In my previous life, my roommate had been sweet-talked by Howard Lynch. She was ready to throw away her bright future just to run off with him.

I tried to warn her, telling her to take responsibility for her own life.

She listened. She ended the pregnancy, broke up with Howard, and focused on her resume. Eventually, she landed a great job.

But what I never expected was that not long after, Howard's biological parents showed up.

It turned out Howard was actually the long-lost heir, switched at birth by a nanny.

On the day of Howard’s grand wedding, arranged by his wealthy family, my roommate cornered me in an alley and brutally attacked me.

“If it weren’t for you, I’d be married into a rich family by now instead of suffering like this,” she snarled.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day she asked me whether she should elope with Howard.

I smiled and said, “It's your life; you should make your own decisions. I wish you both all the happiness.”

——

I found myself back on the day when my roommate Julia, gently rubbing her belly, asked if she should run away with her boyfriend.

Julia couldn’t hide the glow on her face as she cradled her stomach. “I’m pregnant with Howard’s baby. If my parents find out, they’ll kill me. This is our first child. I just can’t bring myself to end it.”

“Howard thinks we should keep it a secret and go to his hometown to have the baby. He says he’ll work hard and take care of us. Do you think I should go with him?”

She lowered her head, smiling shyly. “Howard’s going to be such a good dad.”

Our other roommate, Quincy, who was stressed out from studying for her teaching certification, couldn’t stand Julia’s dreamy tone anymore and snapped, “Of course, have the baby! If I can’t have one, you two better. Otherwise, who am I going to teach?”

Julia, thinking Quincy was on her side, lit up even more. She grabbed my hand and asked, “Keira, what do you think? Should I say yes to Howard?”

I blinked as my mind slowly cleared. I remembered that she had asked me this same question before, in my previous life.

Julia’s boyfriend, Howard, was a small-time thug who hung around the street near our college, always with brightly colored hair and a crew of troublemakers, collecting protection money.

One day, Julia dropped her phone into a drain, and as luck would have it, Howard was passing by with his gang. He fished out her phone, and that’s how they exchanged numbers.

Julia was raised with traditional values, believing in no early dating, so she’d never encountered someone like Howard before.

She was fascinated by his wild side, racing, smoking, and getting into fights. He seemed so different from other guys, and she fell hard for the rebellious boy in front of her.

Howard wasn’t exactly a good guy, but having a beautiful, prestigious university graduate like Julia as his girlfriend made him feel important.

He loved the status, so he played along, and before long, they were a couple.

I’d met Howard before. It was shortly after he and Julia started dating, and he insisted on meeting her roommates, so he arranged a dinner for all of us.

After a few drinks, Howard’s true colors came out. While Julia was in the restroom, his hand started creeping up my thigh.

I had taken Taekwondo, so I twisted his hand until I heard it crack. Since it wasn’t something he’d want to brag about, he didn’t tell Julia the truth, just made up some story about accidentally hurting himself.

That incident left me with a bad impression of Howard, which is why, in my previous life, I genuinely urged Julia not to throw away her future and to take responsibility for her life.

Julia listened to me back then. She ended the pregnancy and broke up with Howard. Afterward, she snapped out of her fantasy, focused on her studies, passed the lawyer exam, and landed the job she’d always wanted.

What I didn’t expect was that five years later, Julia would send a group of thugs to trap me in an alley and stab me until I was barely alive.

She blamed me for everything. If I hadn’t convinced her to get rid of the baby and break up with Howard, she would’ve married into wealth by now, instead of being stuck in a regular job.

That’s when I learned that the man at the center of the viral story about the richest man in the country finding his long-lost son was none other than Howard.

As I thought about all of this, my heart grew cold, but I kept my face neutral and smiled at Julia.

“It’s your life, Julia. You make the decisions. I wish you both all the happiness in the world.”

The next morning, I stuck to my routine: an early jog, grabbing breakfast at the cafeteria, and then heading to the classroom for some study time.

I put on my headphones and got lost in my thoughts. When I finally looked up, the room was packed with students.

This was one of those big lectures where everyone showed up, so naturally, the gossip started flying before class. I’d been deep in study mode, so I decided to take a break and pulled off my headphones.

“Did you hear? Julia, that first-year law student, went to the advisor this morning and asked to take a leave of absence.”

“Seriously? Why would she do that? She just got that internship offer from the law firm last month, the only one in our year to get one.”

“No idea. Maybe something’s going on at home.”

Just then, someone nudged my elbow with a pen. “Keira, you’re in the same dorm as Julia, right? Do you know why she’s taking a leave?”

I couldn’t help but smirk to myself.

Why else? For her wannabe gangster boyfriend Howard, for the baby she’s carrying, and for her ridiculous dreams of marrying into money.

She probably thinks Howard’s going to give her some sort of fairy tale life.

But I kept all that to myself and just smiled at my classmate.

“I was out early this morning, so I’m not sure what happened.”

It seemed like she wanted to ask more, but the bell rang just then, and the professor walked in.

“Alright, quiet down, everyone! What’s with all the noise?”

Our professor was old-school and strict. Even though this was just a general ed class, he was notorious for cracking down on things like lateness and skipping. His attendance policy was no joke.

Late once? You’d lose five points. Miss a class? Say goodbye to all your participation points. No one dared to mess around in his class.

Attendance was going smoothly until it got to the first-year law students. Suddenly, the room went dead silent.

The professor frowned, clearly annoyed. “What’s the holdup? Every other class is done with roll call. What’s going on with your department?”

Someone finally raised a hand, looking nervous. “Professor, she’s not here today.”

The student they were talking about was Julia, of course. She was probably back at the dorm, packing for her little runaway trip with Howard.

The professor checked his roll sheet, confirmed Julia hadn’t requested any leave, and then announced, “Unexcused absence. She loses all her participation points. There will be no exceptions. Assistant, continue with the roll call.”

I heard a few gasps around me. This professor was infamous for his high fail rates, and without participation points, Julia was in serious trouble.

But what did it matter now? I shrugged and went back to my work.

She’d made her choice and now had to live with it.

When I returned to the dorm, I found Julia still packing her bags.

She practically ran over as soon as she saw me, all excited.

“Keira, the counselor approved my leave of absence! I’m finally going to start my life with Howard!”

Her eyes were practically glowing with excitement.

She grabbed my hand, pulling me further into the room as she animatedly laid out her plans for the future.

“Howard says he’s taking me back to his hometown. We’ll rent a big house. He’ll work hard during the day, and at night, he’ll be home with me and the baby.”

“He promised it’s just a break from school. Once the baby’s born, I’ll come back and finish my degree. By the time I graduate, Howard will be 22, and we’ll get married.”

“By then, my parents won’t have a choice but to accept us. I’ll be a lawyer, he’ll have a good job, and we’ll save up to buy a big house. We’ll be happy together forever.”

I had my earbuds in, only half-listening to her go on, while my mind wandered.

Would they really be happy? I didn’t know. All I knew was that in the last life, less than a week after they broke up, Howard was already seeing someone new.

He even managed to clean out Julia’s savings before he left. It was only because we, her roommates, chipped in some money that she didn’t end up in one of those shady clinics for an abortion.

When I first heard about Howard’s new girlfriend, I shared the gossip with her. She didn’t say a word, just quietly pulled out her bar exam prep videos.

She became withdrawn after that, throwing herself into her studies. I thought she was just focusing on her future, but now I realize that’s when she started to resent me.

She studied law and passed the certificate, all so she could better game the system.

Julia knew that mentally ill offenders couldn’t be held fully accountable, so she greased the right palms early on, faking psych records for those thugs and messing with the alley’s security cameras.

To sell the whole act, she even had the goons rough her up, making sure she looked like an innocent bystander who just happened to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Julia was always sharp but just blinded by her obsession with Howard. She couldn’t wrap her head around why I’d try to “ruin” her life.

So she carefully laid out this trap, hell-bent on making me, the one who “wrecked” her happiness, pay the price.

But this time, I’m not stepping into her snare. So, I wonder, what kind of fallout is Julia in for when she finally has to face the consequences?