Chapter 4

My parents were in complete disbelief when I came home.

Looking at their warm, worried faces, the trauma of my previous life broke through, and I burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably.

My father, who had been furious with me for obsessing over Julian, instantly panicked at the sight of my tears.

"Chloe... sweetheart... if you really love that boy, Dad won't stop you anymore!"

My mother choked back tears of her own, terrified that someone had hurt me, threatening to drag our family lawyers and bodyguards out to settle the score.

"No," I choked out, wiping my eyes. "It's over. All of it. I was blind and foolish before. Julian was just using me as a meal ticket, and I threw temper tantrums at you two because of him. I put you through so much pain."

My father visibly exhaled. He didn't know what had brought about this sudden change of heart, but he was overjoyed that I had finally come to my senses.

I dried my tears and sat down at the dining table under their loving gazes.

The table was filled with all my favorite dishes. Mom gently placed a tender glazed rib into my bowl. "Eat up, sweetheart... You've gotten so thin lately."

In the past, to protect Julian's fragile male ego, I had deliberately worn cheap clothes, squeezed onto public buses, and forbidden my family's chauffeurs from picking me up.

Now, looking in the mirror at my designer outfit and flawless makeup, I found my past self utterly ridiculous.

I was born to stand at the top of the world. Why on earth did I drag myself through the mud for a piece of trash?

The next morning, I instructed our chauffeur to park the Maybach right in front of the main campus gates.

The moment the heavy door swung open, gasps echoed through the courtyard.

"Chloe Vance arrived in a Maybach?"

"Didn't she always take the bus to keep Julian from feeling inferior?"

I held my head high and strutted past the crowd, only to be cut off at the corner of the academic building.

It was Julian.

His collar was stained with grease, dark circles shadowed his bloodshot eyes, and in his fist was a crumpled piece of paper.

I glanced at it. An overdue tuition notice from the bursar's office.

"Out of my way," I said coldly, stepping around him.

"Chloe Vance!"

He lunged forward and grabbed the strap of my designer bag so violently that I nearly stumbled. "Do you really think playing hard to get is going to bring me to my knees?"

I slapped his hand away and sneered, "Mr. Reed, you're blocking my path."

His chest heaved. He slammed the crumpled notice against the brick wall. "Stop acting so pure! In our last life, weren't you crying and begging me to take your money?"

"Wait... You remember, don't you? You're reborn too!"

He took a threatening step closer. "Even if you are, it doesn't change a thing. You'll always be the pathetic girl desperate for my scraps! Go to the bursar's office right now, cancel that damn donation, and pay my tuition! And Heather's, too!"

I almost laughed out loud from pure rage. "And why on earth would I do that?"

"Because you're the reason she can't pay hers!"

The veins on his neck bulged. "Heather's mom is in the hospital! She can't even afford lunch in the dining hall! You just threw hundreds of thousands at a stupid scholarship fund—covering her tuition is the least you can do!"

Students began gathering along the hallway, several pulling out their phones to record.

Julian straightened his posture, raising his voice for everyone to hear: "Chloe Vance, you claimed you loved me, yet you won't even do this simple thing?"

He deliberately tilted his chin, sporting the haughty arrogance I had once been so infatuated with.

"As long as you do it, I can consider taking you out on a date."