5
The summer rain was heavy, falling for most of the night.
In the early morning, the air was still thick with the lingering intimacy of the storm.
I quietly opened my eyes.
06.49
The campus bad boy, rumored to be able to break three of a person’s ribs with a single kick, looked so peaceful when he slept.
Thankfully, the doctor had arrived quickly last night.
I had spent the entire night by his bedside, watching the IV drip into his arm.
What had happened to him was essentially a poisoning. The blood test results would confirm it soon.
The sky outside was just beginning to lighten.
I stretched languidly.
Pretending not to see the frantic fluttering of Jax’s eyelash
I went to the room that had been set aside for me last night.
I turned and left the room.
B
After I’d announced I was sleeping with Isabella, our classmates had graciously given us a large bedroom.
Everyone else in the villa was still asleep; the house was silent.
Having been up all night, I fell asleep almost instantly on the soft, massive bed.
It wasn’t until the sun was high in the sky that i was jolted awake by the frantic voice of our class president.
“Laurie, wake up! Isabella’s gone!”
A few girls were gathered around my bed, some looking worried, others clearly enjoying the drama.
“Isabella was always trouble,” one of them muttered. “How come Laurie gets drunk and passes out, but she disappears? I wonder
whose bed she ended up in.”
At least someone here had a brain.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched my arm hard until tears welled up.
Then I spoke, my voice laced with panic and a sob.
“I knew I shouldn’t have drunk that glass Isabella gave me. My head was spinning afterward. How could she just disappear while I
was asleep? We have to find her!”
A group of us searched the entire villa, finally ending up crowded in front of James’s bedroom door, exchanging nervous glances.
I pushed up my glasses and said, my voice full of self–blame, “It’s all my fault. I slept too soundly. What if she came back and went
into the wrong room?”
A known gossip couldn’t hold back.
“James was pretty drunk last night too. I hope nothing… happened between them…”
He started pounding on the door, determined to wake whoever was inside.
But there was no sound of chaos from within.
06:49
06:49
Chapter 2
The door opened from the inside, and I was pushed to the back of the crowd.
James’s tall frame blocked the doorway.
His shirt was half–unbuttoned, revealing a large expanse of his chest.
His gaze swept lazily over the crowd as he spoke.
“What’s all the noise about?”
“What could possibly happen?”
“You’re all a bunch of kids, always imagining things.”
The previously boisterous crowd, eager for a show, fell silent.
I froze. That tone… it was exactly like the James from my past life.
Could he have been reborn too?
ས་ལ་ནང་ང་་་་ཞིག་ག་་འ་དང་་་་ད་མཚན་ལས་ས་ས་ དེ་ས་སྐགས་བདེ་འཇགས་་དཔ་སྨད་ད་ང་ནང་པའི་་་་་གན་་་་དང་ཨིནད་ད་དག་ན་ હમ સબ કોઈ પ
“Whoa, James, someone’s been busy,” a guy teased. “Guess you can look down
I looked up to see James’s reaction and unexpectedly met his gaze.
The hand that was buttoning his shirt paused.
It was only then that I saw the marks on his body.
ઘરાવવાનું કામ
on the rest of us virgins now.”
Beneath the half–open shirt, across his collarbones and chest, was a constellation of angry red scratches.
Anyone with eyes could see how intense their night had been.
Before I could say anything, James spoke, his voice sharp with accusation.
“Laurie, where were you last night?”
“Why was Bella in my bed?”
“Where were you?”
bill all the Ad
И
ན་མན་དུས་
i had lived with James for over a decade, and he had always called me by my full name, Laurie.
But for Isabella, the affectionate nickname “Bella” rolled off his tongue effortlessly.
So his repentance right before he died in our last life… it was all an act.
I frowned, looking at him with disappointment.
His words had already condemned me.
The other students turned to look at me, their expressions shifting.
Even reborn, he still believed that the eighteen–year–old me had deliberately framed Isabella.
In that moment, I felt the same crushing despair of being falsely accused as I had in my past life.
My whole body began to tremble.
The class president noticed I wasn’t okay and pulled me behind him.
“James, we’re all adults here. Why Isabella was in your… uh, room, is something only she probably knows. It’s not like Laurie is your personal property. Why are you taking it out on her?”
00 49
06:49
Chapter 2
His words seemed to snap the others out of it.
“Yeah, Laurie was worried something would happen to Bella last night. She even offered to sleep with her to keep an eye on her.
Who knows how Bella ended up in your bed?”
Their words left James speechless.
He grew agitated.
“What do you people know?”
He reached for me, but I slapped his hand away.
When looked up again, my eyes were filled with tears.
ધારા વાળ
But James didn’t see them. He was staring at the red mark my hand had left on his, lost in thought.
I cursed myself silently. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
But I couldn’t help it. The injustice was overwhelming.
James, covered in evidence of a passionate night, was claiming he hadn’t touched Isabella.
Who was he trying to fool?
Or was he trying to protect Isabella’s reputation?
F
But why was I always the one who got hurt?
Why, in our past life, when he mistook me for Isabella, did he take what he wanted without
a
But now, when Isabella was his for the taking, he hesitated?
second thought?
Was it just because the Stantons had adopted me? Did that make me inferior?
James saw my tear–streaked face but remained unmoved.
After all, in two lifetimes, he had never said a single soft word to me.
A
Only Isabella received his gentle, considerate treatment.
To everyone else, he was a cold, distant wall of ice.
Suddenly, a sweet, slightly hoarse female voice broke the tense atmosphere.
“James, are you saying you won’t take responsibility for me?”
Isabella had appeared at the door.
Her clothes were dishevelled, her eyes red and swollen. She looked utterly pitiful.
Now everyone knew exactly what had happened between them.
The scene descended into chaos.
Isabella looked at James with wounded eyes, and before anyone could react, she turned and ran sobbing down the stairs.
James instinctively started to chase her but stopped short, his gaze falling on me, hesitating.
He was deciding who was more important: me or Isabella.
Isabella was the unobtainable love of his past life, his white moonlight. And I…
Chapter 2
I refused to think about it anymore.
I wiped my tears, dodged his outstretched hand, and put distance between us.
I looked at him with disgust.
“Don’t touch me. You’re filthy.”
“You like her, don’t you? Fine. I’ll let you have her.”
