The day before the college entrance exam, Blake agreed to go out and celebrate his coming-of-age with a girl he had only recently met at a bar—a rebellious little delinquent.

For someone who claimed to value the exam above everything else, Blake's agreement was shocking.

That afternoon, in the restroom, I accidentally overheard that delinquent girl whispering to her friends.

"Tonight, I'm going to make sure Blake keeps me company. Tomorrow, he won't be going to the exam at all!"

In my previous life, when Blake told me about their plans, I had desperately tried to stop him.

But all I got in return was his cold, mocking voice. "Melissa, Annika planned this for my eighteenth birthday. Just because you're too timid to celebrate with me doesn't mean you get to stop me from pursuing happiness."

For his future, I endured the humiliation and secretly told his parents what I had overheard.

That night, they locked him inside the house.

The next morning, they personally dragged him to the exam hall.

Blake ended up getting into Yale University just as he wished.

But Annika, enraged that her plan had failed, got drunk. She was assaulted that same night.

Unable to bear the trauma, she jumped from the 33rd floor and died instantly.

When Blake heard the news, he completely snapped.

He invited me to his house, acted unusually gentle, and intentionally left evidence behind.

After I left, he called the police and accused me of having improper intentions.

My future was ruined. My parents, driven to despair after being doxxed and attacked online, committed suicide by turning on the gas at home.

Blake stood at our doorway, filming their final moments as they struggled for breath. He even brought the video to the prison to show me.

"Melissa, I want your entire family buried with Annika!"

Traumatized beyond repair, my congenital heart disease acted up. I died in prison, collapsing on the cold floor.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day before the college entrance exam.

Blake was next to me, rambling excitedly about the celebration that night.

I looked at him and smiled.

This time, he could do whatever he wanted.

——

"Melissa, what's with your attitude?! Do you have to freak out every time another girl talks to me?!"

That familiar voice jolted me back.

I lowered my head—my wrists were free of shackles.

In front of me, Blake pointed and scolded just as he used to.

I had really been reborn.

In my previous life, this was the day I stopped Blake from going out with Annika.

He got into Yale, yes—but Annika died after being assaulted while drunk.

After receiving the news, Blake pretended to reconcile with me, lured me to his house, removed his clothes, and filmed everything.

Then he uploaded the video online and called the police, framing me for sexual assault.

I was imprisoned.

My parents, hounded mercilessly online, turned on the gas and took their own lives.

When they died, Blake was right outside the door. He filmed their suffering with cold eyes and left with a smile.

The next day, he visited me in prison.

He played the entire video in front of me and screamed hoarsely, "Melissa! If you hadn't stopped me, Annika wouldn't have died! My grades were always excellent—I would've gotten into Yale even if I'd gone out that night! You selfish witch! Annika died because of you! Your whole family deserves to be buried with her!"

He knew I had congenital heart disease. He knew exactly what that video would do to me.

As the pain seized my heart, the last thing I saw was the smile lingering at the corner of his lips.

The memory sent a freezing chill through me.

My face grew pale.

Just then, a mocking voice chimed beside us.

"Oh, come on, Blake, you have to understand her. Melissa's just a top student—she's too scared to go out and party. It's normal for her to feel a little jealous that Annika gets to go with you..."

Blake's friend's voice dragged me back to reality.

Blake looked at me and smirked with undisguised contempt. Then he patted his buddy on the shoulder, his tone full of pride.

"Annika said she has prepared a huge surprise for my coming-of-age tonight. I'm really looking forward to it. Celebrating my eighteenth birthday with such a beautiful girl—I'm sure I'll perform even better on the exam tomorrow..."

I sneered inwardly.

This morning, I overheard Annika in the restroom talking to her friends:

"Tonight, I'm spending the whole night with Blake. None of you better disturb us!"

"He has the college entrance exam tomorrow. Don't play too crazy."

"Exam? Why would my man need to take an exam? If he becomes a college student, what use would he have for me anymore?"

It was because I heard that conversation that I had desperately tried to stop Blake.

This wasn't a celebration. This was clearly a plan to ruin him. But Blake was too foolish to see it.

Thinking of this, I lifted my head, met his smug expression, and smiled.

"Go ahead, Blake. With someone as beautiful as Annika keeping you company tonight, I'm sure you'll 'perform exceptionally well' tomorrow."

He froze for a moment, surprised by my answer, but quickly grinned again, too excited about his upcoming date to question it.

I thought about the exam tomorrow and bent down to pick up my bag, ready to leave. But just as I stood up, Blake's friend shoved me back into the chair.

Blake's eyes turned cold as he swiftly snatched my phone and exam admission slip from my hands.

"Trying to leave? You're obviously going home to report me to my parents! These stay with me. I'll 'keep them safe' and give them back at the exam hall tomorrow. If you dare tell my parents, you can forget about taking the exam."

I stared at him helplessly.

"Blake, you know how important this exam is to me. I promise I won't say anything to your parents. But please... don't play with my future."

Whether he could take the exam tomorrow was one thing—but I absolutely could not leave my admission slip with him.

Seeing that he had no intention of returning it, I lunged forward, grabbing hold of the admission slip still in his hand.

My voice turned colder than it had ever been. "Blake. Give it back."

His friends burst out laughing. "Ooh, look, the top student is mad! Blake, you guessed right—she's totally going to run home and tattle on you. You can't give it back!"

Blake's grip—which had wavered for just a moment—tightened again under their jeers.

Panic boiled inside me. My voice trembled with desperation. "Blake, don't do this. You know how important this exam is to me..."

Seeing the tears collecting in my eyes, his grip loosened a little.

The admission slip was just about to return to my fingers when—

"Blake! Think of your date with Annika! Don't let her surprise get ruined!"

His friends' voices crashed over us.

Blake's expression changed instantly. He yanked his arm back with sudden force.

"—Riiiiip!"

My admission slip tore cleanly in half.

The boys who had been hyping him up moments before all paled.

The tears I had been holding back finally spilled over, falling onto the floor with a soft patter.

A suffocating wave of despair swallowed me whole.

Reborn into a new life—and yet, in the end, I still lost my future.

Blake's face shifted from pale to flushed, over and over.

After a long moment, he suddenly flung the torn admission slip back at me.

"Melissa, you're the one who tried to stop me from going out with Annika! That's why I got so worked up! This is your own fault!"

With that, he grabbed his friend and bolted out of the classroom as if escaping a fire.

The moment the door shut, I heard laughter erupt in the hallway.

"Blake, that top-student Melissa is totally your lapdog. You tore her admission slip and she didn't even dare complain!"

"Yeah, she's such a timid little thing. Not at all like Annika—so bold and carefree..."

Their words stabbed into my heart like needles.

My tolerance, my kindness, he actually mistook it for cowardice.

Blake and I had worked side by side since middle school, pushing each other to grow.

Getting into Yale together was the future we once promised each other. But ever since he met Annika outside of school... everything changed.

Today's Blake clearly no longer wanted any shared future with me.

Thinking of this, I tossed the torn admission slip into the trash bin and knocked on the homeroom teacher's office door.

"Teacher, about the guaranteed admission to Stanford... I've made up my mind. Stanford suits me better than Yale."

My teacher beamed. "Good. You should never have given it up. The physics lab at Stanford will let you shine."

When I got home, my parents were relieved to hear I didn't need to take the exam after all.

They had always worried when I insisted on giving up the secure Stanford recommendation for Blake's sake. Now, at least, things turned out the way they had hoped.

We had barely finished dinner when a frantic knocking sounded at the door.

When we opened it, standing there were Blake's parents—both pale with worry.

"Melissa, do you know where Blake went? He only sent us one message, then stopped answering our calls. The exam is tomorrow! Where could that child have gone?"

My mom turned to me too. "Melissa, you two are usually together..."

"Auntie, I don't know." I cut my mother off and looked directly at Blake's mother as I answered.

"Melissa... then do you know where he normally goes?"

I forced a stiff smile. "Auntie, I really don't know."

With no clues, Blake's mother could only shake her head helplessly and leave.

The moment the door closed, my dad poked his head out of the room.

"Did you two have a fight? How could you not know where he'd go?"

I simply smiled and went back to my room.

Of course I wouldn't say a word.

Let him enjoy his wonderful night with Annika.

My mother was the head of the parents' committee, so early the next morning, she pulled my father and me along to the exam site to serve as volunteers.

We had barely arrived when I saw Blake's parents rushing around anxiously.

The moment they spotted me, they hurried over.

My homeroom teacher was right behind them, breathless.

"Melissa! Blake never returned home last night. Weren't you two together at school yesterday? Did he tell you where he was going?"

My teacher added urgently, "Melissa, you know how important this exam is to him. The test is about to begin and he's still nowhere to be found. Think carefully—where could he have gone?"

Looking at Blake's frantic parents made something soften inside me for a moment.

But the image of my own parents' horrific deaths from the previous life flashed violently in my mind—and my heart went completely cold.