Chapter 2

After that, we exchanged numbers. I also learned Chloe was a senior at a nearby university.

I told her I needed to lend my main gaming account to a relative and had her add my alt account instead. Chloe did not suspect a thing and promptly deleted the main one.

When I got home, Jared rushed over, practically buzzing. "So? How'd it go? Was she actually hot, or ugly enough to haunt your dreams?"

I furrowed my brow and put on a pained expression. "She's a nice girl. Don't talk about her like that."

That only made Jared laugh harder. "I knew it! She's totally hideous! I saw that she deleted me too.

"Disgusting. Uses AI photos to catfish people, and the second she gets called out, she rage-deletes everyone. Pathetic."

He spat a few more insults, then finally settled down and went back to his desk to keep gaming. I stared at his back and lowered my gaze.

Jared was my uncle's only son. The moment Uncle Max heard I was renting a place near Jared's university for work, he wasted no time shipping him over.

"He's your own cousin! The dorms are miserable. How could you let him suffer like that? I'll give you 500 a month for groceries. Just let him stay. You boys can look out for each other."

I had wanted to refuse, but Mom talked me into it. She was a shrewd woman who had never mistreated me, but in her eyes, her brother's family always came before her own.

Whenever they needed anything, she gave everything she had without a second thought, never imagining she was raising a pack of ingrates.

In my last life, after I died, my spirit lingered. I watched with my own eyes as my uncle's family hounded my parents into dropping the charges. My parents were simple, honest people, but the grief of losing their son made them refuse. They were determined to make Jared pay for what he had done.

My uncle's family responded by setting fire to our home, and my parents burned alive.

With no one left to pursue the case, it went cold.

I pulled my gaze away and buried the hatred behind my eyes.

In the days that followed, Jared busied himself chasing new girls while I went to see Chloe every week. Whatever she wanted, I got it for her. Whatever she wanted to eat, no matter how far, I took her.

When I found out she was stressed about the data analysis for her senior thesis, I stepped in and walked her through the entire process using my own experience.

"Wow, you're amazing! My advisor basically makes us figure everything out ourselves. If we're stuck, we're supposed to ask the upperclassmen, but they don't even give us the time of day.

"I spent almost two months just figuring out how to compile the data, and I haven't even started on the analysis!"

I gave her a gentle pat on the head and told her not to worry. I had mastered all of it back when I was finishing my own degree.

"Once your thesis is approved, I'll help you polish up your resume. The HR manager at my company is someone I went to school with. I can ask her to put in a good word."

Chloe's eyes lit up on the spot, and she sent over her resume before I could blink.

She had made Dean's list all four years, taken first place in a statewide entrepreneurship competition, and won a regional innovation contest.

"Your resume's seriously impressive. I figured with how much you game, your academics would be..."

She caught the teasing in my voice and punched my arm twice in mock outrage. "Excuse me? Gaming is gaming, and studies are studies. I know how to keep my priorities straight, thank you very much!"

I gave her nose a light poke and grinned. "Good to know. Turns out our Chloe's got some serious brains, after all."

Chloe threw herself into my arms, beaming. "That's only because I've got such a great mentor! I am so lucky!"

Chloe's beauty was only the surface. What I saw was her intelligence, her courage, her kindness, and her resilience.

I had approached her with nothing but revenge in mind. However, after truly getting to know her, I had fallen hopelessly and irreversibly in love with her.

"Chloe, will you be my girlfriend? For real this time."