seriously pursue love and marriage *now*, would miss the “spark” train forever, leaving nothing but a rational desert for the rest of her days. *The spark?* Alice leaned against the cool wood of her classroom door after locking it. *For the polished, ambitious men orbiting my world? That spark died long ago.* The cruel irony was the dreams. Lately, they’d been haunted by *one* face, vivid and relentless. Waking from those dreams, her heart would pound with a frantic, chaotic rhythm that mocked her – it felt terrifyingly like the stupid, breathless palpitations of her teenage years. Descending the stone steps flanked by imposing Romanesque columns, she nearly collided with Wenqing Zhou, the Head of the Science Department. His button-down was crisp, his smile pleasant. “Alice! Any plans for dinner? That new Italian place, Bella Notte, just opened around the corner. Care to join me?” The refusal was instinctive, poised on her tongue. But then her mother’s voice, sharp with desperation, echoed in her mind. *Maybe… just maybe try?* She swallowed the ‘no’ and heard herself say, “Sure, Wenqing. I’m free.” Surprise flickered in his eyes, quickly replaced by satisfaction. “Excellent! Give me five minutes to grab my jacket.” He turned and hurried back upstairs. Alice clutched the strap of her tote, watching him go. *Objectively, Wenqing Zhou is a good man.* As department head, he was capable, steady, reliable. A few years older, divorced… but in Alice’s admittedly limited circle of similarly “established” and unmarried peers, he represented a *safe* option. *Safe…* The word left a bitter aftertaste. He returned swiftly, having swapped his shirt for a slightly more vibrant striped one, but the fine lines around his eyes and the faint downturn of his mouth still spoke of an underlying weariness. Bella Notte was intimate, bathed in soft light. Wenqing chose a secluded corner booth, gallantly pulling out her chair and even meticulously wiping the edge of the table with his napkin before she sat. “Ladies first, Alice. See anything that tempts you?” He handed her the menu. Alice’s finger automatically found the “Pan-Seared Salmon with Asparagus” and the “Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup” – her default choices at any upscale bistro. But as she handed the menu back, Wenqing smiled and gently crossed them out with his pen. “Knew you’d pick those,” he said, his tone laced with a practiced familiarity. “Ever since your first faculty dinner at St. Mary’s five years ago, it’s always been those two. Alice, life isn’t meant to be lived on repeat. Sometimes, we just get… comfortable. Stuck in a rut, afraid to step out. But change,” he paused, his gaze suddenly intense, holding hers, “change isn’t always bad. Why not try something new? The food,” another meaningful pause, “or… other things.” Alice’s stomach dropped. *Is he propositioning me?* She looked down, fingers twisting the edge of her napkin, words failing her. Thankfully, Wenqing smoothly shifted topics, discussing summer plans and new school initiatives. The first half of dinner was… fine. Wenqing was a skilled conversationalist, filling the silences even when Alice’s attention drifted. Then, her phone screen lit up like a strobe light on the table, a rapid-fire barrage of notification chimes shattering the restaurant’s ambiance. It was a w******p assault from her best friend, Fei’er Chen. 【ALICE!!! DROP EVERYTHING & CHECK TWITTER RN!!!!】 【TRENDING #1 OMFG!!!!!!!!】 【I CAN’T EVEN BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!】 【ARE YOU OKAY???? ANSWER ME!!!!!】 The sheer volume of exclamation points and question marks was overwhelming. Alice frowned. *Fei’er must be freaking out over some celebrity gossip again.* She swiped her screen open absently and tapped the familiar blue bird icon. Her gaze locked onto the “Trending” list. The blood drained from her face. The name – **Jake Li** – blazed at the top, crowned with a terrifying, fire-red “BREAKING” tag (#1 TRENDING - BREAKING). Just three months ago, he’d dominated the same spot as the first Chinese-American Nobel Laureate in Physics. But the two words following his name were like ice picks driven into her retinas, short-circuiting her brain, rendering comprehension impossible. **【#JakeLiSuicide】** Suicide? What did that even mean? The meaning was brutally simple, yet she suddenly couldn’t parse the words. Her brain seemed to slam on an emergency brake, shutting down higher processing, giving every cell in her body a desperate moment to brace. Alice’s trembling fingers tapped the hashtag. She scrolled mechanically through headlines, official statements, insider leaks… The numb shock began to recede, but before her mind could truly accept the information, her heart betrayed her. It began a frantic, arrhythmic, near-death gallop against her ribs. *CRASH!* The sound of shattering glass was a gunshot in the hushed restaurant. Alice jerked back to reality, staring in horror at the water glass she’d knocked over, ice water soaking her skirt. “Alice!” Wenqing was instantly on his feet, signaling a waiter, his face etched with concern as he took in her ghostly pallor. “My God! Are you alright? You’re shaking!” Alice opened her mouth. Nothing came out but a dry rasp. A bone-deep chill shot up her spine, spreading icy numbness to her limbs, as if all her blood had been siphoned away, leaving only a swirling, all-consuming black hole inside her. Before the tidal wave of panic could fully engulf her, she grabbed her bag and lurched to her feet, her voice fractured and urgent. “Wenqing… I’m so sorry… I… I feel suddenly very ill… I have to go!” She practically stumbled out of the restaurant. Outside, neon signs blurred, headlights streaked like comets across her tear-filled vision, dizzying her. Her phone vibrated violently in her hand. Fei’er. 【Alice! Did you see??】 【OMG JAKE LI?! I CAN’T PROCESS THIS!】 【ALICE WHERE ARE YOU?? ANSWER ME! ARE YOU OKAY????】 Alice tried to reply, but her fingers trembled uncontrollably, making unlocking the screen a Herculean task. She gave up, drifting like a wraith down the street. The last dregs of her strength carried her into a grimy alleyway behind a 24-hour convenience store, near the dumpsters. The cold brick wall met her back. Alice slid down it, collapsing onto the filthy pavement. She clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle the sobs clawing their way up her throat, gasping for thin, cool air to ease the agony tearing through her chest. Her temples throbbed; every ragged breath scraped her throat raw. *The worst part…* Even as her body betrayed her, her mind remained horrifyingly, cruelly clear. Shaking violently, she fumbled her phone back on, tapping news links, clinging to a shred of desperate hope. *It has to be fake! A hoax! He just won the Nobel! He was on top of the world! How could he…?* The cold, hard details of the reports shattered that illusion. Jake Li. Found dead in his Princeton home. An apparent suicide. The day *before* the Nobel ceremony. Articles quoted fragments of an email sent to his star PhD student, Jackie Chen: > “…You are the most gifted student I’ve had the privilege to teach. I’ve recommended you to Professor William. Apologies for the disruption this will cause… These years, I’ve pursued my research with a singular, almost mad focus. Physics was my entire existence. I think I always knew, deep down, that when this journey reached its conclusion… the ensuing darkness would consume me utterly.” Jackie, voice breaking in an interview: “That email… I knew something was terribly wrong. I called the police immediately. But when they got to the Professor’s house… it was too late. The brightest mind of our century… gone.” Colleagues at Princeton mourned: “Humanity has lost an irreplaceable genius.” The blow that truly shattered Alice came from Jake’s psychiatrist, speaking anonymously to the press: Jake had battled severe Bipolar Disorder with Psychotic Features (including delusions) since adolescence, managed for years with medication. The completion of his groundbreaking research project – the culmination of his life’s work – had apparently removed a crucial anchor. His mental illness had surged back with devastating force, ultimately driving him to end his life. “His inner landscape was infinitely more complex and profound than most,” the psychiatrist stated. “He was prone to elaborate, reality-detached constructs (Grandiose Delusions), which could trigger extreme emotional volatility. That sense of losing control… for a mind like his, which sought ultimate order and understanding, it was intolerable. In the end, he chose to end his suffering.” Tears blurred the screen completely. Alice scrolled through other reports, fragments of memories from over a decade ago – memories she’d locked away as betrayal and lies – suddenly reassembled by this brutal, belated truth, forming a picture so clear it was agonizing. *Bipolar… Delusions… That’s what it was.* *Those things he said, did… the things that broke my heart, made me furious, made me feel deceived… it wasn’t him lying.* *He wasn’t lying to me.* *He was sick. Desperately sick.* The floodgates burst open. She saw herself vividly: young, hurt, confused by his “erratic behavior” and “bizarre statements,” confronting him with tearful accusations. She saw herself, when his explanations made no sense to her, lashing out with the cruelest, most cutting words she could find. She saw him in those final weeks before he vanished from her life, his eyes growing increasingly hollow, haunted, like a shell emptied of its spirit. *I didn’t know… I swear I didn’t know he was sick!* The tsunami of regret was overwhelming. The pain she’d carried, the betrayal she couldn’t reconcile for over a decade – it finally had an answer. A devastating, suffocating answer. *But what does it matter now?* *He’s gone.* *Forever gone.* The sob she’d been choking back erupted, a raw, guttural cry of pure anguish that echoed off the grimy alley walls. Alice curled into herself on the cold ground, weeping uncontrollably, as if she could expel all the pain, the regret, and the love that had nowhere left to go, thirteen years too late. Two years ago, visiting her parents, she’d found it. Tucked inside her old high school physics textbook, pages yellowed. A letter, the handwriting intense, slightly messy. Signed: *Jake.* He’d written: > “Human understanding of the cosmos is a single candle flame in an infinite abyss. So much darkness remains, untouched, unknowable. Alice, I want to walk into that darkness, to feel its cold embrace, its terrifying mystery. Would you… walk with me?” That was the moment she knew. The strange, brilliant, isolated boy everyone called a freak… he *had* liked her. Just as she had secretly, achingly liked him. He had tried, in his clumsy, frightened way, burdened by a mind he couldn’t always control, to reach out to her, offering his fragile, tangled heart. *I didn’t reach back.* *I didn’t hold onto the fragile light still fighting in his eyes.* *I… pushed him deeper into the darkness he finally chose to surrender to.* If only… if only time could turn back…