Reborn to Love Mr. Right – Episode 22
The photograph of the burning agreement transformed tomorrow into a deadline. Orange flames curled behind the trophy-case glass while students ran through a corridor filled with smoke. In the reflection, Arianna could see Derek standing safely outside the building. His posture held none of the confusion of an accidental witness; he appeared to be waiting for a scene he had rehearsed.
She showed the image only to Donald and Hayden. Ivy had supplied the account, but her loyalty remained too uncertain for another warning. Hayden enlarged the reflection and identified the west hallway near the science wing funded by Evelyn’s foundation.
Donald wanted the school closed until investigators examined every room. Arianna argued that a public evacuation would tell Derek they had received another image. If he remembered the fire from the first future, changing the schedule too obviously might prompt him to choose a less predictable target.
“Then we control the building quietly,” Hayden said. Although Evelyn had revoked his company access, several members of his security team resigned from Scott Global rather than abandon him. Their loyalty embarrassed him, but Arianna saw proof that respect could survive without money forcing it. Hayden promised to pay them personally, and they answered that they had chosen the work before discussing a salary.
At Taylor Industries, forensic analysts examined the engagement agreement. Donald’s signature had been lifted from a legitimate land contract, while Hayden’s mother’s signature came from a charity charter. The paper and ink were fifteen years old, making the forgery difficult to expose without comparing the source documents.
One detail betrayed the hidden clause. It referenced a Taylor trust that had not been created until three years after the agreement’s date. Evelyn had used accurate history from the future, but she had placed it in the wrong year. The mistake was invisible to outsiders and devastating to anyone with access to Taylor’s corporate records.
Hayden recognized the trust name from Derek’s failed login. Derek had learned of it after Donald’s death and given that knowledge to Evelyn. Their alliance depended on his memories, while her legal influence turned those memories into present-day weapons.
Arianna asked whether Hayden had known about their parents’ matchmaking. He admitted his mother once discussed it with him and that he had never objected. “I knew they hoped,” he said. “I did not know anyone had written a contract.”
The admission hurt less than the pause before it. Arianna told him that protecting her could not require hiding uncomfortable truths. She had spent one life accepting Derek’s edited version of reality and would not build another relationship on omissions. Even silence offered with gentle intentions could become a room in which suspicion learned to grow.
Hayden apologized without defending himself. He explained that after her previous rejection, mentioning his family’s wishes had felt like pressure. “But deciding what you can handle is still a kind of control,” he said. The honesty loosened the fear Derek had tried to plant.
They returned to school separately to avoid attracting attention. Security officers posed as maintenance contractors and inspected alarms, gas lines, and electrical panels. Nothing appeared damaged, which meant the danger had not yet been prepared—or the photograph showed a fire caused another way.
Derek entered history class to scattered applause from students who believed Evelyn’s whistleblower story. He thanked them with practiced humility and said he wanted only to complete senior year in peace. Arianna remembered how easily a victim’s costume fit him.
Emmy slid a newspaper onto Arianna’s desk. Its front page accused Donald of manipulating Hayden through an arranged marriage. Emmy did not ask whether the article was true. She asked which part Derek had forged. The question gave Arianna a rare moment of relief in a day built around making her doubt everyone.
The trust strengthened Arianna. She explained the impossible date without mentioning the future source. Emmy immediately volunteered to watch the west hallway during lunch, insisting that an athletic scholarship meant little if the school burned around her.
Ivy returned under probation and found Derek waiting beside her locker. He apologized for his message after the gala, claiming Victor had forced him to reject her. She listened with lowered eyes, performing the devotion he expected.
From across the hall, Arianna saw Ivy slip Derek’s old silver ring from his pocket while embracing him. Whether she intended to help or protect herself remained unclear. Arianna chose not to expose her.
At noon, a fire inspector found fresh scratches around a gas valve in the chemistry preparation room. The valve remained closed, but someone had tested how quickly it could be opened. Only faculty keys and Ivy’s restored access badge could enter that room.
The principal summoned Ivy again. She swore Derek had borrowed her badge during their embrace, then returned it before she noticed. The access record showed the room opening for eleven seconds—long enough to place something inside. Ivy’s anger at being used competed with the shame of realizing how willingly she had approached him.
Security searched every cabinet and found no incendiary device. Derek watched from the doorway with an expression of patient amusement. “You can’t arrest someone for walking into a classroom,” he said, certain the real danger remained invisible.
The final bell rang as the future photograph’s countdown reached twenty-three hours. Above them, the science-wing ventilation system switched on by itself, carrying the faint smell of gasoline through every corridor in the school.
