Chapter 3

I knew that Laura was actually the one who made the call.

If she left first before Adam, I would not end up suspecting them.

I nodded nonchalantly.

Adam hurried over to hug me. “Babe, you’re the best. I’ll come visit you in a few days, okay?”

“Sure.”

While Adam apologized, I saw excitement in his eyes.

At the moment he left, I even heard Laura’s voice through his phone.

Once they left, I ate and drank to my fill before I went to a music store and bought a gramophone that looked exactly the same as the one Laura gave me.

When I got home, William asked me puzzledly, “Why did you buy two gramophones, Anya?”

I just smiled and said nothing. Instead, I grabbed two records of cliche classics and played them.

Songs that were so common that everyone was sick of them started playing.

I started clapping to the rhythm, and even my footsteps became much lighter.

But William suffered from it since he was a professor in the department of music. He covered his ears.

Just when I finished playing an entire recording, Laura called. She sounded lazy and breathless. I could immediately tell what happened to her.

These two sure were eager.

“Anya, how’s the gramophone? Have you tried it? Is it good?”

“It sure is. William said it’s good too.”

Laura could not help it. She started laughing. “That’s great! At least my efforts didn’t go to waste! Use it often! The record I gave you is a limited edition.”

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Laura ended the call, but I still heard the coughing from the man on her side.

These two pieces of trash were waiting for me to make a fool of myself!

I caressed the lines on the gramophone. It was like a living thing and felt warm under my fingers.

“Why don’t you use up your annual leave, William? You don’t have anything urgent on hand, so you could take some time to keep me company instead.”

Even though I had returned to the past, the memories of the previous cycle still brought me great pain, and I did not want to remember them at all.

After some thought, William agreed to it, even though he did not understand why I would suddenly request that of him.

I also booked an appointment for my father to get a full body checkup from the most famous specialists in the country.

The results showed that my father was fine. In fact, he was in the perfect picture of health.

Because of it, I felt marginally relieved.

Once I was done with those things, I hurried back to the university and asked the academic affairs office about my graduation. I even asked my lecturers about this, and they said that since I was an outstanding student, nothing would go wrong with my graduation.

In order to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, I managed to secure the video that was used to accuse me of cheating in the previous cycle, and I watched it without sleep for three days before I was finally certain that I could not be found anywhere in it.

With a huge sigh of relief, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I found my phone bombarded with miscalls from Laura and Adam.

Apparently, Gary’s lenders had come to him. Since he had no money to give them, they destroyed his house and even beat him up so badly that he was hospitalized.

I took my sweet time to call Laura. The moment the call went through, I heard Laura’s choked-up voice. “Anya, we’re in trouble, and I really don’t know what to do.

“Could you keep me company? I don’t dare to step outside.”

I knew that the lenders were standing guard around the hospital and waiting for Laura and her family to step out.

If this was in the past, I would have hurried over, but I only said in a troubled fashion, “Some problems came up with my graduation, and I have to go back to the university.”