WOMAN'S SWEET POISON

"Ms. Abigail Benson, your guaranteed admission agreement with Mephton University has been finalized. You won't need to sit for tomorrow's college entrance exam."

After hanging up with the admissions office, I looked at my parents sitting on the couch, both red-eyed from emotion, and gave them a firm nod.

"My sweetheart…"

Mom covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face.

"We must've been blind in our previous life," Dad growled through clenched teeth. "How could we have asked you to help those three ungrateful brats?"

Connected by blood, after I was reborn, I had bared the full horror of my past life to them. My parents hadn't doubted me for a second, simply pulling me into their arms and holding me tight.

I walked over and took their trembling hands.

"Mom, Dad, let's keep the admission offer a secret for now."

In my previous life, I had resolutely given up my guaranteed admission spot just so I could attend the same college as my three childhood friends. It wasn't until they shoved me toward the gang of thugs with their own bare hands that I realized how stupid I had been.

This time, I wanted to watch them fall into hell with my own eyes.

After comforting my parents, I headed outside.

I'd barely left the neighborhood when I ran straight into my three childhood buddies and Lucille Reyes.

Chewing gum, Lucille looked me up and down before smirking, her expression laced with thinly veiled sarcasm.

"Well, if it isn't the goody-two-shoes who follows you guys around all day."

Jeremy McFadden, the hotheaded athlete of the group, immediately stepped in front of her protectively.

"Abigail," he said, frowning. "Can you stop stalking us all the time?"

Gregory Burke, the trust-fund kid, looked disgusted. "Exactly. You're sticking your nose into everything all the time. Don't you ever get tired of it?"

Wendell Trudeau, the academic prodigy, wrapped his arm around Lucille's waist, his brows furrowed deeply.

"You're always walking around with that miserable look on your face. No wonder Lucy can't stand you. Keep acting like that, and we won't help you study anymore."

I stopped in my tracks, nearly bursting into laughter.

Help me study? Ever since Lucille—the vocational school student—appeared, they'd spent their days skipping classes and going to gaming centers and nightclubs looking for cheap thrills.

I hadn't studied with them in ages.

I looked at Wendell, barely lifting my eyes. "Have you forgotten what you scored on the last mock exam?"

Wendell froze, his expression shifting slightly.

"I scored a 725," I said, my voice cold and flat, the words hitting them right in the face. "Exactly 20 points higher than you, Mr. Prodigy."

Then I glanced at the other two academic failures, my lips curling into a smirk. "As for you two, are you even qualified to help me study?"

Their faces paled, then darkened, but I couldn't be bothered to look at them anymore. I promptly turned and walked off.

"What's your problem, Abigail Benson?" Jeremy, the most hotheaded one, roared and lunged forward to grab me.

I sidestepped him and brushed off my sleeve with a look of disgust.

"No problem at all." I looked at them coldly. "Aren't you guys throwing a coming-of-age party with her? Have fun."

The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

As expected, all three of their expressions changed drastically.

"How did you know about that?"

The four of us had been born in the same hospital, just a couple of days apart. To make things easier, our parents decided to have our birthdays be on the same day. They had even joked that I should pick one of the three boys to be my husband in the future.

Growing up, I'd practically looked after them like an old mother hen. That was, until Lucille showed up. The mature, rebellious edge she carried satisfied all the fantasies these "good boys" had about breaking the rules.

And so, afraid that I'd try to stop them, they hadn't told me anything about the coming-of-age party that night.

In my previous life, I'd only found out by chance that Lucille had been setting a trap to extort money from them at the party. I'd done everything I could to stop them from going, only to be utterly despised for it.

"Are you stalking us?" Wendell asked, his expression turning disgusted.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I need to? All your dumb plans are written all over your faces."

Pushing his anger down and adopting a serious tone, he said, "Abigail, we're adults now. Lucille's very innocent. Don't look down on her just because she's from a vocational school. It's only because she didn't know us before. And she just wants to use this party to cram and study with us."

"If you're worried, you can come along tonight," Gregory jumped in. "But you're not allowed to look so pissed off the whole time."

Before I could refuse, Lucille's eyes reddened, and she clutched his sleeve tightly.

"Greg, we'd better not ask Abigail to join us. She looks so angry. I'm scared…"

His heart aching for her, Gregory immediately turned to glare at me.

"Look at how petty and mean you've become now, Abigail. You really should learn to be gentle like Lucy!"

"If you don't fix that terrible attitude of yours, none of us will ever want to marry you," Wendell added.

Jeremy shook his fist at me. "Remember! If any of our parents ask, tell them you're out studying with us!"

I watched them leave, the three boys crowding around Lucille, and a wave of nausea rose in my throat.

Marry me? I'd been blind in my past life. This time around, I definitely didn't care about those three pieces of garbage.

I turned around, went straight home, and locked myself in my room.

"Go ahead. Go enjoy your coming-of-age party," I thought to myself. "This time, I'm done with my savior complex. I'll respect your hell-bound fate."