Soon, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were hazy as she leaned against me.
She spoke just loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Laurie, I drank so much covering for you, I feel dizzy. Can you help me upstairs to rest?”
She tightened her grip on my arm. “I’m putting my life in your hands. You have to keep me safe, okay, Laurie?”
In my past life, I was already drunk by the time she said all this.
All I’d registered was “upstairs to rest,” and I’d stumbled up the stairs with her.
But now, reborn, I saw the subtle genius in her words and actions.
She was publicly declaring that I was the reason she was drunk, that it was my duty to see her to safety.
With those words, she planted a seed in everyone’s mind: whatever happened to Isabella tonight, it would be my fault.
Her drunken state, the way she had to cling to me just to walk, projected an image of perfect helplessness.
But no one could see it.
From an angle hidden from the others, Isabella, who was taller than me, wasn’t just resting her hands on my shoulders. She was digging her fingers into my flesh, physically steering me out of the room.
The pain made me wince, so I decided to play drunk too.
Under the guise of taking off my glasses, I shrugged off her grip.
Then, i went completely limp, collapsing into her arms.
એક સ
Half a head shorter than her, with my round, flushed face, I wrapped my arms around her and whined in a soft, pleading
“Bella, I’m so dizzy! I can’t walk.”
No one saw that.coming.
In their eyes, Isabella and I were rivals.
Because James liked her.
And earlier, during a game of Truth or Dare, when asked who I liked, I had said James’s name.
Soon, I heard someone gasp.
“Oh no! I think Laurie’s really drunk.”
Hidden in Isabella’s embrace, I stayed silent, burying my face and feigning intoxication.
Where no one could see a small smirk played on my lips.
My move had clearly startled Isabella; her eyes were sharp and clear for a moment.
voice.
But she needed me to be her scapegoat tonight, so she gritted her teeth and didn’t push
away.
Besides, to make her act convincing, she’d genuinely drunk a lot. She was at least eighty percent of the way there.
I looked up at her through my messy hair, my eyes blinking slowly.
“Bella… let’s sleep together tonight.”
く
Chapter 1
I didn’t know what was going through Isabella’s mind, but that was my genuine plan.
The only way to prevent the catastrophe of that night was for Isabella to stay with me.
And besides, I had lived a decade longer than this version of her.
In my eyes, she was just a misguided girl.
06:49
Perhaps something had happened to her during university that made her so desperate to latch onto a wealthy boyfriend now.
But the girl wanted to maintain appearances, which was why she’d set me up.
She wanted everyone to believe that I, jealous of James’s affection for her, had deliberately sent her, drunk, to the campus bad boy‘
s room.
In my past life, her plan had been a resounding success.
The day after the party, my name became synonymous with “vicious.”
Everyone said I had ruined her. Every mention of my name was a curse.
Gradually, I started to believe it myself. That it was my fault, that I’d been too drunk and sent her to the wrong
That I was the reason she disappeared for ten years.
That I was the reason James lost the love of his life.
So I began to atone. I couldn’t find Isabella, so I poured all my repentance onto James.
I learned to love him, tried to warm his
old heart with my sincerity, begging him not to hate me anymore.
એના
After all, the Stanton family had taken me in when I was a child. I had a debt of over a decade of care that I could never repay.
But in the end, I was the one who had been played the worst.
James was willing to sacrifice his entire life, to trap me in a marriage, just for Isabella.
All to ensure I wouldn’t have the slightest chance of ruining her happiness.
The truth was, on the day of the car crash, I had gone to find James to tell him where Isabella
I had just found out from Jax himself where she had been for the past ten years.
I wanted James to see her true colors.
I wanted him to stop feeling guilty for getting too drunk at the party and failing to protect her.
But before I could say a word, we were killed.
I am immensely grateful that fate has given me a second chance.
At the dinner table earlier, I kept thinking.
What should I do to repay this gift?
was.
I considered taking brutal revenge on Isabella, letting her taste what it felt like to have her reputation destroyed.
But looking at the girl, as beautiful and fragile as a flower, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
So when she asked me to help her to a room, I asked her, in front of everyone, if she wanted to sleep with me.
If she chose to stay with me tonight, to stop her plan, then I would let go of what happened in our past life.
06:49
m
www.ww
ར ེད་། ར
Chapter 1
After all, we were separated by an entire lifetime.
I had no reason to take revenge on this version of her for what a different version of her did.
But if she insisted on being foolish, I would respect her choice.
Everyone has to be responsible for their own choices.
And so, when Isabella propped me up between the two bedroom doors, I asked her a second time.
“It’s your choice.
“Sleep here, or come with me to a different room.”
The alcohol was hitting her hard now, her eyes hazy as she looked at me.
But at my question, she shook her head, trying to stay clear.
“Let me think,”
“Ugh, I can’t remember.”
She tapped her head a few times as she spoke.
Seeing this, I put it to her bluntly.
“The one on the left is…”
I wanted to tell her: Jax is on the left, James is on the right, and I am right here beside you.
But before I could finish, Isabella cut me off.
“I forgot who I drugged…”
Her words were like a thunderclap, ringing in my ears and leaving me stunned.
In that instant, my perception of her shattered.
She was like a beautiful flower, rotting from the very root.
To achieve her goal, she would resort to such a disgusting tactic.
I started to wonder if I had been drugged too.
I instinctively took a step back, putting distance between us.
I asked her one more time.
And got the same answer.
She said, “Either one is fine. Whoever.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
I decided to let go of my savior complex and respect her destiny.
So watched with cold eyes as she stumbled into James’s room.
Then I turned and pushed open the door to the room next door.
Isabella couldn’t remember who she had drugged.
But I had the memories of my past life.
ར།། དད་ན་ང་ན་ད་་་ན་་།་ན་དང་ས་ད་བར་དག ོན་
માયા ભા
વાત રજુ
く
Chapter 1
The moment she said it, I knew exactly who the victim was.
Tonight, I would be the one to save the poor, pitiful campus bad boy.
