Life is fleeting, and sometimes, all we can do is observe it from inside the confines of a limited world.

A young, pretty woman walks towards an open window to close it. Gigi, who’s been observing the simple beauty of life from that window, feels a sense of loss.

The young woman turns to her. “You’re still pretty,” she tells Gigi who’s sick what with the hospital gown under a heavy cardigan, pale skin, and a beanie on her head.

“I won’t forgive you if you leave me. Don’t forget you have me, you have to live a long life with me,” she instructs.

Gigi got unlucky in her marriage but she’s glad to have a friend like her.

While the friend, Sue, takes a seat, she asks Gigi why she would say that since Mino is a great husband.

“He’s cheating on me. He texted me ‘I love you’ and ‘I miss you’ then deleted it right away. I’m sure it was sent by mistake,” Gigi confesses with little regret at this point. Her marriage was a whole other nightmare in itself.

Sue asks Gigi if she’d like her to do anything about it but Gigi refuses. Her friend is more than enough for her, she’s all Gigi needs in what little life she has remaining.

“I only need you too. Let’s only think good thoughts okay, my other half?” Sue asks in earnest.

Gigi nods thankful, wanting to believe in her friend’s hope for she doesn’t believe there’s any hope left in her.

A nurse suddenly calls her, it’s time to go to the transfusion room.

Sue tries to assure her that the medicine won’t hurt at all, that Gigi will get better once done. She holds Gigi’s hands in a tight grasp within her own, “You must never give up,” she beseeches her friend.

With a teary, somewhat broken expression Gigi tries to smile at the strength the other woman is willingly sending her way.

As Gigi lies down undergoing her chemotherapy treatment, her gaze can’t help veering towards the happy sounds coming from outside the open window in the dreary room.

She can’t remember the last time she was happy so why did she miss it so much? She’d been given six months that could be pushed to twelve if there was a miracle.

It’s all pointless now anyway.

Her marriage had shown promise of happiness before the ugliness quickly took root.

Gigi had married a man who did nothing, made her work until she collapsed with stomach cancer, and allowed his mother to mentally abuse and sometimes physically harass her.

When her mother-in-law had heard of Gigi’s diagnosis of stage four gastric cancer, she’d started crying for her son’s sake. Why didn’t he choose carefully?

Her husband, Mino, had been of the same thought. How unlucky must he be? If Gigi died, who would make his meals?

“You’re too nice! Why would you worry about that? People need to work to overcome illness. Technology is advanced these days, she’ll be fine,” the woman turned to Gigi who was lost in shock, sitting alone in the dining room.

“Right? Don’t think about telling your company, work until you can. Don’t think about acting emotional just because you’re sick. It’s a nuisance!” her mother-in-law ordered.

• ◘ •

Gigi snaps out of the painful memories to the announcement that her therapy is finished for the day.

Walking back to her room, she hears the wife of the man whose hospital bed is next to hers telling her not to worry about her husband’s affair.

“It’s better off without them when you’re older. You’re not well, you shouldn’t think about bad things. You have a great friend, so pretty and pleasant.”

The woman clearly eavesdropped on the whole interaction earlier.

“You’re right, I have a great friend,” Gigi agrees not bothering to turn around. Quite frankly she can’t, her chest is aching.

Her friend is a hard worker and successful manager at a prominent company, U&K. It’s the company Gigi worked at.

Gigi lacked a lot of things in life but Sue was the only one who stayed by her side. Her friend with the pretty red-heeled shoes that Gigi couldn’t help but notice yesterday. She was so pretty and kind.

A man appears in front of her, informing her a guardian must come if she wants to continue treatment. They need to pay or take her home, she has until the end of the day to settle it.

Heading back to her room, Gigi desperately tries to get in touch with Mino. Didn’t he make the deposit? Why’s he not picking up?

I’m begging you, pick up the phone.

He’d quit his job after they got married so she had to support them but she’s willing to forgive him that as long as he at least pays the hospital bills.

With no hope of getting a timely reply, Gigi determines to find her asshole of a husband. She steps outside the treatment hospital facility just in time as a cab passes.

How interesting, she hadn’t expected a cab to come by this way.

The cab driver comments that she must be very sick but she shouldn’t lose hope, she’ll pull through and get better.

However, Gigi shares that living is harder than dying, maybe getting better isn’t the best. Her father passed away early, she doesn’t have siblings, and she barely has a husband (it would’ve been better if she didn’t have one at all).

She’s alone yet not truly alone for if that was the case at least she wouldn’t have piling debts that made it impossible to even pay her medical fees to keep her alive (again, thanks to her asshole husband).

“You need to follow your path until the very end to know for sure,” the taxi driver replies with a smile glancing at her through the review mirror. He suddenly swerves at a fork in the road.

All of a sudden alert, Gigi comments that’s not the way but the driver lets her know he’ll take her down a good path.

She should just trust him.

She confronts her husband and best friend but they work together to profit from her death

Going through a dark tunnel devoid of any other cars they eventually reach Gigi’s destination.

She’s right outside their home now and barely makes it up the stairs to their floor without collapsing.

Entering the door, Gigi notices two pairs of shoes in the entryway, one being a pair of familiar red heels.

She slowly steps in heading down the hall to the bedroom when voices drift her way.

“How did you think of cancer insurance?” a familiar woman’s voice is heard asking.

“Her dad died of cancer. She kept getting thinner, I thought it was time so I took out a policy,” Mino’s voice replies.

By this point, Gigi had a glimpse through the open bedroom door of two people lying in bed together naked.

One is Mino and the woman who just applauded his forethought of taking a cancer insurance policy in such a timely manner is no one other than Sue, her kind and pretty best friend.

If Gigi dies, they both profit. Mino tells her he got the diagnostic insurance and already bought Sue that designer bag she likes. The rest went into stocks to eventually buy her an even better bag.

Oh, he’s so sweet, they should buy a house after Gigi dies.

That sounds nice! But the bitch is holding out longer than they thought. She’s persistent, maybe Sue should take her out for clean air and give her a gentle “push” somewhere.

Oh heck no, what if Sue falls too? Mino can’t bear to think of losing her.

They laugh and plan and mock some more.

Gigi hears everything, her heart breaking at the betrayal and the inhumane treatment from the two people who are supposed to be her family, friends, and close confidants.

Unable to hold it any longer, she bursts into the room screaming at the top of her lungs, “You crazy bastards!”

She grabs at what she can and throws it their way, her strength failing with every breath.

“This is insurance fraud, I’m going to report you,” she threatens. She screams she’ll kill them both!

Mino yells at her to stop, isn’t she sick of this? He holds Sue in a protective embrace walking towards Gigi by the bedroom door.

On the way, he raises his hand as if to strike her but seeing Gigi’s frail form close her eyes in expectation of the blow, he simply places his threatening hand on her head.

What the hell can she do right now anyway?

But Gigi can’t let them go that easily, she grabs more things to throw at them in the living room before she herself collapses.

Sue approaches her with tears of doubtful sincerity. She tells Gigi to let the living go on living instead of always thinking about herself.

Gigi trips Sue as the other woman makes to get up and starts pulling at her hair. Does she think she’s never going to die? Doesn’t she think it’ll happen to her too?

Calling out “Babe!” makes Mino come to the rescue. He forcefully pulls Gigi by the arm away from Sue who’s now on the floor disheveled.

“If you’re going to die, just die already. Get lost!” He pushes Gigi hard, she loses balance, and falls backward, her head hitting the edge of the console table.

Blood pools on the floor, and Gigi’s limp figure lies lifeless.

“Babe, I think she’s dead,” Sue’s voice is faintly heard.

“She was going to die anyways, does it matter how she dies?” Mino’s indifferent voice replies. But what will happen to them?

Trying to come up with a story, Mino suggests they go with Gigi’s condition as cover. People with cancer often faint, they’ll just say she fell and tripped. They found her this way, it was too late, and nothing to do.

What if they don’t get paid?

She was given six months to live, twelve if there was a miracle. She didn’t get to live that long at all.

She just died.

She died an unjust death but she awakens years before she made the mistake of marrying the man who kills her

Tears are rolling down Gigi’s face. Her eyes flash open to Mino’s hazy form approaching her asking, “Babe what are doing? Why are you spacing out? Why aren’t you wearing your glasses?”

She suddenly puts them on needing to see the unbelievable sight in front of her. A smiling Mino comes closer, putting his hands on her hips in a lover’s touch.

Terrified, Gigi lets out a scream that brings everyone in the office to attention. What they witness is Gigi throwing everything she can find at the office pantry at Mino who’s trying (and failing) to escape her aim.

He runs out but she’s right there grabbing his hair and pulling with all her might. Just as Mino’s bunched fist gets ready to throw a blow, a man in a suit pulls Gigi’s hand from the hair.

“Snap out of it. We’re at work, what are you doing?” he asks the angry and confused Gigi.

She realizes she’s indeed in the office, she feels faint but the man in the suit is ready as she stumbles.

Looking at her hand, Gigi notices a scar she used to have is not there. She sees smooth skin where once there were many leftover marks of countless injections from her treatment. Confused and scared, she runs to the nearest mirror.

The woman staring back at her is one she hasn’t seen in a long time. There is a Gigi with a healthy complexion, one much younger looking.

She starts backing away, astounded and horrified by whatever this moment is, she trips and next thing you know she’s lying on her back looking in terror at the hot kettle careening down towards her.

Gigi closes her eyes prepping for the unavoidable impact when a hand intervenes. The man in the suit is once again next to her trying to help her up.

Sue comes upon the scene, her face a mask of concern. Mino also breaks through the crowd to see what the heck happened.

Seeing the the two people who had stood over her dead body contemplating payment right there in front of her is too much for Gigi. She runs out of the room, out of the building, losing her shoes in the panicked process.

Concerned, the man in the suit follows her all the way to yet again rescue her from a fall as she stumbles on the steps to the nearby subway.

Barefoot, she tries to calm down but the world around her is wrong. Gigi sees the year, 2013, and stares in disbelief.

When the man comes back having gone to fetch her lost shoes, she asks what’s going on.

She sprinted quite a distance from the company, he should be asking her what was going on not the other way around.

Gigi can’t deal with it, she has no reply, and she’s in no condition to rationalize. He accompanies her home in a taxi.

He once promised he’d do everything and anything for her, is this what he meant?

It’s really 2013, everything in the fridge expires in 2013.

“Is this a dream? If it is a dream, which one is real? Dying at the hands of Mino in 2023? Or 2013 when I’m 31?” Gigi shakes her head, no 2023 wasn’t a dream.

“I know who General Manager Jay is (the man in the suit who helped her out),” she acknowledges. It’s not something small to know, it had made the news back when it was revealed.

No one knows now but their general manager is the grandson of U&K. His succession process will begin in a few years.

“The fact that I know this, does it mean I traveled back in time?” Gigi gets back and reaches for the cash he handed to her earlier when they arrived in a taxi. He’d given her some cash since she’d left her wallet and bag back at the company.

But Gigi’s eye catches the small black heart mark on one of the bills. She’s bewildered, her dad used to draw a black heart on her bills as a sign of love when he was alive.

Connecting impossible dots, Gigi realizes that bill was the one given to her by the taxi driver who’d driven her from the treatment facility to her home in 2023. He had insisted she have it.

No one but her dad knew about the heart. Her dad had been dead for many years. With tears in her eyes, she realizes the identity of the odd and mysterious cab driver.

As hard as it was to believe, that man was her dad! One of the last promises he’d made was that he’d do everything for her.

Gigi can’t help crying inconsolably, he should have told her it was him!

Hearing the front door opening, Gigi stops on high alert. Standing right in front of her is Mino asking her out for dinner.

He’s on the roll about her behavior, can she not make it look bad for him at work? Whatever it is she’s going through, she needs to keep herself under control.

What’s he talking about?

“When did it happen? We haven’t done it in a while, why are you pregnant? Are you sure it’s mine?” he looks at her hopeful he’s wrong.

A shocked Gigi is taken aback. Then she recalls, she’d been unable to stomach anything so she’d thought she was pregnant.

It had turned out to be gastritis from stress but she can’t help but wonder now in hindsight if that was the start. Apparently, it wasn’t enough he’d stressed her out until she’d died, he also had an affair with her friend.

Mino keeps on talking, having a baby now would be like clipping the wings of a free bird he says. It would mean a big career interruption, she’d have to stop working and stay at home, how horrendous a thought.

Gigi listens on silently. Had she not known he’d sponge off of her after he quit his job, his words would have been plausible.

“Get an abortion. As for the fee…Fine, I’ll pay half,” he resoundingly informs her. Half?

“I’m not pregnant, it’s gastritis”. Well, that’s a relief but why’s she so sensitive then?

“Let’s break up,” Gigi demands.

She gets up and leaves. Mino however isn’t one to take this breakup lightly, he goes after her and aggressively holds her arm. He’s been dealing with her for so long and she just wants to call it quits?

He pulls her towards a wall roughly. “Did I say something wrong? Why are you being hysterical? Are you crazy?”

How could Gigi forget that Mino doesn’t care if she dies but he can’t stand the idea of breaking up?

Meanwhile, he threatens to kill her, who’s she to break up with him? Terrified and crying, Gigi calls out for help.

He showed his true colors early on, it’s just hard to find a way to escape him

At the police station, the officer informs them they cannot come to the station over a lover’s quarrel.

Gigi attempts to argue that it’s not just a lover’s quarrel, he’d been threatening her!

The male officer however placates her and sides with Mino who’s pulling his people-pleasing persona in apologizing for Gigi being hyper “sensitive”.

“You weren’t hit and nothing’s broken. I see your boyfriend works for a big company,” he looks at Gigi, “You can’t come to the police just because you got angry and sensitive,” he continues.

“Sorry,” Gigi interrupts him astounded by this favoritism and patronizing, “Do I have to come here after something’s broken?”

She requests they at least take her home. On the way, Gigi tries to figure out what she’s supposed to do.

In her previous life, at this time, she’d been scared to break up so she did whatever Mino wanted. He already had a lot of her money, even if she were to run away she didn’t have the funds to support her.

She gets an apologetic text from Mino that never in a million years could be termed as an apology for the aggressive abusive behavior he displayed.

He wants her to know he might have gone overboard earlier but recently got inside information on a stock that he thinks will be successful. They should get married after that.

The stock…Gigi jumps up in excitement, the stock! How could she forget?

The only success in Mino’s life had been that stock. She remembers quite a few market successes since 2013, she can capitalize on this knowledge to secure her funding.

Deciding she’s going to live a proper life this time, Gigi starts buying as many shares as she can.

She also gets herself a thorough medical examination with scans. The doctor finds this a little overkill for gastritis but Gigi needs to ensure the cancer of her past life doesn’t become a stumbling block in this one.

As long as she maintains her health, there’s a way to achieve a full life.

• ◘ •

Hitting the library, Gigi pulls every possible book on quitting her job and retiring on income from stocks.

That’s where she comes upon the general manager, Jay. He notices her selection of books and straight out asks if she’s planning on quitting.

While trying to come up with a proper response, Gigi notices a burn mark on his wrist that must’ve occurred when he saved her from the falling hot kettle.

As she starts apologizing, Jay suggests she make up for it by joining him for a meal which Gigi doesn’t turn down. She has no plausible reason not to join him.

Of course, the restaurant is a high-end one. Gigi had never interacted much with him in her previous life so she wouldn’t know but it’s easy to tell he’s super classy.

She also can’t help but think he’s more handsome and considerate than she remembers.

Suddenly she gets a better look at the mark on his wrist and quickly grabs his hand. It’s the same mark she once bore on her wrist.

Their meal ends with Jay telling her it’d be a shame if she quits her job, she’s quite talented. And you know what? He’s right.

She’d all but forgotten that she was actually quite good at her job.

How he knew she was talented she’d no idea, but the recollection of this little thing of pride in herself was very welcome.

She realizes what is to happen will happen, it just doesn’t have to happen to her

Gigi had been trying to avoid both Mino and Sue at work (a hard feat considering they worked in the same company).

Sue especially was now concerned why Gigi kept avoiding her, did she do something wrong? Why’s her “other half” so evasive these days?

Just as Gigi is in the process of admiring how much her recent stock acquisition rose at her desk, she feels a tap on her shoulder. With a slight start, she turns at Sue’s whisper of her name.

What did Gigi do last night that she forgot to call her?

Thinking quickly, Gigi tells her that she was browsing an online forum. “There’s this woman who has late-stage cancer. She saw her husband and friend in bed”.

Oh, really? That’s crazy! Sue makes a shocked, displeased expression.

“Wow, that friend is worse than the husband. So gross. How could she do that to her best friend?” Sue asks in a hushed voice.

Right, how could she? Gigi stares at Sue’s face, “She’s going to die anyway so she probably thought it was okay”.

But Sue is totally against that friend, if she ever dies, Gigi can have everything she owns. But if Gigi ever dies, she will too.

Hearing that last part wipes the pretentious friendly smile from Gigi’s face. This two-faced beast that’s acting all chummy with her is a total hypocrite.

The rest of the day was full of trying to get away from Mino’s attempts to approach her and survive by not becoming a victim of past accidents.

She’d managed to save a falling mug of coffee without tripping and hurting her knee (as it had occurred in her past life) earlier. Yet, it just so happened that she bumped against a cabinet hurting her knee regardless.

Eventually, she got hurt in the same exact spot. She tried avoiding it but couldn’t avoid it at the end.

Does that mean she’s doomed to the same end as before?

The cancer, the encounter with Mino and Sue, and her death in a pool of blood in what had once been her living room flash before her eyes.

No! It cannot happen like that. The injury on her hand is gone, the one that she got from burning herself with spilled water from the kettle.

What does this mean? Is she missing something?

It occurs to Gigi that what’s bound to happen will happen. It just needs to happen to someone else.

She turns to look at Sue who’s been following her down the hallway incessantly talking.

“Sue, are you willing to throw away my trash?” Gigi asks her.

Sure, she can do that as long as they go to a new restaurant she found and has high expectations for. Sue smiles at her excitedly, happy to get her way once more.

What she misses is Gigi’s smile disappearing as she stares at Sue heading into the meeting room, taking the seat next to Mino.

Sue has been coveting her trash for a long time, so she can take it out. She can marry her husband.