High School Again: The President's Secret Lady Boss

Winter recognizes the fear that's terrorizing her at that very moment.

The scene playing before her may be different, but the emotions she's feeling are too familiar for her not to distinguish. It's not something that had happened during her current timeline – in fact, all the events that took place ever since she traveled back in time were less extreme than what she experienced before.

Her former timeline was worse, no doubt. That was why she was able to realize that whatever she's feeling right now was similar to what she felt at one point back then. 

She is beyond petrified. 

"Don't worry. I've got you, Winter. You're fine."

Marcellus spoke up softly, having seen how scared Winter was.. 

Fear also reflects in his eye. Along with that is anger. She can even see tears pooling in the corners. Unlike her, however, there's also determination in it – unwavering determination. Together with his steady gaze and his words of reassurance, his firm grip on her hand has served as her anchor in reality, keeping her from getting washed over by the waves of feelings that were trying to sweep her off.

"It's okay, Winter. I've got you. Just hold on."

Marcellus keeps on talking, doing everything he can so that Winter will not look down.

Her face is ghastly pale at that point, and her body is shivering from the cold. If she happens to see what's waiting beneath her, she might faint from shock and fright. Right now, he wants her conscious so that she can help him pull her back up to the ship's deck.   

He's strong enough to do that on his own, but he can feel her hand slowly slipping away from his grasp – there's something wet on her palm that's making it slippery. 

"I want you to reach your other hand to me. I'll use it to pull you back up," he told her as calmly as he could.

His words made her ponder. She then took a look at their intertwined fingers. That was when she realized that her hand was covered in blood – must be because she touched the wound on her head earlier. That red fluid turns out to be the one that's making her palm slippery. It's a little too dark down where she is, so she doubts that he has seen it.

As much as she wants to do what he's telling her to, her vision is already starting to dull, her head getting dizzier – she's at her limits. 

"Marcellus... I'm… sorry."

Winter began to lose consciousness at the same time her hand slipped away, horrifying Marcellus to the core. 

As she goes limp - unmoving, her grasp on his hand loosens. The blood on her palm does the rest of the work from thereon. That's all it needs for her to dive straight down to the water below, making him scream her name in aghast shock and terror.

"Winter!!!"

Witnessing how her body plunged into the ocean, his eyes bulged as wide as saucers while his heart seemed to stop. His everything stilled then. He felt like dying. The scene that's playing in front of him has just conquered his worst nightmare.

He watches how the love of his life disappears into the dark, deep pit – hears a certain someone's cackle of victory from behind him and the sound of frantic footsteps coming their way.   

Then, as if his emotions have taken complete control, he puts aside everything else and climbs on top of the railings. Behind, there's a round of collective gasps – some are even calling his name and telling him to stop. But he did not. He went ahead and jumped over.

"Sir Lexington!!!"

There's no hesitation. Regardless of how dangerous it is, he still dives in. All he thought about from that point on was to save her. 

Marcellus looked ahead, focusing on the spot where Winter vanished into. That's until he noticed something falling with him from behind. Confounded, he took a look right before he hit the water – only to find that August has also jumped down from one of the lower floors. 

"Sir Lexington?!"   

"Sir Agreste?!"

"You bastard! I saw my sister! What the hell happened-"

August got cut off as he and Marcellus have finally plummeted into the ocean.

--- 

Cold.

So cold.

Winter feels like drifting further and further into a bottomless pit.

Other than that, she can't feel anything else – not even her own body. It's almost like she's become numb. The air in her lungs is being replaced by water. She knows she's suffocating. Yet, at that point, she can no longer afford to move - to fight against her wretched fate.   

"How pathetic."

"What a loser."

"So foolish."

"Very, very pitiful."

Winter can hear voices.

She knows she's heard them before. She can tell that they're familiar. Still, she's confused. 

Then, as if to clear up her confusion, flashbacks come flooding her head at that moment. 

"Isn't tonight such a beautiful night~? Perfect for a slaughter! Don't you think so too, dear sister?"

All of the sudden, Winter found herself in a graveyard. She recognized the place as the cemetery where Wesley and Jeanette were buried in. Bianca is there as well, standing before her.

But there's something strange about the whole scene other than what's happening itself.

Something is off. 

It is when Bianca starts to chase after her with a shovel that she finally pieces the puzzle together. She was perplexed because she could not remember this thing ever happening. But when she realized that she was on the ground, limping and crawling away desperately, she eventually recalled that this nightmare was no dream – rather, it was the reality she faced before she met her end back in the previous timeline.

"Say hi to Mommy and Daddy for me~!"

This was how Winter died -

She was hit by a shovel and was buried alive near the graves of her deceased parents. 

At the memory, she began shedding tears. It was all too brutal – too cruel. She could not remember what exactly happened before Bianca killed her, but somehow, she had a feeling that Cyrus and Grace were in it too. Even back then, it seems that she's got this barbaric side with her. It's not something that has only awakened in the present timeline.

Now, Winter comes to realize – if history can repeat itself, so can her death.

She sheds more tears then. She feels so weak and powerless. Nothing changed.

"You should already leave that family of yours…" an all-too-familiar voice echoed in her head all of the sudden.

"You're a Lexington now, anyway. Why'd you keep working for them?"

It was Marcellus - when he and Winter were still married.

They're in their bedroom, spending quite an unusual night. Unusual because they're arguing about something. Normally, they just mind their own businesses. They may be sharing a bed together, but they don't talk to each other unless it's necessary. 

A marriage life that's just for show. 

"I'm working for them because they're my family. Since when did you even see me as part of yours? You're the one who kept saying that we're only married on paper," an older Winter muttered in aggravation.

"Can't you see that they're treating you like a slave? Who in the world works twenty-four hours a day? No matter how rich and successful it makes you, it's not worth it," an older Marcellus scoffed, expression unreadable. 

"Why're you poking your nose into this, anyway? Have I ever commented on your womanizing? We agreed to stay out of each other's affairs, didn't we? Just go to sleep and leave early in the morning for your date or something – like what you always do." 

He didn't respond.

His lack of response is already a response itself, though. It's a reaction she's long been used to, and most of the time, it comes out to her as his way of showing her that he doesn't care. 

"You're so boring, you know. Always working and that," were the last words that Marcellus told Winter that night, which further proved that he really didn't care about her.

He had tried to address her family's and workplace's toxicity several times before, but her naivety had made his true intentions vague to her. She thought that he's mocking her, but what she didn't know was that his harsh words were supposed to be a warning. In reality, he noticed things that she could not notice because she trusted her relatives too much.

Yet, before Winter realized it, it's already too late.

Cyrus and Grace had plotted her death. Bianca had executed it. 

And with that, she took her last breath under a pit - surrounded by soil. Now, she ends up in yet another pit. The only difference this time is that she is surrounded by water.

'Will I die again?' she wondered.

'But I don't want to,' she hoped.

'I can't die again,' she decided.

That's because Winter knows that the past is different from the present and future. Bianca will not win again this time. Neither Cyrus nor Grace. 

"Winter!"

And when Marcellus's voice filtered in her ears by some miracle, Winter strengthened that will of hers.