[IN PROGRESS]
Martha and James are soulmates trapped together in a never-ending reincarnation loop. Not a bad way to spend eternity, but they wanted more. They wanted a child. Serafina is born and Martha and James are elated to love and raise her a...
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The 10th of August, 2014, My First Life
"So is this your first visit to the Berkeley campus, Mrs Quinn?" the tour guide whose name tag read Ji-Min asked my mom.
She shot my dad a coy glance before answering, "This is my first visit to the Berkeley campus."
...in this life, my family understood. In truth, my mother had studied at the University of California, Berkeley in four of her previous lives, including her first. But Ji-Min wasn't allowed to know that. I hated the smirk on my dad's face. Maybe it was petty of me. But I was sick of being in on the joke.
It was to be a simple college tour like the ones a million other kids about to begin their last year of high school were making all across the country. But nothing was ever simple with my parents.
They'd talked up Berkeley my entire life with good reason. Aside from being a widely esteemed university, its labs, residences, and coffee shops were steeped in the lore of their far from simple romance. So this place is like Disneyland for them. On top of that, my father was somewhat of a legend in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area in general, having been the wunderkind inventor who left it all to have a family.
"Well, I'm happy to introduce you to it, Mrs Quinn," Ji-Min continued. She was probably only a couple of years older than me, but made me feel like I was ten. "And Mr Quinn, your... um... reputation precedes you," she fumbled nervously.
I rolled my eyes. Of course she's a fangirl.
"Guest lecturer on the future of clean energy at sixteen," she continued. "Commencement Speaker for the College of Engineering at eighteen, and then... Oh god. Like, what am I saying? You don't need me to read your resume..."
"It's okay," he assured cordially.
"...You need me to like, give you the tour. Apologies."
"Really, it's okay," my dad repeated.
"Oh honey, you'd let her recount your whole life story, if she knew it," my mom teased, squeezing his arm. "But he's right, no need to apologize."
"Thanks," Ji-Min said and bit her lower lip nervously. Her lipstick was red, but unlike any color I had – maroon maybe, but like, not as dark? Whatever it was, it perfectly matched her eye shadow and perfectly complemented her skin tone. "Our tour starts at Sather Gate," she said as they approached said gate consisting of four stone pillars connected by ornate, bronze archways. "Constructed in 1910 by Giovanni Meneghetti in memory of Peder Sather, an early benefactor to the University, the Sather Gate has a total of eight sculptures chiseled into its base – four men and four women – representing law, letters, medicine, mining, agriculture, architecture, art, and electricity respectively."
