My best friend, Laurel Elliot, has gotten brainwashed by the infantile mindset.

She ends up buying ten boxes of strawberries just so she can eat the strawberry mousse glacee during the Midsummer Festival.

Instead, I just whip up some chocolate ganache.

In my previous lifetime, Laurel had threatened the strawberry seller, Dave Hoffman, over the phone to refund her the money. On top of that, she even used AI to generate images of spoiled strawberries.

I transferred Laurel the money immediately, saying that I'd pay for the strawberries.

But that was when Laurel widened her eyes.

"I've already used AI to generate spoiled fruits so that the shopping platform can deal with this incident. Since you're that rich, you might as well spend all that money on a smol bean like me!"

After advising Laurel multiple times to not do that, she finally conceded.

But Dave showed up on my doorstep with a blade in hand the next day. Only then did I find out that not only did Laurel not pay for the strawberries, but she also drove the seller up the wall with her actions.

To my horror, Laurel was quick to pin the blame on me.

"Dave, Cassie is the one who refused to listen to me and kept making things difficult for you on purpose. I couldn't stop her at all…"

Before I could react, Laurel pushed me out immediately.

When I open my eyes, I've returned to the day Laurel is about to cause trouble.

Upon noticing that I've already made chocolate ganache out of the ingredients meant for the strawberry mousse glacee, Laurel drops the pot into the trash can.

"Oopsies! I can't hold the pot at all! It slipped out of my cute widdle hands!"

I stared hard at my best friend, Laurel Elliot.

"Since all the whipping cream is gone and I've sent you money for all the strawberries, I'm leaving," I said.

After all, survival was my absolute priority in this life. It came before anything else.

But just as I reached the door, Laurel stepped forward to block my exit.

"You used up all the whipping cream, and now you think you can just walk away? What about my strawberry mousse glacee?"

My expression turned cold.

I was immediately reminded of how she had shoved me into the path of a seller's lunging knife in my past life. Now here she was, making my stomach turn by acting all cute and innocent, just like a baby.

I swallowed my burning rage while she puffed out her cheeks and continued her relentless tirade.

"I bought ten whole cartons of organic strawberries just so we could make strawberry mousse glacee today! You turned all my whipping cream into chocolate ganache, and now you're the one throwing a tantrum at me!"

Seeing that she wasn't going to let me leave, I confronted her. "What about you?

"First, you used AI to generate photos of rotten fruit and treated everyone like idiots. Then, you threw the chocolate ganache I made straight into the trash can."

Laurel unbotheredly wrapped her arms around mine. "Cassie, I know you mean well. You're just scared the seller is going to cause me trouble, aren't you?"

I evaded her hand, so it was left hanging in midair. Her expression stiffened briefly.

"But a whole carton of strawberries costs over 40 dollars a basket out there. The seller wanted to charge me that much at first!

"I just chatted with him for a bit, and he agreed to sell it to me for just 20 dollars."

She paused, then continued, "Since he could drop the price by that much, it just proves he was ripping people off in the first place! This smol bean was just trying to protect her own rights."

I pointed at the heap of strawberries. "You were the one who kept pushing for a discount until he finally gave in.

"Then, after buying them, you filed for a refund, claiming he was manipulating the market. Do you have any idea how much the shipping costs are for just ten cartons of strawberries?"

Laurel's eyes widened. "How could you say that about a cutie patootie like me, Cassie? I was just making sure he faces a little consequence."

Her voice pitched high, before she quickly dropped it back into a soft whine.

"You don't understand how so many sellers take advantage of people these days. If this bean weren't smart, she'd get scammed too."

She pulled out her phone and shoved it in my face.

On the screen, a video showed a carton of strawberries bursting open for no apparent reason. Their inner flesh was pitch-black with a sticky, slimy liquid oozing out, and they looked completely rotten.

I was so speechless that I almost laughed, but I managed to hold it in and keep a straight face.

"Doesn't it look realistic? The platform's customer service will definitely approve the refund request the second they see this," Laurel added.

"As for the chocolate ganache, you were the one who used my whipping cream without permission first. I didn't even hold a grudge against you for that."

I shoved Laurel away. "Since the ingredients are gone, let's make the strawberry mousse glacee another day. Midsummer Festival is still a few days away anyway."

She looked momentarily stunned before saying, "But you used to do whatever I asked you to."

"So?" I calmly refuted.

Laurel stepped closer, grinning. "So, you're a certified five-star pastry chef, and this smol bean just really wants to eat the strawberry mousse glacee you make."

Laurel pointed at the trash can and added, "Even if you ruined the whipping cream, you can still make a strawberry cake.

"It doesn't matter if we don't have cake molds; you can figure something out, right? Didn't you always use to say that a truly great pastry chef doesn't blame their tools?

"Anyway, I'm not letting you leave if you don't bake something today."

Her words sent an icy chill down my spine.

Something was deeply wrong with Laurel.

I could even feel a cold sweat breaking out across my palms as she locked her dark, intense stare on me, as if making sure I wouldn't bolt for the door the next second.

It was uncanny, almost as if she knew something terrible was bound to happen today.

After all, given her usual temperament, she would have long pouted and thrown a massive tantrum if I refused to cater to her whim in the slightest.

But today, she wasn't just patient, but she also refused to let me leave. She wasn't throwing a spoiled, playful fit.

In fact, she was just trying to keep me trapped here.

Everything in my past life had happened too fast.

The moment I finished making Laurel's mousse glacee, I barely had time to catch my breath before I was brutally murdered. That was why I had overlooked so many details.

When Laurel saw that I remained silent, she assumed I had given in, and the corners of her lips curved slightly.

"That's more like it," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice and reached out to pull my arm. "Cassie, stop being mad at me, okay? I know you have a soft heart, and there's no way you'd actually abandon a cutiepie like me for real."

But when I avoided her and left her hand hanging in midair, a flicker of displeasure crossed her face.

"Now that's enough. Go to the kitchen and bake the cake already. I'm absolutely craving your baking."

She half-dragged and half-shoved me into the kitchen before rummaging through the cabinets for baking supplies and turning around to walk out. As I stared at her from behind, I couldn't help but find her increasingly unnerving.

Even if Laurel had brainwashed herself into this infantile mindset where she couldn't understand the gravity of her actions, it made no sense for her to drag me all the way back from abroad just to make her a dessert.

This felt more like a trap orchestrated for me instead. But why would she do that?

Laurel and I had known each other for at least ten years. My parents treated her like their own daughter, and in all these years, I had never once mistreated her.

When Laurel noticed the silence in the kitchen, she immediately marched back in and locked her eerie gaze on me.

"Why haven't you started yet, Cassie? Are you missing some ingredients?"

Suppressing my panic, I calmly shook my head and replied, "No. Everything's here."

She let out a sigh of relief, and a bright smile lit up her face again. "That's great! I was worried for a second."

As she spoke, she excitedly leaped forward to show off the ingredients. "See? I had everything prepared pretty well, right?"

My expression remained calm as I replied, "Yeah. You were very thorough and got everything you needed."

A smug smile appeared on her face, but I turned around and stared into her eyes, smiling, though it never reached my eyes.

"In fact, you're so thorough it looks like it was planned out in advance."

Laurel's body visibly stiffened before she burst out laughing again. "Why are you being so weird today, Cassie? Ten cartons of strawberries are a lot. We'd get sick of them if we only made mousse glacee, so I bought ingredients for cake, too.

"Besides, you're a world-famous pastry chef. You flew all the way back just for me, so of course I would want you to make a little extra. It'd be fun showing off to my friends."

I smiled and continued whisking the eggs as I asked, "Laurel, have my family ever treated you badly over the years?"

No matter why Laurel was going to such lengths to get me killed, remembering everything we had been through together should be enough to make her call off her malicious thoughts—if she had a single shred of conscience left.

But Laurel didn't even blink. She unbotheredly leaned her head against my shoulder and softly whined, "Of course not.

"Cassie, you and your parents treat me incredibly well, and that's why you're my favorite people. So don't let this little thing come between us, okay?"

My gaze darkened. The milk carton I had just been holding slipped from my hands and splashed into the egg wash.

I quickly fished the carton out.

To my surprise, Laurel completely flipped her lid over the minor slip-up. She raised her hand and slapped me hard across the face, with her eyes bulging wide.

"Why are you adding so much milk?"

As I clutched my burning cheek, my mind went blank for a second before I shot back, "How am I supposed to make a cake without adding milk?"

She seemed to choke on my response before bursting into tears.

"Did you seriously forget? This smol bean breaks out in a severe allergy if she has more than 4.5 fluid ounces of milk! How could you add so much for her?"

I stared dead at her pathetic, aggrieved act without feeling a single shred of emotion. "Do you really think I'd forget?"

When Laurel met my scrutinizing gaze, her eyes darted over to the kitchen counter, where the milk carton sat on top with its sealed spout completely intact.

Only then did she realize she had overreacted and violently slapped me. She immediately grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand over to tap her chest lightly a couple of times, her tears flowing right on cue.

She sniveled, and her voice was thick with a heavy nasal whine. "Cassie, please don't be mad at me.

"I just couldn't control my emotions for a second. I thought you met new friends after moving abroad and forgot about those details, which is why I panicked."

I looked down at her hand gripping my wrist and found it utterly laughable.

When I stayed silent, she sniffled, her eyes darting over to the milk in the cup every few seconds as if to confirm just how much milk I had poured.

Once she saw that it was exactly 4.5 fluid ounces, she added, "I'm going to stem the strawberries in the living room. Hurry up and stop dawdling."

I simply focused on baking the cake.

Moments later, she came in holding a small bowl of strawberry chunks, a smile playing on her lips. "Cassie, I have all the strawberries ready."

As she spoke, she looked over at the milk carton before picking it up to give it a shake and bringing it close to her nose to sniff it.

After confirming that I hadn't secretly added more milk, she shot me another suspicious look.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught everything she did. It seemed like she didn't just want to harm me, but she was on guard against me, too.

After the cake was baked, I suddenly asked her, "Did you pay for the strawberries already?"

She found and finally got a little annoyed. "Of course, I did. Would I ever lie to you?"

I didn't press further.

Laurel took a massive, satisfied bite of the cake before carrying the plate over to slump onto the couch. Every now and then, she would mumble a complaint at me.

"Cassie, if you'd made this for me from the start, none of this would've happened. I wouldn't have had to slap you, too. Now my hand still hurts."

I said nothing. All I did was eerily watch as she ate the whole cake, until her voice was so soft it was barely audible, and her eyelids began to droop uncontrollably.

"Cassie, why am I suddenly so sleepy?"

Deep down, my heart was terrifyingly calm. "We've been running around all day. You're probably exhausted."

She mumbled an agreement and collapsed onto the couch, her breathing instantly smoothing out.

I stared at her.

Of course, I hadn't forgotten that Laurel suffered from a milk allergy if she consumed more than 4.5 fluid ounces. Furthermore, her allergic reaction was falling into a comatose state.

So, while she was busy prepping the strawberries, I had secretly poured nine ounces of milk and topped the carton back up with water.

After all, she was the one who refused to let me go in this life. And now, I wasn't going to run away anyway.

I looked down and fished for her phone out of her hand.

Just like in my past life, Laurel hadn't intended to pay for the order at all. The username on the shopping app and the shipping recipient for the strawberries had been changed to my name at some point.

My expression turned cold.

It hit me that Laurel was using my name to make things tough for the strawberry seller, Dave Hoffman.

That explained why, in my past life, Dave had completely broken down and stabbed me the moment he heard Laurel call my name.