On the day I was supposed to marry Thayer Sandler, my best friend Althea Vane absolutely insisted on putting up every single asset in her name and betting against him.
"Let's have a bet. You'll put two things in each of your hands, and I'll guess whether you're holding a mint or a salted plum candy," she said with a dangerous smile. "If I guess wrong, everything I own becomes your wedding gift. Not a cent left behind. But if I guess right, whatever I demand, you'll do it."
After Thayer placed the objects in his hands, Althea answered immediately, "I'm guessing... salted plum candy."
I saw with my own eyes; he was holding a mint in his right hand.
But the very next second...
"You win," Thayer told her, clenching his right fist tight, then opening his left hand.
There, nestled in his palm, lay two salted plum candies.
Althea's locked eyes on him, her eyes instantly rimmed with red, her voice trembling. "Then don't blame me for being heartless. A wild guess and I hit the bullseye. Looks like fate," she said, before adding "Put your wedding on hold. Postpone it for ten years."
Thayer's face flickered with emotion, the corner of his mouth curling upward. "Alright. The Sandler family deals in jewelry, and our reputation is forged on trust, anyway. So I accept the outcome."
The entire hall stood frozen, dumbfounded. Only I watched him, calm as still water.
In my last life, I believed him.
But the very next year, Althea gave birth to his child, and I became the laughingstock of the whole city. Depression swallowed me whole, and I died.
This life, everything restarts, every frame identical to the last.
****
Colin Gibson, still in his travel-rumpled suit, the exhaustion of the flight clinging to him like a second skin, leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "If I come back from my overseas trip and you're still single, marry me. Does that offer still stand?"
I curved my lips at him, a faint smile. "I accept the outcome."
With that, I turned, walked up to my father, and spoke... not loud, but every soul in the room heard it crystal clear. "Thayer and I will have another bet."
Before I could even finish, Thayer had already rushed to my side, standing shoulder to shoulder with me before my father. "She's just furious and running her mouth. Don't take it to heart, Fred." He then tilted his head, lowering his voice to a razor-thin whisper only I could catch. "Your father despises people who can't keep their word. You lost... just swallow it. Don't pull a stunt like this. It'll make you look like a sore loser, and your father will think less of you."
I didn't even bat an eyelid. Acted like I didn't hear a thing. "Dad, I'm not speaking out of anger," I said instead.
Seeing I wasn't biting, Thayer's tone sharpened with urgency as he continued to talk to my father. "I won't agree to this bet! She can't stomach the wedding delay and wants to gamble her way back to a wedding, I get that. But the Sandler family built its name on one word: integrity. If I go along with this, what will people say? That I'm a bad loser who welshes on a bet?"
"Exactly." Althea cut in, her voice soft but each word a dagger in the gut. "If Thayer breaks his word, the Sandler family's name and reputation is destroyed."
Name and reputation.
The moment those two words hung in the air, even the waiters balancing trays of drinks moved with feather-light steps.
Three generations of the Sandler family had built their empire on precious gems. Everyone in our circles knew the legend... how his grandfather had sliced through a rough boulder at a public auction and revealed a flawless, unheated Colombian emerald so brilliant it practically made him a god in the industry overnight.
Integrity was the Sandler family's battle flag. Accepting defeat with grace was a rule carved in stone for them.
And Thayer? He was the face of the Sandler empire now.
He ran procurement. Hundreds of stores across the country waited on his judgment, his eye, his final say. A single rough stone could be cracked open... and whether it held treasure, whether the color ran true, whether it was worth the gamble... all of it came down to those eyes of his.
Five years on the job, and he'd never once misjudged a stone. The industry had given him a nickname: "The Golden Eye."
When Thayer saw my father wasn't tipping his hand, he threw in another line. "Fred, you're the most reasonable man I know. If I go back on my word now, what will the whole industry say about the Sandler family? That we go back on our word?"
My father let out a slow, thoughtful "Mm."
And just when everyone in that hall was ready to consider the matter settled, I raised my head and spoke, each word carved out like a stone tablet. "Dad, I'll stake everything Mom left me. The shares, the properties, the trust fund. All of it." I paused. "As my bet against Thayer. One more round."
The entire banquet hall plunged into dead silence.
Colin's head snapped toward me, and what I saw in his eyes was nothing but pure, gutted disappointment.
Aksara