The digital clock on the café wall read 11:47 PM.
Across the small mahogany table, Julian Cross adjusted his glasses. The amber streetlights filtered through the window, catching the sharp line of his jaw and the rare, breathtakingly soft curve of his lips. He wasn't looking at his blueprints anymore. He was looking at Aria.
Aria's stomach dropped into a cold, familiar abyss.
No. Not again. Please.
"Aria," Julian said, his voice dropping to a low, quiet register that made her heart physically ache. He closed his laptop. "I know we said we'd keep this partnership strictly professional. But these past four weeks..."
"Julian, stop," Aria interrupted, her voice cracking. She aggressively grabbed a fry from the plate between them and shoved it into her mouth. "Don't finish that sentence. I just remembered I think you're a really terrible designer. Your brutalist concepts are ugly."
It was a blatant, ridiculous lie. He was a genius. But she was desperate.
Julian blinked, caught off guard, but then a soft laugh huffed from his chest. He reached across the table, his fingers brushing against hers. The warmth of his skin felt like a brand. "You're doing that thing again. Pushing me away because you're scared. But I'm not going anywhere, Aria. I've spent twenty-nine days trying to deny it, but I'm in love with you."
Click.
The universe didn't shatter with a bang. It dissolved with the sound of a ticking second hand reversing.
A violent wave of vertigo slammed into Aria's chest. The scent of roasted coffee beans and Julian's cedarwood cologne vanished, replaced instantly by the sharp, sterile smell of lemon-scented floor cleaner and fresh printer paper.
Aria blinked, her vision clearing.
She was standing in the middle of the bustling lobby of Cross & Associates. In her right hand, she held a cardboard tray containing two iced Americanos. In her left, a folder of zoning permits.
She looked down at her wrist. Her smart watch read: May 1st, 09:00 AM.
Loop number fifteen had begun.
"Watch it!"
A courier brushed past her, nearly knocking the coffees from her hand. Aria didn't flinch. She just stood there, a hollow, bitter laugh bubbling up in her throat.
Twenty-nine days. She had managed to stretch the last loop to twenty-nine days by being a corporate nightmare—showing up late, "accidentally" deleting his files, and arguing with him in board meetings. But Julian, with his infuriatingly stubborn savior complex, had simply found her "refreshingly honest" and "passionate."
And then he confessed. And then the clock broke.
"Aria? Are you just going to stand there blocking the elevators, or are those coffees actually for me?"
Aria stiffened. She turned slowly.
Julian was walking toward her. He looked immaculate—charcoal suit, silver tie clip, his dark hair perfectly styled. There were no dark circles under his eyes yet. He didn't look at her with that intense, quiet adoration that had ruined her life just five seconds ago.
Right now, she was just Aria Vance, the freelance consultant hired for his latest museum project. A stranger he respected, nothing more.
"Mr. Cross," Aria said, her voice entirely flat. She forced every ounce of warmth out of her soul.
"Is something wrong?" Julian frowned slightly, his sharp eyes scanning her face. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
I am the ghost, she wanted to scream. I've watched you fall in love with me fourteen times, and I've had to murder it fourteen times.
"I'm fine," Aria said, thrusting one of the iced coffees into his hand. She didn't let their fingers touch. Not even for a millisecond. "Here's your caffeine. Let's get the briefing over with. I have a lot of things I need to ruin today."
Julian raised an eyebrow, staring at the coffee cup, then at her retreating back. "Ruin?"
Aria didn't answer. She marched straight toward the stairs, ignoring the elevator entirely.
Safely in the stairwell, she leaned against the concrete wall and pulled a crumpled, leather-bound notebook from her purse. It was the only thing that didn't reset—because she had realized by loop three that she had to buy the exact same notebook on Day 1 of every loop and manually transcribe her notes from memory before she forgot the details.
She opened to a fresh page, pulled out a pen, and wrote at the top:
LOOP 15: THE SURVIVAL PROTOCOL
Current Date: May 1st.
Target Deadline: June 1st (Must survive 32 days to break past the previous record).
DO NOT: Smile at his jokes.
DO NOT: Wear the red dress to the gala.
NEW STRATEGY: I need to introduce him to someone else. I need to make him fall in love with a woman who won't trigger the end of the world.
Aria stared at the words, her eyes stinging with tears that she refused to let fall.
She loved him. God, she loved him so much it felt like a physical sickness. She remembered the way he kissed her in Loop 7, desperate and breathless in the rain. She remembered the quiet confession in the library during Loop 11.
But the universe didn't want them together. Every time he gave her his heart, reality ripped her away and forced her to start over.
"Alright, Julian," Aria whispered, closing the notebook with a sharp snap. She wiped her eyes fiercely. "You want a piece of me this month? I'm going to make you absolutely miserable."