It's really quite amusing to see how life can surprise us. That may sound a tad strange, but it always seems to throw unexpected twists and turns our way, and in my case, it threw a particularly strange one in my second life.

I was only around four years old when I remembered my past life. It seemed a bit young, but who was I going to complain to? The manager of reincarnation?

....

What? Was the joke that bad?

Some people just have no taste really.

Anyways, what was truly surprising was that this wasn't just any ordinary second chance at life - it was the life of a character in a manga I had read long ago. Growing up, I always had a sense of déjà vu. Something about my name always bothered me, like I had seen it somewhere before. But it was my eyes that truly caught my attention. Every morning, I would gaze into the mirror and stare into my reflection for minutes on end trying to figure it out.

Seems a bit vain really, and maybe I am. But I don't see a problem with that and I can take pride in my appearance if I so please.

My skin was pale and clear, my hair was jet black and straight as a rod, and far too plain for my tastes. My eyes, however, were a startling crystalline blue that seemed to sparkle like icicles in the winter sun and were familiar for some reason. I never could seem to place what bothered me about them.

Well, until after my accident at the gala that is. That's when everything came rushing back to me.

My family and I were attending a night gala at a nature conservatory. The event was held in a large, glass-enclosed greenhouse filled with exotic plants and flowers. The air was heavy with the scent of jasmine and roses as we mingled with the other guests. I didn't know which family had invited us, but since it was held at night, there weren't many kids my age in attendance. The youngest person there besides me was a mere fourteen years old - and I refused to count my siblings in that number.

Should I have been put to bed instead of taken along? Indeed, but that's not what happened.

Instead, as I tried my best to follow the older kids around the venue, I couldn't help but feel out of place, like some kind of ugly duckling. I know I wasn't actually ugly, but my balance was quite poor like one, and I was prone to tripping over my own two feet. It was a common occurrence for me, always stumbling and falling. And like most young girls at high society functions, I wore a layered poofy dress that seemed to only add to my clumsiness. The frills and ruffles of the dress seemed to always find their way under my feet every time I tried to keep up with the older kids.

People always said that fashion was painful, but why did it also have to be inconvenient?

It was only a matter of time before I stumbled over a large tree roof and fell headfirst into the lake. Quite truly, I was the epitome of a classy young lady.

As I opened my eyes the next morning, the first thing I saw was my mother's tired face, her head propped up by one hand as she slept in the hospital chair next to my bed. She hadn't even taken the time to change out of her black gown. On her shoulders sat a tailcoat that most certainly belonged to my father. It was then that I noticed the patient chart clutched in her other hand. I reached out to take it from her, my eyes scanning over the information written on the page, taking in the details of my current condition.

Patient Information:
Name: Faine Clarion Cotheran
Guardians: Lenore and Norman Cotheran
Condition: Passed out due to lack of oxygen, high fever, and severe shivering.
Assigned Doctor: Dr. Walter Cotheran
Known Allergies: None
Blood Type: O Negative
Sex: Female
Age: Four-years-old

Medical History:
Patient presented with symptoms of dizziness, shortness of breath, and fever.
Upon examination, patient was found to have a low oxygen saturation level and a high body temperature.
Patient was also experiencing severe shivering and reported feeling cold and weak.
Initial treatment included supplemental oxygen and fever-reducing medication.
Further testing and observation are ongoing to determine the cause of the patient's symptoms and determine an appropriate course of treatment.

They're really treating falling into a lake pretty seriously. It seemed trivial. A day of rest and I should be alright.

But...

Faine Clarion Cotheran.

I traced the name. That was my name, but I was rarely ever called it. And something about seeing it written down in black and white like this felt strange to see. As I lay there, pondering my own name, I couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. Something about being in this unfamiliar place and reading over my medical chart just seemed off.

I set the clipboard down and as I gazed around the room, I couldn't help but notice the luxurious amenities that seemed more fitting for an upscale hotel than a hospital. The walls were adorned with elegant wallpaper and the furnishings were of the finest quality. Even the bed that I lay in was more comfortable than most hotel beds I had slept in. As I looked at the faint reflection of myself in the window, I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity wash over me and the sudden realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

Pale skin, black hair, and crystalline blue eyes that seemed to be staring back at me from a past life. That's what I saw when I saw myself.

And the name that instantly came to mind was Faye. A name I had always known but never fully understood. A cute nickname that my elder siblings had come up with back in the time when they couldn't pronounce my full name correctly.

And that name just so happened to be the name of the second in command villainess in the manga "Love's a Fool."

But as I looked at my reflection in the hospital room window, I knew without a doubt that I was *that* Faye Cotheran of that world, the main girl of the villainess' entourage, loyal and devoted to my friend until the very end, even if it meant eventual destruction to my own self.

It was a concept that was hard to comprehend, and yet it was the only explanation that seemed to fit. I was a character from a novel that I had read in my previous life. The sense of déjà vu that had always lingered in the back of my mind that I couldn't shake previously, it all made sense now.

Why oh why did this have to be the case? Ignorance was truly bliss, and now it had been stolen from me.

Knowing the path that lay ahead and grappling with the knowledge of my past life weighed heavily on my small shoulders. How was I just supposed to accept this new reality?

This was impossible, wasn't it? How could I have remembered my past life at such a young age? I was just a normal four-year-old girl, right? This had to just be my overreactive imagination. Uncle Waldo always said I made up the weirdest stories.

And yet, no other explanation seemed to fit quite as much as me being a character in a novel. No matter how many times I repeated it to myself, it seemed absurd.

But I took a deep breath and said it once more.

I am Faye Cotheran, a four-year-old girl who remembered reading this novel in her past life. I am the main lackey and confidant of the villainess. And this is my life now.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Deep breath in- oh what did it matter?

I leaned back and closed my eyes, consumed by the events of the novel as I tried to recall what I remembered from the novel as I tried to calm myself.

"Love's a Fool" was a story that had captured the hearts of many, starting off as the simple debut web novel of a talented young writer that would eventually be published as a physical book, turned into a manga, a movie, and then finally the long-awaited drama adaptation.

The narrative followed a regular girl named Juliet Rawley transferring to a highly prestigious private academy for high school, all thanks to her father's new job as a teacher for the middle school section. From the moment she arrived, she failed to adapt to her new surroundings and struggled with traversing the high society drama. Everywhere she looked, there were her peers, incredible in their achievements and determination, but also immensely cruel. Despite the challenges she faced, she was content as long as she had her father and younger brother by her side.

Her life wasn't perfect whatsoever, but she didn't complain. It wasn't until she had been assigned to start tutoring the male lead (William Wixard) that her life started to really change. The pair didn't initially get along, but of course, through the magic of plot, the pair eventually fell in love despite the protests of the students around them. Particularly, Melody Serenella and her followers were the ones who had the biggest bone to pick with.

I'm not Melody, but I am, or was, her main lackey.

At the end of the novel when the couple had gone against all the odds, Melody and her friends would make one final attempt to tear apart the protagonist and the male lead. She would frame Juliet for not only cheating on her college entrance exams but also funneling money from William's bank account into her own private account and even working with a long-time competitor company that had always gone head to head with the Wixard's family business.

It didn't take much for the lovestruck duo to realize Melody's schemes were at play. In the end, there was a violent confrontation between Melody and the protagonist. In a terrible twist of fate, Melody and one of her other followers, Violet, would fall to their deaths off the top of a skyscraper.

In the aftermath of the tragic incident between Melody and Violet, Faye and Violet's twin sister Hazel were left with the consequences of their actions. The pair were grief-stricken, ostracized from society, faced jail time for what they had done to the protagonist, and all three families had fallen into ruin and out of grace because of their children's antics.

Most readers of the novel criticized the ending as being rushed and poorly written. It didn't fit the characters at all.

And I couldn't agree more. It was a terrible ending, not just because of its execution, but because I didn't want my life to play out that way.

Why did I have to be reincarnated? And why did it have to be the fate of a tragic character? This isn't what I wanted when I had wished my life was different! What kind of cruel joke is this?!