Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My name is Peyton, and I am a task-bound transmigrator.

When I first saw Declan, he shone like a blinding ray of light.

He was the golden boy who entered university with top honors, blessed with wealth, privilege, and striking good looks.

Everywhere he went, he commanded the room.

When the System assigned him as my target, I felt lost, convinced that winning his heart was an impossible mission.

Yet success meant I could return to my original world, wake from my coma, and finally walk and dance again.

So I gave it everything I had.

The System placed me as his classmate from a different department.

To share common ground with him, I registered for his advanced physics electives.

I stayed up countless nights wrestling with complex theories just to be prepared.

I raised my hand eagerly during lectures, solely to leave an impression on him.

Yet even after the professor learned my name, Declan never spared me a second glance.

During a community volunteering trip in the mountains, a sudden landslide caught us off guard.

Declan was swept off his feet by the mud, but I lunged forward and grabbed his arm with all my strength.

As the mud dragged us down the slope, a jagged rock pointed straight at his abdomen.

"Look out!" I shoved him away, and the sharp stone slammed violently into my own waist.

In that split second, I thought the worst that could happen was failing the mission and remaining a vegetable in my original body.

Saving a life in exchange felt worth it.

Declan carried me down the mountain, his eyes bloodshot and tears streaming down his face.

"Why are you so stupid?" he choked out. "Who risks their life just to save someone else?"

I forced a faint smile. "What can I say? I am in love with you."

He went silent, not answering my confession, only urging me to stay awake.

At the hospital, he cared for me with meticulous devotion until I fully recovered.

We remained close friends for three years until our senior year, when disaster struck his life.

His family's business went bankrupt, and his parents took their own lives, leaving him buried under mountains of debt.

Declan spiraled into deep depression as all his fair-weather friends abandoned him.

He turned to heavy drinking and smoking, drowning his agony in alcohol to escape reality.

Unable to watch him destroy himself, I grabbed him by the collar and forced him to pull himself together.

He stared at me, his eyes filled with confusion, misery, and humiliation.

After a long silence, he pushed me away with a bitter laugh. "Why haven't you left like everyone else? Aren't you afraid I will drag you down for money?"

"I am not afraid."

He froze, then suddenly pulled me into a fierce embrace, his scalding tears soaking my shoulder.

Throughout those grueling years, I stood by his side, juggling my studies while helping him launch his startup.

His way of addressing me shifted from a formal "Peyton" to the tender pet name "Pey."

Then, the System chimed to notify me that his affection meter had reached one hundred percent.

It asked if I wished to extract from this world immediately.

I hesitated.

During the mission, I had genuinely fallen in love with Declan.

While I struggled with my decision, Declan led me to a vast rose garden he had planted with his own hands.

His dark eyes sparkled like stars, overflowing with raw devotion. "Pey, let's be together. Forever."

Looking into his earnest eyes, the feelings buried deep inside my heart bloomed uncontrollably.

So after completing the mission, I chose to stay in this world for him.

I never imagined that the moment Hailey entered his life, everything would change.