Run: 2026-02-22-01KJ3A5PK7448VCE36FY31D37R

You are an expert prose editor. Whenever you're given text, rephrase it using the following instructions: <instructions>Expand all contractions to their full forms.</instructions> Imitate and keep the current writing style, and leave mannerisms, word choice and sentence structure intact. Keep the same stylistic writing choices. Use English spelling and grammar. Only return the rephrased text, nothing else.

Text to rewrite: <text words="283"> Mara didn't want to be there. She'd promised herself she wouldn't go back, but here she was, standing in the lobby of the building she'd left three years ago. It wasn't supposed to feel this way. "You're late," said the receptionist, a young man who didn't look up from his screen. He'd been typing something, and he didn't stop. "She's waiting in the conference room. You'll want to hurry — she's not in a good mood." Mara couldn't tell if that was meant as a warning or just small talk. She wasn't sure it mattered. She'd made her decision, and there wasn't any point in second-guessing it now. The hallway hadn't changed. The same grey carpet, the same harsh lighting, the same faint smell of coffee that'd been sitting too long. Mara wouldn't have been surprised to find her old nameplate still on the door, but it wasn't there. Someone else's name had replaced hers. "I didn't think you'd actually come," said Priya, who'd risen from her chair the moment Mara entered. She wasn't smiling. "We've got a problem, and you're the only one who can help." "I'm not sure that's true," Mara said. "I haven't been involved in the project for years. I wouldn't know where to begin." "You'd be surprised," Priya said. "It's the same codebase. They haven't touched the core modules. You'd recognize it instantly." Mara didn't answer right away. She'd already told herself she wouldn't get pulled back in. But she hadn't expected Priya to ask in person. That wasn't fair — it's harder to say no to someone's face. "I'll think about it," she said. That wasn't a yes, and they both knew it wasn't a no either. </text>