Chapter 3
My current situation was crystal clear.
A bouquet, a confession, and a car accident.
Chloe looked at me with pure disgust in her eyes. She appeared so innocent and young.
This couldn’t be the Chloe I’d spent seven years with, the one who’d been steeped in the entertainment industry and learned to mask every emotion. This Chloe couldn’t hide a thing.
Only one possibility remained.
I had been reborn. And the woman in front of me was Chloe, seven years ago.
I immediately turned to walk away, desperate to put eight hundred miles between myself and that lunatic. But she suddenly called out to me.
“Alex Cooper, what are you doing?! Can’t you see Liam’s hurt? Aren’t you going to help?!”
I glanced over. He was indeed badly hurt.
Though Liam hadn’t been dragged under the car like in my previous life, he hadn’t managed to fully escape either.
His legs limply collapsed, like raw spaghetti, blood soaking through his pants.
Oh.
He’d probably be a cripple.
A perverse satisfaction swelled in my chest.
Help? Get my hands dirty? No way.
Out of a sense of humanitarian duty, I dialed 911.
“The ambulance will be here any minute. Before I go, there’s something I want to tell you.”
The girl looked at me, her expression growing even more haughty. She seemed afraid I’d grab her, unconsciously hugging Liam even tighter. “If it’s a confession, don’t bother. I—”
I chuckled, cutting her off. “Not a confession. Just a blessing.”
The ambulance sirens wailed in the distance. I met the girl’s stunned gaze and offered a smile. “Chloe Jenkins, I wish you and Liam Anderson all the happiness in the world.”
Hopefully, you’ll stay together forever.
Chloe’s face darkened.
Without waiting for her to speak, I turned and left.
I needed to go home and figure out exactly what point in time I was in, and what I could do about it.
Now, I was sitting back in a classroom.
It felt like another lifetime.
The droning lecture on trigonometry was a lullaby to most of my classmates, who were slumped asleep, but my eyes were wide awake and bright.
“Alex Cooper is doing great today, full of energy! Everyone should learn from him!”
The teacher praised me, a rare occurrence.
But there were no approving murmurs. Instead, I could hear two guys next to me, deliberately loud, sneering.
“Learn what? How to simp for a goddess? Or how to keep last place in the class?”
“Everyone knows what he’s like. He just has a bit of dirty money, that’s all. Why’s he acting so smug? Probably just waiting for Chloe to come back so he can fawn all over her again!”
I said nothing, just smiled.
They weren’t wrong.
I did have a bit of dirty money, and I’d consistently held the last place in class for years.
Those weren’t my weaknesses.
The stupidest thing I’d ever done in this class was fall for Chloe.
Now, she was tied up with the hospital, unable to return.
I glanced down at my phone.
The media swarmed her like blood-sucking locusts.
She would undoubtedly be tied up for a while.
I was enjoying my newfound freedom.
Unfortunately, I soon realized that those good days were coming to an end.
Just as class was in session, someone knocked on the classroom door. I looked up and met the gaze of the person standing at the front.
Her eyes still held that familiar haughty stare.
Ugh.
Chloe had managed to get away so quickly and was back in class.
Just my luck.
I thought she’d at least be a little wary of me.
But then, Chloe pointed across the room from the front of the class. “I want to sit next to Alex Cooper.”
My smile faltered. I froze in my tracks.
Chloe sat down next to me, but I still couldn’t understand her motive.
“Surprised to see me?”
She slid a note across to me.