Chapter 31: Chapter 30: Ava’s Revelation

Ava stared at the file labeled DO NOT OPEN UNTIL NECESSARY like it was a ticking time bomb.

Sitting cross-legged on her couch with a mug of lukewarm tea forgotten on the coffee table, she felt as though the world was playing a cruel joke on her. The envelope was innocuous enough—just an unassuming manila folder with Mei's careful handwriting scrawled across it. But Ava knew better. Anything Mei deemed "necessary" was bound to be either life-changing, sanity-testing, or both.

She'd found the file buried in the depths of her desk drawer earlier that evening, tucked under a sea of mismatched Post-it notes, client profiles, and what appeared to be a fossilized granola bar. At first, she thought about tossing it back in and pretending she hadn't seen it. But Mei's words from months ago kept ringing in her ears: "You'll know when the time is right."