In my past life, Liam's first love died taking a knife for me. He hated me to the core, so he locked me up, beginning years of day-and-night torment. Until my twenty-second birthday, physically and mentally exhausted, I finally couldn't hold on anymore. I chose to slit my wrists and commit suicide. Right before I died, I saw Liam's bloodshot eyes. He warned me, "In your next life, don't fall for me, and don't come between me and Chloe." As he wished. When I woke up again, I was sitting in my senior year classroom. The noise of a basketball game drifted in from the field outside. Liam pushed the door open and casually threw his school jacket into my lap: "Hold this for me. Chloe is coming to watch the game later." For the first time, I didn't eagerly run up to him, full of joy. Liam didn't know yet. In this life, I would automatically stay far, far away from him. 1 The school jacket landed softly on my desk. I instinctively moved my wrists. There was no bone-deep pain. These wrists... in my past life, Liam had tied them to the headboard with a tie for seven whole days. Just because on the anniversary of Chloe's death, I still refused to admit I was wrong. What mistake was I supposed to admit? Chloe was my older sister, the true biological daughter of the family. As soon as she was found and brought home, she gained the love of everyone in the family. I admit, I was jealous of her once. And for a very long time, I resented her. I resented that the moment she appeared, she stole my mom and dad. Stole my "Brother Liam." But she was so thin and small. When she was first brought back, her face was pale. She would only gently call me, "Mia." My heart suddenly softened. I thought, maybe having an older sister... wouldn't be so bad. Mom and Dad told me that my sister was in poor health. I needed to yield to her in everything. So, she wanted my room. I yielded. She wanted my dolls, I yielded. She liked the pretty dresses I picked out, I yielded them all. But when I entered middle school, I realized my sister also liked Liam. This time, I refused to yield. That was my favorite Brother Liam; we grew up together. I couldn't yield. But I never expected that the only time I ever fought Chloe for something... Just that once. The cost would be a human life. And four years of absolute darkness for me. ... Chloe taking the knife for me happened very suddenly. She fell into a pool of blood. Her last words were: "Mia... I'm giving Liam back to you. Don't blame me anymore, okay?" At that moment, Liam rushed over and saw this exact scene. Chloe took a knife for me. She hemorrhaged heavily. And because she had a blood clotting disorder, before the ambulance even arrived, She died on the spot. And her ambiguous last words made Liam hate me with a venomous passion. That day, my Brother Liam asked me with a chillingly calm face: "Mia, why wasn't it you who died?" Only this time did I learn. It turned out that afternoon, Chloe had arranged to confess her feelings to Liam. But unfortunately, she ran into a gang of thugs having a turf war. In the chaos, she pushed me away. 2 It was strange. Everyone was very strange. After learning that Chloe died taking a knife for me, I became the target of everyone's condemnation. The home I had lived in for over a decade was completely destroyed. Dad aged overnight, his hair turning white. He told me, "You shouldn't even be alive." Mom beat me, kicking and punching, screaming in a breakdown: "You are a jinx! You killed my Chloe! Give me my Chloe back!" They stopped letting me go to school. They locked me in the ancestral shrine all day, every day. But... Why not blame the murderer? Why blame me? Wasn't I a victim too? Is the one who survives automatically the one in the wrong? I didn't know. I only knew that, just as they said... I owed Chloe for the rest of my life. I owed her a life. ... I stayed in the dark, sunless ancestral shrine for a long time. Until my eighteenth birthday. Liam convinced my parents. And finally, they let me out. Seeing the sunlight after so long, my legs gave out. I could barely stand. Liam, without saying a word, carried me on his back. Step by step, we walked to Columbia University. Columbia was the university I wanted to apply to. It was also the one Chloe had wanted to attend. In the season when the bauhinia flowers were blooming, Liam's voice was very, very soft. "Mia, did you know? This was once Chloe's dream too. But she can never achieve it now." I didn't reply. I just silently cried on his back. That day was my eighteenth birthday. And it was the last time Liam ever showed me any tenderness. After that, I was unenrolled from school. Locked in the attic at home. Mom and Dad went abroad, completely washing their hands of me. Liam no longer had any scruples. At first, I still begged for mercy. "Please let me go, Brother Liam." But the attic was too dark. Not a sliver of sunlight. I was trapped inside, losing track of time. Losing track of the seasons. Gradually, I started losing my mind. On another anniversary of Chloe's death, when Liam ordered me to kneel... We erupted into a violent argument. "I won't kneel!" "I hate her! I hate her! I hate all of you!" "I never asked her to save me!" "Kill me then, Liam! Just kill me!" I was probably a bit crazy by then. Liam kicked me hard in the knee. He didn't like it when I was disobedient. As punishment for talking back, he dislocated my wrists again. Tying me to the headboard in a humiliating posture. Liam's tone was cruel. "Don't blame me, Mia. This is what you owe Chloe." "Don't feel wronged. At least you're still alive." Oh. So my being alive... Is a mistake. Then I didn't want to live anymore. On the night of my twenty-second birthday, I couldn't hold on anymore. Blood soaked the bedsheets. I chose to slit my wrists and commit suicide. Fulfilling their constant refrain: giving my life back to Chloe. 3 Liam's handsome brow furrowed. He waved his hand in front of my eyes. "Mia?" I snapped back to reality. The boy standing before me had clear eyes. Not the dark malice and hatred from my past life. But I jumped up instantly. Moving far, far away from him. "Um... I have something to do. I won't go watch the basketball game." "You guys go ahead." I was afraid of Liam. Truly afraid. Whenever I got near him, I trembled. The person opposite me was slightly taken aback. Seeming unaccustomed to me rejecting him for the first time. After all, in all our interactions, when had I not been the one eagerly chasing after him? He thought for a long time before speaking: "Mia, are you mad? Because I brought a gift for Chloe a couple of days ago, but didn't bring one for you?" Mad? I smiled bitterly. What right did I have to be mad? In my past life, although Liam never said he liked me, nor did he say he liked Chloe... He constantly hovered around Chloe. Yet I was blind and couldn't see it clearly. I even harbored delusional hopes. Fighting with Chloe. No wonder I died so miserably. The school bell rang right on cue. If I remembered correctly, this was a P.E. class. Classes 1 and 2 had a basketball game. Chloe was in the other class and was already standing at the door. Liam ultimately didn't say anything more. He gave me a look. Turned, and ran toward Chloe waiting at the classroom door. Watching their retreating figures, walking shoulder-to-shoulder. I let out a long breath of relief. However, the reborn me hadn't even had time to properly enjoy the sunshine. Right before school ended, my mom called me to the hospital. The reason was, Chloe was having an episode. She needed a blood transfusion. Just like in my past life, whenever she needed it. I was still her personal blood bank at all times. Actually, at the very beginning, Mom and Dad said Chloe had a rare disease. She needed frequent blood transfusions. And when my blood type happened to match... I was actually very glad. Because I had lots and lots of blood. I could save my sister. I knew very early on that Mom and Dad loved my sister more. After all, she was their biological daughter. That was understandable. I only thought, if I could just treat my sister a little better, and a little better... Mom and Dad would be happy. And when they were happy, they would love me again. But Chloe was too greedy. She always cried, always needed my blood. The increasingly frequent occurrences left me overwhelmed. Especially when Liam was around, it was even more obvious. Just like right now. I took a cab and rushed over. Before being pushed into the hospital room, Liam hurriedly shoved a gift box into my hands. 4 A long, suffocating silence. Chloe wasn't far from me. She also saw the gift box. With a pale face, she smiled at me. "Mia, Arthur really is very attentive to you." "You didn't come to the basketball game this afternoon. He stopped halfway through, said he had something to do, and just walked away." "I only found out later that he went to buy a gift for you." "He was afraid you were upset." I raised an eyebrow. So this was the reason Chloe was having another "episode" today. Thinking back to my past life, it was the same. Every time Liam treated me even slightly well... Chloe would inevitably feel unwell and get hospitalized. I took a rough look at the gift box. A very expensive, co-branded watch. A limited edition, debuting in New York. No wonder Liam thought I was mad. This was something I had wanted for a long time. I asked Liam to help me snag one. But then Chloe wanted it too. Seeing her poor health, Liam gave it to her instead. I shook my head. Laughing at my own stupidity. Everything reminded me that Liam already had someone he favored this early on. Why was I so stubbornly blind? Drawing blood made me dizzy. Probably seeing that my face truly looked bad, Chloe instantly put on a look of extreme guilt. "I'm sorry, Mia. It's all because your sister is too useless." "I always need you to donate blood." "If it weren't for me, you definitely would be..." Before she could finish. Right in front of her, without hesitation, I threw the gift box into the trash can. I curled my lips. "It's just the two of us here. There's really no need for you to put on an act." Chloe froze for a moment. As if she didn't expect me to be so blunt. I was truly tired and didn't want to play pretend. I pulled out the IV needle and approached her step by step. Looking down at her from above. "You weren't having an episode this afternoon at all." "You were just in a bad mood because you saw Liam give me something." "You wanted to torture me." "This trick never fails, does it?"
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