Chapter 2

Sophia hadn’t been wrong.

Adrian’s hostility toward me started even earlier than it had in our first life.

On my third day at the new school, several boys cornered me in the girls’ bathroom. One of them grabbed my hair and shoved my face into a sink full of freezing water while the others laughed and cheered.

By the time they finally yanked me back up, my chest hurt from holding my breath.

I gripped the edge of the sink and coughed, water dripping from my hair and down my face.

Adrian stood in front of me, looking down at me.

“You wanted into the Blackwood family so badly. Now you’re in. Happy?”

In our first life, he had once told me there was nothing he hated more than rich kids who used their family name to bully people.

Now he was the one standing there while my face was shoved into a sink.

The only difference was that, in our first life, he had decided I was someone worth protecting.

This time, he had already decided I was a gold digger who had wormed her way into his family.

Then his gaze suddenly shifted past me.

Sophia was kneeling on the hallway floor with a cleaning rag in her hand.

Someone nearby explained, “Her adoptive mother cleans this floor. I heard Sophia stays after school every day to help her.”

Adrian frowned.

“She has to do that too?”

Sophia looked up as if she had only just noticed us, then stood.

Her hands were red from the cold water, but her voice was calm.

“My mom is responsible for this floor. If it isn’t cleaned properly, they dock her pay.”

Adrian glanced at her hands.

“You’re freezing yourself for that little money?”

“It might not be much to you,” she said. “But to my family, that’s several days of living expenses.”

I almost laughed.

Adrian hated people who treated Blackwood money like something they were entitled to.

The more Sophia refused him, the more he wanted to give her.

I had said almost the exact same thing in our first life.

Right here in this hallway.

Back then, I hadn’t even known Adrian was nearby.

I certainly hadn’t known that was the moment he first started noticing me.

Sophia knew.

She remembered where I had worked.

She remembered when Adrian’s feelings for me had started.

So this time, she had chosen the same place and repeated almost the same words.

She really believed that if she reenacted my life closely enough, she would get the same ending.

And Adrian was falling for it.

He took the rag from her hand and draped his coat over her shoulders.

“How are you getting home?”

“My bike.”

“In this weather? I’ll have the driver take you.”

This time, Sophia didn’t refuse.

As she passed me, she lifted her eyes and gave me a tiny smile when no one else was looking.

That smile said everything.

She thought she had done it.

Adrian was starting to like her the same way he had once liked me.

I ignored her.

After they left, I finally pushed myself upright against the sink.

A clean towel appeared in front of me.

“Here.”

I looked up.

It was our class president, Emma Carter.

She had excellent grades, rarely spoke, and wore long sleeves no matter how warm it was.

In our first life, she had also handed me a towel after I was bullied.

We hadn’t been close then.

We barely spoke afterward.

And later, she jumped from the roof of the school.

For days, students whispered about it.

Some said her father drank and gambled.

Others said her right hand had already been broken before she died.

Back then, all I had felt was pity.

This time, seeing her again, I didn’t want to stand by and watch the same thing happen.

“Thank you.”

I took the towel.

Emma nodded and turned to leave, but I stopped her.

“Wait. Where’s the cafeteria?”

She looked back at me, clearly surprised.

“I just transferred. I still don’t know my way around.” I wiped water from my hair. “And I’m starving.”

She was quiet for a moment before turning around.

“Come on.”

At the cafeteria, I deliberately bought two dinners.

Emma refused at first, so I told her I had ordered too much and it would go to waste anyway.

She studied me for a moment, then finally sat down.

While we ate, her sleeve slipped up slightly.

There was a fading yellow bruise around her wrist.

I didn’t ask about it.

I waited until she had nearly finished eating before I spoke.

“You’re good at math, right? Tutor me. I’ll pay you.”

She looked at me.

“You need tutoring?”

I nodded.

Emma was silent for a while.

She probably understood what I was trying to do.

But in the end, she didn’t refuse.

I knew she would never accept charity.

So I had to give her something she could accept without feeling indebted.

At least this time, I wanted her to have a little money of her own.

Something that might give her one more choice when she needed it.

That evening, the Blackwood house was quiet when I got home.

Mr. Blackwood was still at work.

Mrs. Blackwood had a dinner event.

Adrian wasn’t home either.

I knew where he was.

In our first life, this had been the day he first drove me back to the Millers’ house.

My adoptive parents had eagerly invited him to stay for dinner.

The table had been small, the food simple, but everyone sat together talking and laughing.

For Adrian, who had grown up in the Blackwood household, it had felt novel.

Later, he told me more than once,

“Your family may not have money, but at least it feels like a real family.”

Sophia clearly remembered that too.

So this time, she had wasted no time bringing Adrian home with her.

What she didn’t know was that the Millers’ warmth had always come with conditions.

In our first life, when I turned eighteen, I told them I didn’t want to marry Adrian.

Mrs. Miller locked me in my room that same night.

Mr. Miller took my phone.

When I later tried to leave, he dragged me back from the stairs.

That was when I finally understood.

They didn’t like Adrian because he treated me well.

They liked him because he was rich.

My phone lit up.

Sophia had sent me a picture.

Adrian sat beside her at the Millers’ cramped dining table.

Mr. and Mrs. Miller were smiling warmly.

Sophia still had Adrian’s coat around her shoulders, and she looked perfectly happy.

There was only one caption.

This is what a real family feels like.

I stared at it for a few seconds, then turned off the screen.

She thought she had finally made the right choice.

But all she had done was walk into a family she had never truly understood.