Chapter 5 — Reborn: This Hell Is Mine

Weaving Footsteps

Three weeks after the charity party, Ý Vy realized that the pace of her life began to change in a way that was hard to name.

Chung Bách Nguyên, after that short evening of meeting, proactively contacted her again through the group's secretary, asking to cooperate in redesigning the entire ground floor reception hall of Chung Nguyên Group's headquarters - a project not too big but enough for the two of them to have a legitimate reason to meet and exchange work regularly every week. Ý Vy knew clearly that this was how their relationship began to blossom in their previous life, except that this time, every conversation between them had a calmer, more professional tone, without the innocent moments of confusion like before.

What surprised her was that the speed at which Tuệ Nghi found a way to squeeze into this new space was much faster than what she remembered.

On Friday afternoon, when Ý Vy was sitting in the small meeting room of Chung Nguyên Group to present the concept drawing of the reception hall design, Bách Nguyên's secretary knocked on the door, announcing that a guest wanted to see him urgently because of work related to the partner media company's new product launch event.

The person who walked in was none other than Kỷ Tuệ Nghi, in an elegant gray business suit, holding a thick file in his hand, with a moderately confused expression on his face when he realized his sister was also in the room.

"Eh, Ms. Ý Vy? Why are you here?" Tuệ Nghi asked, her voice so naturally surprised that if she didn't have memories of her past life, Ý Vy would have believed this was a complete coincidence.

But Ý Vy clearly remembers that she never told Tuệ Nghi the details of this design collaboration project, other than a brief statement at a family dinner last week that she was having a new project with Chung Nguyên Group. The fact that Tuệ Nghi, working at a small media agency, happened to be present at the right time, in the right place, as a representative of a partner company of this group, is a coincidence too perfect to believe it is a coincidence.

"My company just signed a media contract for Chung Nguyên's new product launch next month," Tuệ Nghi explained, her voice still innocent. "I was also very surprised, I didn't think I would immediately win a project from the company you are cooperating with." Bách Nguyên, sitting at the head of the table, nodded in confirmation. "That's right, Tuệ Nghi's media team just won the bidding package to promote next month's launch event. It's also an interesting coincidence that two sisters work with my company in the same period." Ý Vy smiled and nodded in agreement, not revealing any doubts on her face. "That's great, having you here is even more fun." But in her mind, she quietly noted an important detail: to win a media package for a major event of Chung Nguyên Group, a small agency like the one where Tuệ Nghi works must certainly compete with many larger, more experienced competitors. The fact that they won the bid, right at the time the sister of an employee in the company was collaborating on the design directly with the general manager, cannot help but make people question Tuệ Nghi's role in the bidding process.

The meeting continued to go smoothly, but Ý Vy noticed that Tuệ Nghi continuously tried to break into the silence of the conversation with smart, witty comments, cleverly demonstrating her understanding and quickness in front of Bách Nguyên. Nothing too obvious, no blatant flirting, just a series of small moments carefully calculated to make an impression.

When the meeting ended, Tuệ Nghi proactively offered to take the elevator down to the lobby with them both, continued chatting happily, then suddenly turned to Bách Nguyên. "Mr. Bách Nguyên, next week my company is organizing a small networking session for young people in the industry. I wonder if you are interested in participating? It's also an opportunity for you to meet a few more potential partners."

"I'll check the schedule," Bách Nguyên replied, his voice polite but not very enthusiastic, a familiar social answer of someone who is too used to being invited.

Ý Vy stood next to her, silently observing. She remembered, in her previous life, this networking session actually took place, and Bách Nguyên attended because Tuệ Nghi cleverly repeated the invitation two more times via work text message in the following week, each time with a legitimate professional reason. At that networking session, Tuệ Nghi had the opportunity to chat privately with Bách Nguyên for nearly an hour while Ý Vy was busy with other work, unaware.

This time, Ý Vy decided not to let that networking session happen the same way.

That evening, when she got home, she opened the small notebook she had started writing down since the day she met Bách Nguyên again, and wrote a new entry: "Tuệ Nghi won the media contract for Chung Nguyên - need to learn about the bidding process. Invite to attend next week's networking - need to be present with you, don't let B.N go alone."

She thought for a while, then decided on an approach: instead of trying to prevent it directly, she would proactively ask Bách Nguyên that, because the reception hall design project was in the stage of needing to get feedback from many different customers, she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to attend that networking session to further survey the perspectives of young people in the industry. A professional, reasonable reason that had nothing to do with her wanting to supervise Tuệ Nghi.

Three days later, when Bách Nguyên received an invitation to attend the second networking event from Tuệ Nghi via text message, Ý Vy promptly mentioned her survey idea to him in a previous work exchange, causing him to naturally ask her to attend the event as part of their common work.

The networking session took place at a luxurious bar on the rooftop of a central building, the atmosphere was vibrant with neon lights and gentle background music. Tuệ Nghi, when she saw Ý Vy appearing with Bách Nguyên, had a brief moment of shock on her face before regaining her familiar bright smile.

"Are you coming too? I thought you were busy with the design." Tuệ Nghi's voice was still sweet, but Ý Vy noticed a slight awkwardness passing through her sister's eyes.

"I just took the opportunity to come and survey more opinions for the project," Ý Vy replied, smiling naturally. "Besides, it's been a while since we went out together, by the way."

Throughout that evening, every time Tuệ Nghi tried to pull Bách Nguyên to a private corner to chat, Ý Vy skillfully appeared at the right time for a legitimate business reason - introducing him to a potential interior design partner, asking his opinion on a detail in the drawing, inviting him to take a souvenir photo with the event organizers. None of these actions appear to be intentionally discouraging Tuệ Nghi; they are all reasonable, natural work interactions.

At the end of the evening, when everyone gradually left, Tuệ Nghi approached Ý Vy, holding her sister's arm intimately as always, but this time, Ý Vy felt a slightly tighter grip than usual in that embrace.

"You've been so busy with Bách Nguyên lately," Tuệ Nghi said, her voice still gentle but with a nuance that Ý Vy had never noticed before. "I'm happy for you, but also a little jealous, you get to work with such talented people."

"What's the point of being jealous? Once the project is over, I'll introduce you to a few other partners," Ý Vy replied, her voice still warm as always.

Tuệ Nghi smiled and said nothing more, but when the two sisters parted ways in the parking lot, Ý Vy accidentally caught the reflection in her car's rearview mirror as she backed out - Tuệ Nghi stood there, the smile on her lips had completely disappeared, replaced by a pensive, cold expression, her eyes following the shadow of Bách Nguyên's car leaving in the next lane with a strange attentiveness.

Ý Vy tightened her grip on the steering wheel, keeping her eyes calmly looking ahead. In her previous life, she did not have the opportunity to see this moment. In this life, every time she witnessed Tuệ Nghi's true expression reveal itself when no one was paying attention, she became even more certain that she was on the right path — not the direction of baseless suspicion, but the direction of the truth that was gradually being revealed, piece by piece, exactly like what she had experienced at the cost of her life in another life.

On the drive home, Ý Vy walked more slowly than usual, to give her thoughts time to rearrange. She realized something important: if she simply avoided Tuệ Nghi's every move without understanding the motive behind it, she would forever be in a passive position, only able to react and not be proactive. To really change the outcome, she needs to understand thoroughly why a girl who once sobbed in fear of losing her sister years ago is now willing to use both her work and professional relationships to sneak into the private life of the person she calls her sister.

She thought of the small notebook lying in a locked drawer at home, of the scattered notes that had not yet been systematized. Perhaps it's time for her to take a more methodical approach, not just stopping at observing and responding to situations, but also proactively finding out more deeply about what's really going on in her adopted brother's heart, before things go too far to be salvageable.