The Unwritten Chapter

The car ride to the Chang household was heavy with silence, the kind that pressed down like a storm cloud threatening to burst. Cael sat stiffly in the back seat, his thoughts tangled in grief and dread. Before leaving, he'd glanced one last time at the lifeless bodies of his parents—parents he didn't know, but who still left an ache in his chest.

James Chang, his uncle-turned-father, had stood beside him at the farewell, his face etched with grief. Cael could still hear James' quiet words of goodbye as he patted his back and turned to comfort his crying wife, Kim Chang. They'd been kind to him so far, but kindness didn't erase the surreal weight of his situation.

The sky outside was a dull, lifeless grey, perfectly mirroring Cael's mood. He stared out the window, his mind whirring. I've been adopted before the plot of "Love Conflicts" even begins, he thought. Julls and Jade probably haven't even met yet.

Julls Hellen. The name sent a chill down his spine. In the novel, Julls wasn't just an alpha—he was a hyper-dominant alpha. A man so terrifyingly powerful that even the Chang family, wealthy and influential in their own right, couldn't compare. Julls was next in line to inherit a massive empire, a tyrant who ruled over everything in his path.

Cael knew how the story unfolded. Julls met Jade at a high-society party, imprinting on him at first sight. The obsession began there, and it only grew darker with time. Julls went to unimaginable lengths to be near Jade, even borrowing the identity of "Lucas Brown," a student in the IT department, to stalk him.

As Cael stared at the passing scenery, the memories of the novel's tragic end replayed in his mind like a cruel reminder. On the day of Cael Baker's graduation, Jade had come to congratulate him, flowers in hand. That single moment of kindness had sealed Cael's fate. Julls, consumed by jealousy and insecurity, mistook their bond for something romantic. His response was as brutal as it was inevitable—he murdered Cael.

What followed was even worse. Jade's life spiraled into an abyss of despair. After fabricating a fake death for Jade to the world, Julls imprisoned him, trapping him in his mansion's basement. James Chang and his wife had fought for justice, but the Hellen family's power was absolute. There was no escape for Jade, who eventually broke under the weight of his circumstances. By the end of the novel, Jade was nothing more than a doll, a shadow of the person he once was.

The thought made Cael's stomach churn. That's how it ends. A tragedy for everyone.

But the timeline was still early. Cael wasn't in college yet, and neither has Jade met Julls. There was time, wasn't there? If I play my cards right, I can stay out of this. Avoid Jade meeting Julls. Keep my head down and live a quiet life.

That thought gave him a shred of hope, but it didn't last long. He reached for his phone—Cael's phone—to check for clues about what the original Cael had planned for his future. Frantically scrolling through old messages, he found a conversation in a group chat.

There it was: a mention of pursuing art.

Cael slumped back in his seat, dread washing over him. "Art," he muttered, the word bitter on his tongue. In his past life as El Johansen, art had been his Achilles' heel. He had no natural talent for it, no patience for the abstract. His strengths lay in science, in the concrete and methodical world of nursing and medicine.

"To do this all again…" he murmured, his voice heavy with resignation.

The sky seemed to darken as the car turned onto a quieter road. Cael glanced up, watching the clouds shift and move. Anxiety was already settling in, a familiar weight in his chest. As James drove, humming quietly to himself, Cael's mind raced ahead.

I'll have to start over. Prove myself again. Build a future from scratch.

The thought of all the pressure he'd faced in his previous life came flooding back. The long nights of studying, the endless exams, the expectations that loomed over him. And now, as Cael Baker, he would have to endure it all over again—this time in a body and a world that felt entirely foreign.

For the first time since waking up in this strange new reality, Cael truly understood the weight of what lay ahead. And yet, buried beneath the anxiety, a small spark of determination flickered.

If I could succeed as El Johansen, I can do it again.

But as he looked out at the ominous grey sky, a single thought whispered in the back of his mind: Will this life let me?