The morning after Aleena Cook actually got a solid night's sleep, she ended up oversleeping. Her friend Aya Morales called her, practically buzzing with excitement, begging her to hurry up and get to class. Aleena just told Aya to save her a seat—so when she burst through the classroom door, still mid-bite into a croissant, the place was already humming with chatter. Aya waved her over like a maniac, pointing to the empty chair beside her—which just so happened to be right next to someone very familiar.

"Perfect," Aleena thought, dripping with sarcasm. "Aya, always stirring the pot. She definitely saved me this seat next to Julian Mason on purpose."

The professor had already walked in, so Aleena had zero choice but to sit. Julian shot her a look of pure disapproval. "I don't want it."

"Want what, exactly?" Aleena shot back coolly, nodding at her croissant. "Because I wasn't planning on sharing anyway."

Julian blinked, caught off guard. There was a time when Aleena used to bring him breakfast every single day. He'd brush her off impatiently at first, but eventually, he'd take it just to toss it in the trash later. Today, he'd been ready to embarrass her in public by rejecting whatever she offered—except she hadn't brought him a thing.

Seeing the awkward twist in his expression gave Aleena a quiet thrill, and she happily turned her attention to the lecture.

"What are you plotting now?" Julian whispered, his voice low.

"Are you out of your mind? What kind of nonsense is rattling around in that tiny brain of yours?" Aleena snapped back, annoyed by his insinuation.

Aya listened to the exchange, totally confused by Aleena's sudden shift in attitude. She didn't know that Aleena had made up her mind to keep her distance from Julian. He was at the center of all the future trouble—avoiding him was the smart move.

But here was the tricky part: Aleena and Julian had the same major and served in the same student council department. In the past, Aleena had considered that shared major a stroke of luck. She'd joined every club and event tied to Julian just to spend more time with him.

Yet Aleena knew that running away wasn't going to fix anything. In her past life, too many questions about Julian had been left unanswered. Back then, she'd foolishly poured all her energy into trying to please him, never bothering to dig into the deeper issues that actually mattered.

If she truly wanted to protect herself, Aleena needed to understand why Julian resented her so much. That meant staying close enough to gather intel.

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," Aleena muttered under her breath.

So, despite originally planning to skip the student council dinner to avoid him, Aleena showed up anyway.

The student council dinner felt more like a campus networking mixer than a formal banquet. Officers from different committees drifted between tables, trading jokes, talking about upcoming events, and catching up with the student body president and department directors. Aleena's easy charm made her popular with the upperclassmen, but she still kept one eye on Julian as he worked the room. At one point, she leaned in and quietly asked her director for a favor. He smiled and nodded.

By ten o'clock, the dinner began winding down. Their director reminded everyone to make it back to campus safely, giving Aleena a knowing glance.

As the group filed out of the restaurant, Julian returned from the restroom only to find the room empty—except for Aleena, clearly waiting for him. He stopped, realization flickering across his face, then turned to leave.

"Leaving already, Julian?" Aleena called out, mockingly. "Come on, I'll walk you back."

Julian halted, studying her with a tilted head. "You act like you don't care, and now all this—just for this little stunt? Aleena, you are seriously annoying."

Aleena raised an eyebrow, thinking, "If I weren't trying to dig into your background, I'd have stayed far away from you."

"Fine, I'm out. Figure your own way back," Julian shot back. But Aleena knew his alcohol tolerance, and judging by the state he was in, there was no way he'd make it back to campus safely.

She turned like she was leaving, but kept him in her peripheral vision. The street was pedestrian-only near the university, and cabs were few and far between. Julian, stubborn as ever, started staggering away—and Aleena couldn't help but find it humorous.

Sure enough, moments later he was hunched over by the roadside, retching into the bushes. He tried to straighten up, wobbling, but Aleena was already there. She uncapped a bottle of water and splashed it across his face before he could even react. Then she hooked an arm under his. "Come on, let's get you back. If something happens to you out here, I'd feel responsible for not helping."

Julian tried to protest, but Aleena tugged him along. "No arguing. You're stuck with me now. Play nice."

As she helped him stumble along, she casually asked him about where he lived and what kind of food he liked. Julian, drunk and off guard, seemed surprisingly cooperative—a far cry from his usual biting remarks. Encouraged, Aleena pushed a little deeper, asking about his family, what his parents did for a living.

But the moment she mentioned his mother, Julian shoved her away hard. "Get lost!"

Interesting. There had to be more to this. Aleena was determined to uncover the truth, and she didn't mind his rough handling. Still, after pushing her aside, he staggered to lean against a tree, his face twisted with a pain he was trying desperately to suppress.

What was going on with him? Aleena studied him, then asked, "Why are you so defensive? What did I say?"

"If something's bothering you, just get it off your chest. Maybe I can actually help."

"You help me? How could you possibly... her death... and you..." Julian's words faded into nothing, suspicion clouding his eyes as he stared at Aleena.

Aleena's heart skipped a beat—there was definitely more underneath Julian's guarded exterior. But knowing he wouldn't open up unless he wanted to, she decided to break the tension with a teasing jab. "Show up to class like this and people are gonna think I'm making a move on you. You might wanna set them straight."

"Isn't that exactly what you're doing?" Julian shot back, huffing in that way of his.

She couldn't help but laugh at his sulky little attitude. When he was sober, he got under her skin nonstop, but tipsy Julian? He was flat-out adorable.

Remembering how dismissive he usually was toward her, Aleena hooked his arm and dragged him forward without an ounce of pity. "Come on, walk straight! You've had enough swaying for one night."

They moved through the nearly empty pedestrian street. The last campus shuttle would leave soon, but Julian shuffled along as if his feet barely touched the ground. Aleena's anxiety ticked up every second.

It triggered a memory from a past life—right after their engagement, they'd taken a trip together. Perched on a high viewpoint in the Alps, they shared sweet wine while the crisp night air wrapped around them. Julian, a bit tipsy, leaned close, his fingers trailing tenderly over her cheek. She remembered the heat dusting his ears, the bob of his throat as he kissed her—deep, slow, achingly tender. When he pulled back, something uncertain flickered in his eyes. His lips parted, like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he stayed quiet.

So his love—had it ever been real?

They trudged down the lonely road back to the school, which sat on the outskirts where shops and people were few and far between. Aleena checked her phone: 10:40. They had almost missed the last shuttle, and rideshares rarely came this far out. She urged Julian to speed up, but he kept listing toward the ground, barely able to hold himself upright.

With nobody in sight, Aleena made a split-second decision. She hoisted him onto her back.

With that support, Julian seemed to settle, letting her carry him at a quick clip. He mumbled under his breath, "You're not Aleena..."

She almost laughed right there. Of course—how could a normal girl like Aleena carry him so easily?

"Rest well, Aleena," she murmured to the original owner of this body. "I've got your revenge covered." She was a soul contractor, here to settle Aleena's unresolved grievances. She'd promised to return this body—and Aleena's life—once the real soul woke up. But for now, she was Aleena.

They made it back to the school. Aleena adjusted Julian's dead weight, then dug his phone out of his pocket and called his roommate.

On the other end, Russell Bryant was completely absorbed in some video game when he answered, annoyed. "Julian, I'm in the middle of something... wait, too drunk? Fine. On my way down."

He hung up with a grin, grabbed his jacket, and headed out, a curious roommate trailing behind him firing questions. Russell just laughed. "That lucky bastard."

He half-jogged down the stairs and burst through the door to see Aleena propping Julian up, the guy's arm looped around her shoulder. Russell's grin stretched even wider.

"Quick—take him. He's heavy," Aleena said, practically shoving Julian at Russell in relief. Russell, however, looked her up and down, eyes full of mischief. "So... what's the deal between you two? Ha."

In Russell's book, Aleena was a quiet, sweet girl. He expected her to get shy and flustered about explaining. But instead, she reached up and gave his head a playful smack. "What sort of wild story are you cooking up in that head? He couldn't make it back on his own, so I helped out!"

"Get him upstairs. I'm leaving."

Russell watched her go, then called after her. "Bye, Aleena... or should I say, future Mrs. Mason! Take care!"

"Enough! Stop your yapping!" Aleena shot back over her shoulder, laughing, eyes dancing, before she took off toward the girls' dorm.

Russell hauled Julian up the stairs, muttering, "Dude, you've seriously got it made. Aleena's a total catch, and you're over here dodging her left and right."

Once inside, the roommates eagerly devoured Russell's story about Aleena bringing Julian home, and a riot of comments followed:

"Julian's got all the damn luck!"

"For real though. Aleena's super sweet and pretty—why's he always running away?"

"You think he got drunk and made a move?"

"Drop it, okay? You know Aleena. She's not like that. She's amazing. Honestly? Julian doesn't even deserve her."

Julian Mason jolted awake the next morning to his roommate Russell Bryant shaking his shoulder. Sunlight poured through the window—a dead giveaway that he was dangerously close to being late. He rubbed his temples, head pounding as he tried to piece together the blur of the night before. When he finally sat up, he caught his roommates trading odd looks in his direction.

“What’s going on?” Julian asked, a knot forming in his stomach under their stares.

“Not a thing,” Russell replied, flashing a shit-eating grin.

Once the others cleared out of the dorm, Russell pulled Julian aside. “So what went down last night? You finally come to your senses or what?”

“Come to my senses about what?”

“You seriously don’t remember how you got back here last night?”

Julian was infamous for blacking out when he drank, and last night was no exception. He struggled to pull up even a single memory—until a hazy image flickered through: Aleena Cook guiding him back to the dorm.

“She dropped you off at the building entrance. I was mid-chess game when she called me down to help haul your ass upstairs. Dude, you were all over her like a lovesick puppy.”

Mortification hit Julian like a truck. That’s how Aleena had brought him back? Unbelievable. Humiliating didn’t even begin to cover it.

Across his morning classes, he couldn't focus for shit. His eyes kept drifting to Aleena, sitting near the front, fully absorbed in the lecture. Frustration simmered under his skin. He wanted to keep his distance from her, but with their schedules so tangled up, there was no easy escape.

Meanwhile, his friends kept egging him on to get with Aleena, but Julian had a meeting lined up with Aya Morales anyway.

“I’m Aleena’s friend. She really cares about you, so don’t mess with her head!” To Julian’s surprise, Aya dragged Aleena into their conversation out of nowhere.

“Her feelings are her problem, not mine,” he shot back, playing it cool.

“You don’t actually think Aleena can’t function without you, do you? There are plenty of guys lining up for her. Just last week, a senior took her out to some fancy restaurant and confessed—right then and there!” Aya’s words were tossed off casually, but they carried a sharp edge, hinting that Aleena wasn’t exactly as loyal as she seemed.

Unbeknownst to Aya, Aleena had already gotten wind of this little meeting by slipping a recorder into Aya’s bag. She listened as Aya ran her mouth, fully aware of what Aya was doing—twisting the truth to make her look unfaithful. Aya was sly; her manipulation game was painfully smooth.

Julian’s jaw tightened. “If she’s got so many admirers, she can go run to them.”

“Aleena grew up in a loving home. She’s never been treated like crap. Why should she put up with yours? You should just stay away from her!” Aya declared, spinning on her heel to leave—only to slip and hit the ground with a grimace of pain.

“You okay?” Julian moved closer, concerned despite himself.

“I’m fine!” Aya insisted, scrambling up even though her face told a completely different story.

Julian watched her limp off, then offered, “Which dorm are you in? I can help you get back.”

“No need. I don’t dorm here. I’m heading home.” Her voice was stiff, playing the part of independence.

Leaving her like that didn’t sit right with him. “Is home far? I can give you a ride.”

And just like that, Aya found herself perched on the back of Julian’s bike.

On the other end of the recording, Aleena let out a long sigh. As a soul contractor with powers beyond measure, why was she stuck untangling this messy romantic knot for some girl? But then she thought of Aleena—the regret and sorrow she'd carried before her untimely death. If helping this unlucky girl find peace was the price of the contract, then maybe it was worth it after all.