“Reborn With the Future in My Hands”

Chapter 2: Seventeen Days Until Betrayal

Ethan didn't sleep that night.

He sat beside his bedroom window, watching the city slowly fall silent.

The unknown message was still open on his phone.

You have seventeen days.

This time, don't trust the people you trusted before.

He had read it more than twenty times.

The message should have frightened him.

Instead, it gave him a strange sense of certainty.

Someone knew.

Someone else remembered.

But Ethan had no idea who.

He opened the Future System.

[Future System]

[Host: Ethan Carter]

[Age: 18]

[Timeline: September 12, 2016]

[Primary Future Event: September 29, 2016]

[Betrayal Probability: 100%]

Ethan stared at the final line.

“Who?”

The System remained silent.

“Show me the person.”

[Information unavailable.]

“Show me the possibilities.”

[Information unavailable.]

Ethan frowned.

“So you're not going to tell me?”

No response.

He leaned back.

“Fine.”

He had spent his first life trusting people because they told him what he wanted to hear.

This time, he would trust evidence.

Not promises.

Not emotions.

Not history.

Evidence.

He opened a notebook and wrote three names.

**Victor Hayes.**

**Sophia Miller.**

**Unknown.**

Then he added another line beneath them.

**People I must protect.**

He hesitated.

Only one name came to mind.

His family.

In his first life, Ethan had been so obsessed with his career that he hadn't realized how much his parents had sacrificed for him.

His mother had died before he could make things right.

His father had spent years blaming himself for Ethan's failures.

Ethan closed his eyes.

Not this time.

He would make sure they got a better life.

Even if it meant changing everything.

---

At 7:30 the next morning, Ethan's mother knocked on his door.

“Ethan?”

He opened it.

She smiled.

“Breakfast.”

For a moment, Ethan couldn't speak.

She was exactly as he remembered her.

Younger.

Healthier.

Alive.

His eyes became slightly red.

His mother noticed.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“You look like you've been crying.”

“I haven't.”

She smiled and touched his forehead.

“You've always been a terrible liar.”

Ethan almost laughed.

In his first life, he had taken moments like this for granted.

Now he wanted to remember every second.

He sat at the dining table.

His father was reading the newspaper.

“Morning.”

“Morning, Dad.”

Richard lowered the newspaper.

He looked at Ethan for a few seconds.

“You're unusually quiet.”

“I was thinking.”

“About your studies?”

“About the future.”

His father smiled.

“You're eighteen. You have plenty of time.”

Ethan looked at him.

“That's exactly what I used to think.”

Richard frowned.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

His mother placed breakfast in front of him.

“Eat first. Think later.”

Ethan smiled.

“Yes, Mom.”

For the first time since his death, he felt something he hadn't expected.

Peace.

Then his phone vibrated.

The System appeared.

[Emotional synchronization detected.]

[Memory preservation strengthened.]

Ethan frowned.

“What does that mean?”

[Strong emotional connections increase timeline stability.]

Ethan stared at the words.

So his emotions mattered.

Interesting.

He closed the System.

His mother looked at him.

“Who keeps messaging you?”

“Just a friend.”

“Victor?”

Ethan paused.

“Yes.”

His mother smiled.

“He's a good boy.”

Ethan lowered his eyes.

In his first life, he would have agreed immediately.

Now he wasn't so sure.

---

By noon, Ethan was walking across his university campus.

Everything felt familiar.

The old buildings.

The cafeteria.

The noisy students.

The same tree where he and Victor used to sit after class.

Then he saw him.

Victor.

His best friend.

Eighteen years old.

Smiling.

Alive.

Completely unaware that Ethan had already died once.

Victor raised his hand.

“Bro!”

Ethan walked toward him.

Victor immediately put an arm around his shoulder.

“You disappeared yesterday.”

“I was tired.”

“Tired?”

Victor laughed.

“You've been weird since yesterday.”

Ethan looked at him.

“Maybe I've changed.”

Victor smiled.

“Since when?”

“Since I realized time doesn't wait for anyone.”

Victor stared at him.

“What happened to you?”

Ethan laughed softly.

“Nothing.”

They sat beneath the old tree.

Victor pulled out his phone.

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“Sophia asked about you.”

Ethan's expression barely changed.

“Sophia?”

“Yeah.”

Victor grinned.

“You know she likes you.”

Ethan looked across the campus.

He remembered his first life.

How quickly he had fallen for Sophia.

How completely he had trusted her.

How much he had lost.

This time, he wouldn't run toward her.

He would let her actions speak first.

“What did she say?”

Victor shrugged.

“She wanted to know if you were coming to the café tonight.”

Ethan looked at him.

“Why?”

Victor smiled.

“Maybe she wants to confess.”

Ethan didn't respond.

Victor laughed.

“You're not excited?”

“I've learned that excitement can make people careless.”

Victor's smile slowly disappeared.

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing.”

Ethan stood.

“I'll see you later.”

“Wait.”

Victor grabbed his arm.

“Are you really coming tonight?”

Ethan looked at him.

“Yes.”

Victor smiled again.

“Good.”

Ethan walked away.

He didn't see Victor's expression change after he left.

Victor watched him disappear into the crowd.

Then he pulled out his phone.

A new message was waiting.

**Is Ethan remembering?**

Victor stared at it.

His fingers hovered over the screen.

Finally, he typed:

**I don't know.**

The reply came immediately.

**Find out.**

Victor looked toward Ethan.

For a moment, guilt crossed his face.

Then he locked his phone.

---

That evening, Ethan stood outside the café.

The same café.

The same street.

The same night where, in his first life, he had begun making decisions that eventually led him toward Sophia.

But this time, Ethan wasn't the same person.

He entered.

Victor was already there.

Sophia sat beside him.

She smiled when Ethan approached.

“Ethan.”

“Hi.”

He sat down.

Sophia looked at him carefully.

“You seem different.”

Ethan smiled.

“Everyone keeps saying that.”

“Did something happen?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

Ethan looked directly into her eyes.

“I realized I don't know people as well as I thought I did.”

Sophia's smile faded for a moment.

Victor became quiet.

Then the System appeared.

[Future Event detected.]

Ethan's eyes moved toward the floating text.

[Minor deviation.]

[Previous timeline interaction altered.]

Ethan looked at Sophia.

Nothing seemed unusual.

Then another message appeared.

[Warning.]

[September 29 betrayal remains unchanged.]

Ethan's expression hardened.

So changing small things wasn't enough.

Someone would still betray him.

But now he understood something important.

The betrayal wasn't caused by one conversation.

It was part of something much bigger.

Sophia reached across the table.

“Ethan?”

He looked at her hand.

Then at her face.

In his first life, he would have taken her hand immediately.

This time, he didn't.

“What's wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

He smiled.

“But I have a question.”

“What?”

“Have you ever kept something important from me?”

Sophia's expression froze.

Only for a second.

But Ethan noticed.

Victor noticed too.

The System appeared.

[Emotional anomaly detected.]

Ethan's heartbeat increased.

Sophia slowly pulled her hand back.

“Why would you ask that?”

Ethan leaned back.

“Just curious.”

She smiled.

But the smile didn't reach her eyes.

“I haven't.”

Ethan nodded.

“Good.”

He didn't believe her.

Not yet.

Outside the café, across the street, a black car waited.

Inside it, someone watched Ethan through the window.

A phone was raised.

A photograph was taken.

Then a message was sent.

**He remembers enough to become dangerous.**

A reply appeared.

**Then don't let him remember more.**

Inside the café, Ethan suddenly felt someone watching him.

He turned toward the window.

The black car was already moving away.

His phone vibrated.

[Future Event Updated.]

[September 29 Betrayal.]

[Time remaining: 17 days.]

[New condition detected.]

[If Host discovers the betrayer before September 29, the timeline will undergo a major collapse.]

Ethan stared at the final line.

A major collapse?

He slowly smiled.

“So that's the game.”

He put his phone away.

He no longer needed to wait seventeen days.

He would find the betrayer first.

And this time, he would make sure they were the ones who had something to fear.