After being sent back in time to relive my life, I stopped standing up for the popular girl who got caught stealing. When she returned to college for classes, I dropped out. When she came to my house looking for me, I moved. I did everything I could to cut off all contact with her.

Before I died in my last life, I knew she married me only for my family’s money, yet I still handed her my heart like a fool. The jewelry I gave her was “tacky.” Trying to get close to her was “annoying.”

I held on to a cold, empty marriage, thinking that as long as I waited, she would eventually turn back to me. However, for more than twenty years, all I got was her indifference. I didn’t even dare touch the doorknob to her room.

Then came the fire, and I risked my life to push her out the window to safety. Right before I died, I saw my wife, completely unharmed, run straight into the arms of our college valedictorian.

Crying, she said she was finally free from the marriage that had made her miserable for decades. If life could start over, she said, she hoped to walk hand in hand with the person she truly loved. In that moment, my heart went dead. I let the fire swallow whatever remained of my life.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the bar where the popular girl was working part-time and stealing money from a customer. This time, I chose to call the police.

The moment I hung up the phone, my college cohort’s valedictorian, Wayne Grey, suddenly grabbed my cell and slammed it onto the floor, shattering it instantly.

“Are you out of your mind?” he shouted. “Calling the cops now will only make everyone think Maya really stole that customer’s wallet! She works her butt off doing part-time jobs just to lighten her mom’s financial burden. She’s already pitiful enough. How could you accuse her like this?”

I frowned at him.

In my previous life, I didn’t call the police. Instead, I stood up for Maya Summers and took the blame myself. In the end, the guy’s thugs only backed off after beating me black and blue. On top of that, Wayne didn’t stop any of it back then. He even covered Maya’s eyes with his hand, afraid the bloody scene would scare her.

All this time, I thought he helped because we were dorm buddies and he had my back.

However, I finally understand that they had been treating me like a fool from the very beginning.

“Wayne,” I said calmly, “I’m doing nothing wrong. When a crime happens, you call the police. And even if Maya didn’t take the customer’s wallet like you said, isn’t calling the police exactly what would clear her name?”

My voice was even but firm. Then, I bent down, picked up my smashed phone, and held it out to him.

“And this phone? I just bought it. It’s the latest top-tier model, and it costs more than a few thousand dollars. When the police get here, they can log it, and you can compensate me at full price.”

“You–”

Wayne’s face turned bright red, but he couldn’t squeeze out a single word.

Suddenly, Maya burst into tears. She already had that soft, delicate look, and with her crying like she’d suffered every injustice in the world, anyone would feel protective just seeing her.

“I really didn’t take it,” she sobbed. “The customer dropped his wallet, and I only picked it up to return it. You’re targeting me because I’m poor, just to humiliate me. Do low-income students not deserve dignity?”

Wayne instantly pulled her into his arms, comforting her before turning on me, yelling, “Everyone, you heard that, right? We’re juniors in college. His name is Dylan Conner. He’s been drooling over Maya for three years and still hasn’t won her over. Now he’s salty and using this chance to get revenge!”

The crowd around us immediately started whispering and pointing.

“How disgusting. She turns him down, so he does this? Which college is he from? I’m reporting him. People like this should be expelled!”

Watching them wrapped up in each other’s arms, an image of the last thing I saw in my previous life, right before I died in that fire, flashed in my mind.

A wave of fury exploded from deep inside my chest. Before I even realized it, my fist connected with Wayne’s face. The punch landed hard, splitting his lip open on the spot.

Maya screamed and slapped me hard across the face.

“Wayne’s telling the truth! How could you hit him? I’m so disappointed in you!”

Some of the younger onlookers about our age immediately stepped in and started shoving me.

“Wow, look at this kid acting tough,” one of them spat. “All these people around and you still think you can bully someone?”

I clenched my teeth and let them push me to the floor without saying a word. Just then, a few police officers walked in, and the crowd quickly opened a path for them.

“Who called the police?”

I pushed myself up and dusted off my jeans.

“I did,” I said. “I saw Maya Summers steal that man’s wallet.”

The moment I spoke, Wayne rushed toward the officers, practically shoving his bleeding lip at them.

“Officers, I’d like to report him! He’s framing Maya on purpose!” he cried. “I spoke up for her, and he punched me! Everyone here saw it! Arrest him!”

I didn’t acknowledge a word he said. Instead, I held out my shattered phone to the police.

“He grabbed my phone and smashed it. Everyone here saw that, too.”

The same young guys who shoved me earlier immediately started yelling.

“You framed the girl first! Smashing your phone was nothing. If it were me, I’d have punched you straight in the face!”

“Exactly. Kids these days are messed up in the head. He can’t get the girl, so he destroys her life. Officers, take him in and teach him a lesson.”

I looked around coldly at every face there before finally letting my gaze settle on the actual victim—the middle-aged man with the gold chain. He had been watching the whole thing with amusement, not saying a single word.

When he noticed me staring, he stood up and motioned to one of his guys, who handed his phone to the police.

“I had the bar manager pull the security footage,” he said. “This girl spilled her drink on me on purpose and then took advantage of the distraction to steal my wallet.”

The moment he said that, the noisy crowd went dead silent.

That was exactly how it happened in my previous life, too. At first, I refused to believe Maya would ever steal anything and argued with everything I had. However, the guy then pulled out that same surveillance clip. It was HD footage, so there was no room for excuses.

The police turned to Maya. “Miss, you’ll need to come with us.”

Wayne tried to protest again, but the officers cut him off. “You’re coming too.”

In the end, the man with the gold chain and I followed them out and got into the patrol car as well.

Not long after we arrived at the station, our college tutor, Maya’s mother, and Wayne’s father all rushed in. The moment Wayne’s father heard he’d need to compensate me a few thousand dollars for my phone, he slapped Wayne hard across the face.

“I had to borrow money just to pay your tuition, and now you pull this? I swear, I could kill you!”

However, Wayne still looked defiant as he pointed at me, screaming, “Yeah, I broke his phone, so what? He punched me! That makes us even!”

I couldn’t help laughing. “My punch doesn’t even qualify as a minor injury. I’ll pay for your band-aids. Twenty dollars should cover it, but my phone cost three thousand dollars. You’re paying every cent.”

Across the room, Maya’s mother collapsed to her knees in front of the man with the gold chain, sobbing as she asked for mercy.

“Please, sir, I’m begging you not to press charges. It hasn’t been easy for her to make it into college. If she gets a criminal record, her whole future will be ruined.”

Watching her cry like that… honestly, I felt a pang in my chest.

Ever since freshman year, I had known how tough their situation was. Maya’s mother would secretly set up a little street stall near campus at night to make extra money for her tuition. I used to slip her cash more than once. When she got sick, I was the one who dragged her to the hospital, paid for her medicine, and made sure she got treated.

In my previous life, during those twenty-some years of cold, empty marriage with Maya, the only warmth I ever felt came from her mother. However, there was nothing I could do now. Unfortunately, she had raised a daughter like Maya.

What I didn’t expect was that instead of showing even a bit of remorse, Maya suddenly lunged at me when everyone was distracted. She punched and kicked wildly, and her nails raked three bloody scratches across my face.

“You happy now?” she yelled. “Is this what you wanted? Dylan, isn’t this all because you like me? This is you forcing me to be with you, isn’t it? Fine! I agree! From now on, I’m your girlfriend, okay? Are you satisfied? Will you leave us alone now?”

The officers immediately pulled her away.

The gold-chain guy looked down at her and said, “I wasn’t planning on pressing charges, but I never expect such a good mother to end up with a daughter like you. Let the police teach you a lesson.”

I snorted and turned to Wayne. “I want my case taken seriously, too. I expect the compensation within three days.”

After that, the gold-chain guy and I walked out of the station without looking back.

That day, I didn’t return to the dorm. Instead, I headed home and told my parents everything that happened.

My mom already knew I liked Maya. She had bought me nice clothes and bags to gift her, and she had even invited Maya over to our estate for dinner more than once.

After hearing the full story, Mom sighed. “People can hide their true colors. It’s better that you noticed it early.”

The next morning, I went back to campus for class. However, as soon as I walked into the lecture hall, I saw a crowd gathered around Maya, who was crying her eyes out. That was when I learned that the university had bailed her out the night before.

The moment I stepped in, everyone turned to look at me. A split second later, a backpack came flying straight at my head.

“Jeez! Having you in our class is a disgrace! Just because you’re rich, you think you can bully low-income students?”