The first time Maeve smelled something foul between her legs, she told herself it was the hotel sheets. Maybe the cheap detergent. Maybe the old mattress.
The second time, she blamed her own body. A weird discharge, maybe from stress. She even googled it at 2 a.m. after sex with her husband, hoping it was just a passing infection.
And the third time? When she stood naked in the shower and her skin started to peel… when the smell stuck to her no matter how hard she scrubbed?
When she saw herself rotting from inside?
She knew it wasn't normal. Turns out her husband replaced his semen in every release with urine, rotting her from inside out.
Maeve used to brag to her friends about how good he feels her, but she realized no matter how many times she tried, she just couldn't have a child.
She was reduced from the Goddess of music and every man's idol to a stinking dead rat.
The top label owner and billionaire, Fred Orchard's wife, was dangerously ill, and the whole world was asked to pray for her.
But instead of prayers, they hurled curses. They called her wicked. Said it was her sins that found her.
She was branded a witch. A plagiarist. A thief. A woman too evil to live. All because she was framed.
She had a rival that kept stealing her music no matter how hard she tried to hide it. For some reason, this person always releases her new song before she does and she had no idea how.
Maeve was on the verge of finding out when the world turned on her and her husband was forced to stop her from singing and poisoned her.
Now laid almost lifeless in an unknown hospital, Maeve recounted her life and everything she's been through. She cried.
She couldn't believe the two people she loved the most in this world, would plan to kill her.
"I've taken good care of you since our parents died Mirabelle, and this is how you repay me."
"Shut the fuck up you stinking woman. Just die already. Fred and junior will be fine without you." Maeve coughed out a little blood at her sisters words.
She wouldn't need to die if Fred had just taken her to a good hospital and has agreed to the kidney transplant, but it's clear he wanted her dead.
"No matter what you do, junior will never accept you as his mother." Mirabelle laughed at her sisters words.
"I am his real mother. It was all Fred's idea that you took care of him, remember. Why would my son, hate me his biological mother?" Maeve couldn't believe it.
All these time, Fred and Mirabelle had an affair behind her back. She cried even more. To think she's spent the last years of her life helping Fred grow his record label and had trained Mirabelle in school since she was ten when their parents died.
"Just die already, I've endure not being with my true family for years now Maeve. You're no longer needed here." Mirabelle said coldly.
"Why's her death taking so long? Hurry and kill her." Mirabelle turned to the doctors and they hurriedly did their jobs.
Maeve prayed inwardly for a last miracle and that was not to live. She prayed if ever there was an after life, she wished to be blessed with one. She wanted to rewrite her life and make everyone that has betrayed her pay.
"Maeve sweetheart, you must be wondering who Rae your rival is." Mirabelle giggled. Rae was the one that always stole her music, the one they destroyed her career with theft accusations. Mirabelle knew about her?
"Well that's..." Her sister words faded and all she could see and hear was darkness. An emptiness engulfed her. This is it, she was dying.
----
"Come, Eve, Fred is this way!"
Maeve gasped, lungs snapping open like she'd been yanked from underwater. Her name echoed again, Eve, and before she could react, someone pushed her forward and slammed the door shut behind her.
A familiar warmth washed over her with a force that had her back crashing against the door harshly.
"What took you so long?" Maeve heard the same deep rasped voice from her past, the same hot breath that made her shiver.
"Hng." Her body reacted to his touch.
His hands moved around her like they knew her. His touch was soft but firm.
Wait! What the hell?
This night looked like seven years ago, her wedding night. The night it all began. The night her sister had set her up with a complete stranger. Her sex tape was all over the internet at the time and everyone mocked her.
Had she been reborn again?
This was her chance to change everything. But before she could even think, he lifted her, carrying her effortlessly, tossing her onto the bed.
Her wedding dress ripped like paper under his hands. "No… wait! Stop!" Maeve panicked, struggling against him.
He didn't stop.
"Relax, my butterfly, I won't hurt you." he whispered.
The words slithered through her mind, poisonous and hypnotic. Her body betrayed her, confusion twisting into shame, shame into unwanted heat.
Darkness claimed her, and when she jolted awake, it was morning.
"No. No, no... fuck!"
Maeve shot out of bed, heart pounding like war drums
This was the same time the reporters had arrived in her past life. They had swooned in like flowing waters capturing every movement.
This time, she got off the bed quickly, knowing she had only just two minutes till they arrived. She searched for something to wear since her wedding dress had been ripped apart, and her eyes caught the beautiful black dress hanging in a corner.
Perfect. She was an artist and her artist hands worked fast, slipping into the fabric as if she were backstage at a show, changing before the curtain rose. Heels clicked into place. Her pulse thundered louder.
She grabbed the scattered clothes, shoving them beneath the bed.
She still felt a heavy ache as proof of her betrayal, her body felt like it had been hit by a truck, but she didn't let that affect her.
She has been given a second chance at life, this time, she's here to correct her mistake and make things right.
Just as she threw the clothes beneath the bed, the door flew open with reporters flooding in just like in the past.
They captured every little movement.
In her past life, they had taken her unaware and that had left so many headlines that ruined her life. People still blamed her for hurting her husband the way she did.
They called her unfaithful and said that she was lucky Fred still chose her.
In this life...
"Mrs Orchard, how could you sleep in a hotel on the night of your wedding and without your husband?" The first question landed and just as she opened her mouth another came.
"Mrs Orchard, Mr Orchard has been your childhood sweetheart, we know how much you embarrassed yourself online to be married to him, how can you betray him like this?" Another came.