On my best friend’s 22nd birthday, she was harassed by a drunkard. As a Taekwondo black belt, I stepped in to protect her and accidentally killed the man. But in court, she refused to testify on my behalf. I was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to three years in prison. When I was finally released, I discovered that my best friend had married my boyfriend—and they already had a two-year-old daughter. They even conspired to marry me off to her abusive, divorced older brother. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the exact day of my best friend’s 22nd birthday. 1 One second I was getting into a fatal car crash due to my deteriorating mental state, and the next, I opened my eyes to find myself sitting in my own bedroom. Looking at the date on my phone, I confirmed that I had indeed traveled back three years in time. I was back on the day of Mia’s 22nd birthday. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. To attend the birthday dinner of the girl who had been my best friend since middle school, I had spent hours meticulously dressing up. There were two unread messages on my phone. One was from Mia. She sent a location pin, followed by a voice memo. I tapped it, and her sickeningly sweet voice played. “Hey bestie, I booked this restaurant. Don’t go to the wrong place!” The other message was from my boyfriend, Caleb. [Harper, are you ready? I’m almost at your place.] I rolled my eyes internally. In my past life, I thought they just didn’t interact much. Hearing people joke that a girl’s best friend is like a second mother-in-law, I had even pitched in my own money to buy Mia an expensive designer necklace under Caleb’s name, hoping they would get along well. Who knew that by the time I got out of my three-year prison sentence, their child would already be two years old? Doing the math, she was already pregnant with his baby right now. Fighting the urge to curse them both out, I texted Mia back. [Bestie, I accidentally sprained my ankle and need to go to the urgent care. I’m so sorry I have to miss your birthday. I’ll make it up to you later!] My family was much wealthier than Mia’s, and she had milked me for countless perks over the years, which was why she always acted so obedient and sweet to my face. She quickly sent back a barrage of concerned voice memos. I didn’t click on them. I was afraid hearing her sugary voice would literally make me throw up. I then texted Caleb: [I’m not feeling well. Just go without me.] Before he could reply, I put his notifications on Do Not Disturb. I looked back at the gifts on my bed. The necklace was supposed to be from Caleb, and the designer bag was my gift to her. Neither of them were styles I actually liked. So, I grabbed both bags and went straight to the boutiques to return them. 2 After returning the luxury goods, I casually opened Instagram. I immediately saw Mia’s new post. She was wearing a white princess dress, holding a massive bouquet, and surrounded by gifts, looking like absolute royalty. And my boyfriend, Caleb, was standing right next to her. He was leaning in toward her slightly. To anyone else, at first glance, they looked exactly like a couple. "Absolute trash!" I met Mia back in middle school. She came from an ordinary background. While the rest of us were still in our awkward, unpolished phases, she was delicate, fair, and soft-spoken. She captured the hearts of countless teenage boys. But with admiration comes envy. One day after school, she was cornered in an alley by a group of mean girls because the guy their leader liked had a crush on Mia. I was sickly as a kid, so my parents enrolled me in martial arts to build my strength. I only meant to get some exercise, but it turned out I was a natural. Even at a young age, I rarely lost a spar. Seeing Mia getting bullied, I jumped in and chased the mean girls off with a few quick moves. Before running away, they yelled at me, "Harper Hayes, you'll pay for this!" I put my hands on my hips and yelled back, "Bring it on! My brother is Asher Sterling from the high school section!" I turned around and pulled a tearful, trembling Mia up from the ground. After that, despite our completely opposite personalities, we became best friends. Later, she asked me why my brother and I had different last names. I chewed on my yogurt straw, looking up at Asher’s photo at the top of the school’s honor roll, unsure how to explain that Asher lived with us because his parents had passed away. Seeing my hesitation, Mia gave me a playful smile. "I won't pry into rich family secrets. But," she paused, pointing at Asher’s photo, "you wouldn't mind if I tried to date your brother, right?" 3 I didn't understand it back then. Only after being reborn did I realize that from that very moment, Mia had been consciously trying to steal what was mine. If I bought new clothes, she’d borrow them. If I had a new book, she’d take it to read. She’d go out of her way to network with my friends. She even tried to pursue my brother... I was too young and naive to tell a real friend from a snake. Knowing Mia wanted to date Asher, I specifically ran to tell him. Asher listened, then glanced up at me. "Harper, where's your ID?" I was confused but pulled it out of my bag. "Right here." He scoffed lightly. "Do me a favor and look at your age. For the next three years, even looking at a boy counts as underage dating." Asher was three years older than me. I was a freshman, he was a senior. He had lived with us since he was ten. At first, I loved hanging out with him. Having a ridiculously handsome older brother was a huge flex for a middle school girl. But as we grew older, I started to feel like he was made of stone. He was calm, rational, and as cold as a frozen lake. Even as a teenager, he was incredibly mature and rarely showed emotion. My dad always praised him, saying he was destined for greatness. Yet, this always-calm Asher was the one who, in my past life, cried with red-rimmed eyes countless times after I was sent to prison. 4 Maybe I was just an idiot in my past life, always letting Mia have her way. Now that her personal ATM hadn't shown up to her birthday, the gifts she posted online looked significantly less impressive than the ones from previous years. Not long after her post went up, she tried to FaceTime me. I ignored it. I checked the time. By now, they should be done with dinner and moving on to the second part of the night at the downtown VIP lounge. In my past life, I was the one who footed that massive lounge bill. By the time we left the club, it was very late. The other friends left in their Ubers, and Mia was standing on the curb waiting for her ride when a drunk man lunged at her, hugging her and groping her inappropriately. Caleb and I had just pulled our car around. We saw Mia being dragged around, her clothes getting torn. It was a secluded spot, out of sight of the bouncers. The drunk man had a few buddies with him, all laughing lewdly. Seeing my friend being assaulted, I jumped out of the car and sprinted over. I pulled Mia behind me, and the drunk tried to swing at me. I used my martial arts training to throw him over my shoulder. Seeing this, his drunk friends swarmed me. Fighting off three or four grown men was a struggle, but Caleb acted like he was completely blind, hiding in the car and refusing to come out. In the chaos, desperate to break free, I couldn't control my strength and kicked one of the men. He fell backward, his head slamming into the concrete, and passed out. A passerby called 911, and we were all taken to the police station. We later learned that the man died from severe cranial trauma. My family hired the best defense lawyers in the city, but there were no security cameras in that alley. The only witnesses were us and the drunkards. It was clear-cut self-defense. But in court, the girl I had treated with my whole heart, Mia, stood on the stand and said: "The man had already stopped harassing me. Harper misread the situation and thought I was still being attacked..." Even though my family spent a fortune, I was still sentenced to three years in prison. My parents aged decades overnight. Asher, usually so composed, looked at me with bloodshot eyes. "Harper, don't be afraid. I'll be right here with you." 5 Later, when I was locked behind bars, Mia came to visit me. She cried beautifully, looking so pitiful, as if she were the one who had suffered a massive injustice. "I'm so sorry, Harper. I was just too scared..." Just like she had done countless times before when she made a mistake, she put on her helpless, innocent act. "You'll forgive me, right?" Forgive? I wanted to tear her to pieces. I spent three years in that cell. It took three whole years for my hatred to simmer down to a dull ache. But the moment I was released, I was hit with the news: my best friend Mia had married my boyfriend, Caleb, and they had a two-year-old child. Did I hate them? Yes! Did I resent them? Yes! So, being reborn, I was going to stand safely on the sidelines and watch them get ripped apart by fate. I sat quietly at home, waiting for that moment to arrive. At 1:30 AM, my phone rang. It was Caleb. I knew exactly what this was about. I answered the call. Caleb was panting heavily, the background noise loud and chaotic. He sounded frantic: "Harper... you need to come to the police station right now. Mia is in trouble." The show was about to begin. 6 When I arrived, the police station was pure chaos. Crying, cursing, officers yelling, and the wail of sirens outside all blended together. Normally, I would find this kind of noise grating. But right now, it sounded like an absolute symphony. This background noise was the final proof that I had entirely rewritten my life. I had completely escaped the tragedy of my past life and started a brand new chapter. Wearing cute leather boots and holding my designer purse, I bypassed the crowd and walked right up to Caleb. He looked like a mess. His lip was busted, and his shirt was torn. He was sitting with his head down. Hearing my footsteps, he looked up. The very first thing out of his mouth was: "Why didn't you come to Mia's birthday party tonight?!" I paused. Since when did Caleb have the guts to interrogate me like this? I tilted my head and looked at him. "Would my being there have changed anything?" In my past life, seeing Mia assaulted, my first instinct was to risk my life to save her. Meanwhile, Caleb—my boyfriend and the guy who was secretly sleeping with her—hid in the car and refused to come out. His excuse later was that he was busy calling 911 from the car. But the truth was, a random bystander had called the police. Perhaps provoked by my calm tone, he stood up abruptly, glaring at me fiercely. "You're a black belt! When we went out before and ran into creeps, you fought them off! If you were there this time..." "So if I was there this time, I would be the one getting harassed, assaulted, and potentially catching a manslaughter charge, and you wouldn't have to be sad right now? Is that it?" Caleb froze, his arrogant anger deflating instantly. He looked at me in utter disbelief. "You... you know about us, don't you?" 7 I offered a sweet smile. "What do you think?" I didn't want to waste another breath on him. I turned and followed a female officer to see Mia. She looked infinitely worse than Caleb. Her clothes were shredded, and the officer had to give her a jacket to cover herself. She sat on a cot, curled into a ball. Her expensive salon curls were a tangled mess. Her eyes were red. Because she was so pale, any bruises or scratches on her skin looked horrifyingly vivid. She sat there crying, looking like the epitome of a fragile victim. The female officer explained the situation to me. After Mia and her friends left the club, they were cornered by drunk men who dragged Mia into an alley. Caleb only rushed over to help after he had called the police and found security. Caleb had picked up a brick and smashed it into a guy's head. The drunk man was currently lying in the ICU, fighting for his life. When the officer finished, Mia looked up at me, her voice incredibly weak. "Harper..." Instead of rushing forward to hug her like I would have in the past, I stayed rooted to my spot. She looked confused. The female officer, sensing the tension and assuming we needed to talk, quietly stepped out of the room. "Why are you standing so far away?" Mia asked. My expression remained neutral. "I just came to check on you. There's nothing I can actually do to help. Now that I know you're alive, I'm going home. It's late." I was being polite. The truth was, I just came to enjoy the show. Mia's face changed. Her disbelief was laced with a hint of accusation. "Harper, what is that supposed to mean? Aren't we friends? I'm sitting here traumatized, and you're acting this cold? I never thought you were this kind of person." "And I never thought you were your kind of person either," I cut her off directly. "I treated you like a real friend. But you? Have you ever, even for a second, treated me like one?" Mia froze. "What... what do you mean?" "Exactly what it sounds like." 8 I had no desire to argue with them. I said it already: I was just here to watch them burn. In my past life, this night was the beginning of my nightmare. After I accidentally pushed that man, my parents rushed to the station. My mother, who had lived her entire life with grace and elegance, collapsed on the floor sobbing at the news that I might go to prison. Both my parents aged overnight. While I was in custody and my parents were crying outside, Mia—the girl I had saved—stood quietly in a corner and didn't offer my parents a single word of comfort. Caleb stayed by Mia's side, gave my parents a half-hearted generic apology, and then left the station with Mia. Looking back, they probably didn't even go back to their dorms that night. They probably went to a hotel. And I became the ultimate sacrificial lamb. But tonight, in this reborn life, I looked at my phone. In the family group chat with my mom, dad, and Asher, my parents had posted photos of their romantic dinner date before going to sleep. Their faces were radiant with happiness. In this life, I was going to hold onto my happiness with an iron grip. As I turned to walk out of the police station, Mia and Caleb's parents were just rushing in. We brushed past each other. They looked back at me, probably wanting to ask me something, but the police ushered them inside. I stood outside the station and looked back at the chaotic building. Every ounce of pain I suffered in my past life, I was going to make them repay it a thousand times over in this one. 9 The news that Mia was dragged into an alley by drunkards spread through the entire college campus by the next evening. When I went to class the next day, a group of girls nearby were whispering frantically. I turned around curiously. "What are you guys looking at?" The girls exchanged nervous glances, hesitant to speak. I thought for a second. "Is it about Mia?" Their faces shifted, and they nodded. One girl who I was decently close with brought her phone over and sat next to me. "Harper, we know you're close with Mia. We were afraid this video would upset you, so we didn't want to show you." "What video?" She held her phone out. It was a video shot secretly from a window above the alley next to the club. It showed Mia being dragged into the dark by a group of men, her white princess dress torn and tossed into the street. The video was blurry, so you couldn't see exactly what was happening. But the girl's screams and the men's lewd laughter were enough to imply exactly what was going on. I frowned after watching it. Yes, I wanted revenge on Mia and Caleb, but I was deeply disgusted by anyone who would leak a video of a woman being assaulted. Seeing my displeased expression, the girl quickly paused the video. "We don't know who posted it. It started spreading everywhere last night. Yesterday was Mia's birthday, you were there, right?" Everyone knew Mia and I were best friends. Mia was the gorgeous star of the art department. With her perfect looks, she was famous across campus. A lot of rich kids pursued her, and she cycled through boyfriends constantly. Because of her arrogant attitude, she had offended a lot of people. Now that this video was out, all the people who secretly hated her were kicking her while she was down. I lowered my eyes. "I wasn't there. I don't know the exact details of what happened." Even though I despised the person who leaked the video, I would never forget what Mia's actions cost me in my past life. I would never forgive her. After a pause, I told the girls, "Going forward, if you have gossip about Mia, you don't need to censor yourselves around me. We are no longer associated with each other." Former best friends suddenly severing ties—the drama of it would give them something to gossip about for a long time. 10 Neither Caleb nor Mia showed up to classes that day. After sending Caleb a breakup text, I immediately blocked both of their numbers and social media accounts. Knowing them, they would definitely try to harass me later. I guess I had been way too naive and generous to them over the years. After my afternoon classes, I went straight home. In my past life, while I was in prison, my parents cried every day. Our family business plummeted, and everything was held together solely by Asher. Even though I texted them saying I was coming home for dinner, my heart still pounded as I stood at the front door. After giving myself a pep talk, I rang the doorbell. Our penthouse had a gorgeous view of the river. The door opened. Our housekeeper was setting the table, my dad was watching the news on the sofa, and my mom opened the door. Her eyes curved into a brilliant smile when she saw me. "There's our Harper!" I thought I had mentally prepared myself not to show too much emotion. But seeing this warm, domestic scene, and looking at my gentle, radiant mother standing right in front of me, I couldn't hold it back. Huge tears rolled down my cheeks. My mom panicked immediately when she saw me cry. "Oh honey, what's wrong? Did someone bully you at school?" To them, I had just been away at college for a few days. But to me, it had been three agonizing years since I last felt the warmth of my family. 11 At the dinner table, my parents kept piling food onto my plate. As we chatted, they suddenly brought up Asher. "By the way, your brother should be coming back soon." My chopsticks paused. After high school, Asher chose to study abroad at Stanford. He co-founded a tech startup with some classmates, and according to my dad, it was incredibly successful. In my past life, he was originally scheduled to come back around this time too. But because I got arrested, he dropped everything and rushed back, only making it in time to see me sentenced in court. This time, I didn't get arrested. According to his original plan, he should be back within a week or two. Honestly, in my past life, my relationship with Asher had gotten a little strained. During my sophomore year of college, Caleb started pursuing me, and we started dating. We were holding hands at the mall one day when Asher bumped into us. He pulled me aside with a dark expression and told me I wasn't allowed to date. I thought he was just trying to pull a strict-parent routine on me, and I got annoyed. "You said dating before eighteen was off-limits! I'm almost twenty now, why do you care?!" "I'm your older brother!" "You're not even my real brother!" Because of that argument, I started avoiding him. By then, he had already gotten his acceptance letter to Stanford. He was busy leaving early and coming home late. Even if we crossed paths, I would puff out my cheeks and walk the other way. Right up until the day he flew out, I was still giving him the cold shoulder over the Caleb incident. The next time we saw each other, I was on my way to prison. Thinking back to my past life, he ran himself ragged trying to help my case. The usually impeccably clean and polished Asher had grown a messy stubble, and his beautiful eyes were completely bloodshot. Not blood-related, but better than blood. After dinner, I went to my room and pulled out my phone. My chat history with him stopped over two years ago, right around the time he left the country. I stared at the screen, trying to figure out how to apologize and break the ice. But my finger slipped and accidentally tapped the voice call button. I panicked and dropped the phone. I scrambled to pick it up, only to realize he had already answered. A crisp, cool male voice came through the speaker: "Hello?" I froze, completely terrified to speak. Asher called out again: "Harper Hayes." Hearing that familiar voice, my nose stung, and when I finally spoke, my voice cracked. "I'm here." He seemed to catch the tears in my voice. His tone lost its icy edge, rippling like a calm lake disturbed by a stone. "What's wrong? What happened?" I sniffled. I looked at my desk, where a framed photo of us from childhood sat. I was looking at the camera, and the young teenage boy was looking at me. So, I opened my mouth, and across the Pacific Ocean, crossing multiple time zones, I delivered the truest words in my heart: "Asher, I miss you." 12 As soon as I said it, I was so embarrassed I practically threw my phone across the room. Asher's parents and my parents were close family friends. When my parents’ business went under years ago and all our relatives shut their doors on us, Asher's parents were the only ones who helped. When Asher was ten, his parents' business ran into trouble, and they died in a tragic car accident. My parents rushed to the Sterling estate and took Asher away from the aggressive debt collectors. When he first moved into our house, Asher refused to speak and refused to eat. My parents were at their wits' end. I was the one who followed him around constantly, coaxing him and bothering him until he finally opened his mouth. And the very first thing he ever said to me was: "Can you be quiet for five minutes?" When I was little, I called him brother. As I grew up and realized we didn't share the same parents, I called him "brother" when I was happy, and his full name when I was mad. During puberty, when all the other girls were swooning over boys at school, I shamefully realized I was blushing over Asher. But once I realized it, I mentally slapped myself. Harper Hayes, have some shame! He was forced to live under your roof due to a tragedy, and you're having dirty thoughts about him?! Later, as I learned more about biology, I realized it was completely normal to develop crushes on the opposite sex during puberty. I slowly got over it, though sometimes I would still stare at him and randomly blurt out, "Wow, you're really good-looking." Anyway, if it wasn't for Caleb, Asher and I would have always had a great relationship. 13 For several days, Mia and Caleb didn't show up to classes. But their scandal had already become campus legend. Mia used to be so flashy and arrogant. Now that she had fallen, everyone she ever bullied was having a field day. When I walked into the lecture hall, people were whispering. When they saw me, they exchanged looks and quieted down. I sat down. A guy sitting in front of me, who I usually got along with, turned around. "Harper, I heard you and Mia had a falling out?" I hummed in confirmation. He asked, "What happened?" I couldn't exactly tell him that Mia ruined my life and sent me to prison in a past life. While I hesitated, a girl next to me chimed in: "What else? She finally saw Mia's true colors." That one sentence opened the floodgates. Everyone started chiming in with their own grievances about Mia. "I lived in the same dorm as Harper, so I know best. Every time Mia had a date, she would come take Harper's clothes and bags. I never saw her return them properly. If she did, they smelled like hotpot or had stains on them." "Not just clothes and bags, but expensive skincare too! Harper is too nice, she'd buy two of everything and just give Mia one. Mia took it like she was entitled to it, but I never once saw her buy Harper anything." "I could tell Mia was manipulative from day one. Smiling to your face, playing the gentle angel with everyone, but who knows what she's doing behind your back." "Also, I don't know if you guys noticed, but Mia loved stealing people's things..." ... Everyone eagerly listed out all the little toxic things Mia had done over the years. Human nature is like that. The tiny, annoying details you previously brushed off suddenly compound into an avalanche at a specific tipping point. Since I met Mia in middle school, I had always viewed her as an underdog who needed help. I accommodated her. Her family wasn't wealthy, but she was vain, so whenever I bought luxury skincare, I bought her a set too. When we went shopping, I always paid. I had gotten so used to it over the years, but hearing everyone say it out loud made me realize how grotesquely unequal our relationship was. In my friendship with Mia, I was always giving, and she was always taking. Give an inch and they take a mile. At some point, Mia must have developed a twisted resentment toward me and decided she wanted to steal my life. At first, she said she wanted to date Asher. When that failed, she pivoted and said she "wished she had an older brother like him." So, on weekends, I would invite her over to play. Asher would be reading in his study, and she would constantly go in to bother him. She would call him "Asher-gege" in this breathy, sweet voice. At the time, Asher had just finished his high school exams and was studying college-level material. Hearing Mia call him that, he coldly looked up from his book. "I only have one sister." Then, ignoring the incredibly awkward Mia standing there, he grabbed his backpack and left the house. I actually yelled at Asher for being rude and cold back then. Looking back now, Asher was a master at detecting toxic girls from a very young age. 14 On the fifth day after the incident, I ran into Caleb outside my dorm building. He was wearing a baseball cap and a mask, clearly aware that he was at the center of a massive scandal. I didn't notice him at first until I walked right past him. He grabbed my arm out of nowhere, scaring the life out of me. He put a finger to his lips. "It's me." My lip twitched. "I yelled because it's you." A passerby glanced over at us. Caleb quickly lowered his head, terrified of being recognized. "Can we go somewhere private to talk?" Having learned my lesson in my past life, I was genuinely afraid he was going to drag me to a secluded spot and hit me over the head with a pipe. I laughed dryly and pushed his hand off. "No need." Before blocking him, I had sent a clear breakup text to ensure he got the message. I figured he'd be smart enough to understand, but I underestimated how shameless he was to actually show up at my dorm. Seeing me try to leave, he grabbed me again. "Harper, you can't just dump me like this! I know what happened with Mia looks bad to you, but you can't put all the blame on me. Back then, when we had a fight, Mia texted me every single day to comfort me. That's why it happened. Now that I'm in serious trouble, you can't just abandon me..." Classic cheater logic. His first instinct wasn't to admit he was wrong, but to blame everyone else. I laughed out of pure anger, turning to look at him with absolute disgust. "Caleb, I never realized how utterly pathetic you are until today!" I struggled to pull away, but Caleb, realizing he had nothing left to lose, physically tried to drag me away. People were staring, but no one stepped in to help. Just as I was about to unleash my martial arts, a tall, lean silhouette stepped in. He grabbed my hand, then locked his fingers around Caleb's wrist. With a slight squeeze, Caleb grimaced in pain and let go of me. He pulled me behind him. I looked up and saw his profile. It was Asher! He glared fiercely at Caleb. "I warned you to stay away from her over two years ago, didn't I?" Asher's aura was entirely too intimidating, and with the crowd forming around us, Caleb tucked his tail between his legs and ran away like a coward. Asher turned around and met my awestruck gaze. It was getting chilly. He was wearing a long black trench coat, looking devastatingly handsome. I was still completely mesmerized by how good he looked when, the next second, he flicked my forehead hard with his knuckles. "Is dating fun?" I covered my forehead, glaring at him. This guy held grudges for way too long.
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