All Chapters of Betting Against Me Once Too Often: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

The front door opened just as I was stuffing the last pair of wool socks into my suitcase.My girlfriend, Bailey Carter, and our friend, Derek Wilson, walked in through the door with their snorkelling gear, bathing suits, and a whole bag of deflated pool floats.Derek was the first to notice my thick winter coat on the couch. He was briefly stunned before he burst into loud laughter."Pay up, Bails," he said to Bailey. He pointed at my suitcase and laughed so hard that tears streamed down his face. "I told you that Josh would be angry. He's even packing winter clothes on purpose to spite us."Bailey leaned against the entryway, looking down at her phone as she transferred money to Derek, a helpless grin on her face."Fine. You win this time."She then put her phone away and walked up to me, wanting to straighten my collar."I've already booked the flight for you again, Josh. We went overboard with the prank this time, so don't be mad. Remove these winter clothes from your suitca

Chapter 2

I grabbed my phone and tapped into my email inbox. The latest email was from the panel of judges from the art competition."Due to the inclusion of forbidden elements in your competition portfolio, which compromised the integrity of the artwork and violated the anonymous judging rules, your entry has been disqualified from this year's Stargaze Artist Awards competition."I brandished this email right before Derek's face.His smile froze on his lips. Then, he scratched his head and looked rather embarrassed, though he tried to hide it."Jeez, doesn't the judging panel know how to take a joke? How was I supposed to know that they would be so rigid about it?"He then cleared his throat, speaking in a voice as though he was the wronged party. "I was just trying to ease some of the weight you were carrying. You were so stressed about this competition that you had that frown on your face for days. How were we supposed to put up with that?"Don't look at me like that, Josh. It's not a b

Chapter 3

I bought a cup of hot coffee in the airport's waiting lounge. However, just as I put the lid on, someone suddenly thumped me hard on the back of my shoulder. Coffee spilled on my fingers, burning them.I turned around and saw Bailey and Derek standing behind me.Bailey's coat was buttoned up wrongly, and her forehead was beaded with sweat. Meanwhile, Derek was still clutching his boarding pass to Beachland, panting so hard that he could barely speak."That's enough sulking," Bailey said, taking my coffee from me. After feeling around the cup, she pushed it back into my hands. "At least you bought a hot one. You're not freezing, are you?"She sounded like she was trying to coax me, signalling that she was done being mad and that she'd put the incident behind her."We're not going to Beachland. We missed our boarding time because we were busy looking for you. Now we're even. Come home with me."Derek finally caught his breath and looked up at me, bracing himself with his hands on h

Chapter 4

I took a cab back to my apartment by myself.I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths. The nauseating, suffocating feeling and the ringing in my ears had finally died down a little.After reaching the apartment building, the driver helped me carry my suitcase to the lobby and asked me if he needed to bring it up for me.I told him that it was fine and went in by myself, holding the broken laptop in one hand and wheeling my suitcase with the other.I entered the apartment and began to search for the backup hard drive. It was still lying in the very back of my desk drawer.I heaved a sigh of relief and went to grab the bottle of pills from my bedside table to help with my attacks. Just as I'd managed to grab it, I heard the front door open again.Bailey was standing at the entryway, her expression dark."You really came back," she said.I stuffed the hard drive into the inner pocket of my suitcase."Get out."But she didn't move. Instead, her gaze landed

Chapter 5

When I regained consciousness, I realized that I was lying in a hospital bed, and my arm was all bandaged up with a splint.A nurse was changing the bandages. When she saw that I'd woken up, she softly said, "You had seven stitches in your arm, and you lost a significant amount of blood. "Your apartment building's security guard heard the crash and broke the door down. He was the one who brought you in."I stared up at the ceiling and briefly collected my thoughts. It wasn't until then that I realized my throat was also parched.The nurse handed me my phone and said, "We just charged it for you. It's been ringing non-stop."The screen showed that I had dozens of missed calls, and they were all from Bailey.Derek had also sent me many voice messages, but I didn't tap in to read or listen to any of them.One of our mutual friends, Hans Montgomery, had sent me a video. It showed Bailey sitting in a corner seat in a cafe, idly stirring her iced coffee as she said nonchalantly, "I

Chapter 6

The wind in Ice City was harsh and biting, and it felt like tiny ice crystals in my face.Professor Dawson picked me up at the airport. The first thing he noticed was my bandaged arm. However, he didn't ask any questions and simply took off his scarf before draping it over my shoulders."The studio is very warm. You can nap there for a bit."I nodded.Here, nobody took my silence for granted, and nobody mistook my boundaries for me giving them the cold shoulder.I began reorganizing my portfolio.The broken laptop was sent for repairs, and my backup hard drive had preserved most of the files. As for those that I lost, I redrew every single layer again, stroke by stroke.At times, I would work on my art piece until dawn, and the wounds on my arm would begin itching.Professor Dawson would then knock on my door and enter with a mug of hot chocolate before setting it down on my desk."There's no rush, Joshua. You don't need to give up your life for your art."…I met Tracy Buch

Chapter 7

Bailey was emaciated. Her black coat hung loosely on her body.Meanwhile, Derek didn't look as radiant as he did before. His hair was disheveled and he had some serious dark circles under his eyes.It was obvious that they'd come here in a rush.Bailey weaved through the crowd and walked right up to me. Her eyes were reddened and bloodshot, and her voice was so low that I could barely hear her. She said, "Josh."I didn't acknowledge her.She retrieved a ring box from her pocket and held it to me as she got down on one knee. The people around us fell silent at once."I didn't make a bet with anybody. I'm not joking about this either," she said shakily, looking up at me as she spoke. "I'm really here to beg you to marry me so I can use the rest of my life to make things up to you."Derek also came to me with reddened eyes, trying to tug at my sleeve."I really know what boundaries mean now, Josh. I got fired from work for making an inappropriate joke about a female coworker. I've

Chapter 8

Three years later, I returned to my home country in winter to deal with the property rights of Mom's and Dad's old house. Tracy came along to keep me company.The snow fell heavily when we came out of the office after completing the formalities. She pulled my scarf a little higher around my neck and asked, "Is it too cold for you?""I'm good.""The car's parked on the opposite side. I'll go and get it. You can wait here for me."I shook my head and said, "Let's go together."When we reached the junction in the road, I saw a woman crouching in the snow by the roadside. She wore a thin, torn old shirt as she shielded a slice of cheap strawberry cake in her arms.It was Bailey.She didn't recognize me. Or rather, her eyes were so glued to her phone screen that she didn't notice me. Her phone screen displayed a profile picture for an account that had long been deleted.She spoke softly as though she was afraid of waking someone up. "It's your birthday today, Josh. I didn't buy the

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