Kill Him Nine Times Chapter 22
This time, when the world split apart, it was all red.
When the red finally faded, I came back to myself.
I was at a very formal dinner party.
A middle-aged man was speaking.
“I’m very happy you could all join us tonight for my son’s graduation party.”
This was the seventh loop.
Time had rolled back to the year Matteo and I graduated high school.
Even though my grades were much better than his, the system still made me apply to the same college as him.
Tuition was expensive.
That summer, I’d worked nonstop, all while trying to please Matteo just to scrape together the first payment.
Matteo’s father sat at the head of the long table, his tone cold.
“These days, some girls latch onto rich boys the moment they meet them. They’ll even find a way to crash a graduation party.”
It wasn’t that I wanted to come.
Matteo had insisted.
He said the party wouldn’t be as interesting without me.
The system had forced me to come, too.
If I didn’t, it shocked me.
So there I stood at a party full of wealthy people, the joke on everyone’s lips.
After a round of mockery, the smile on Matteo’s face only grew wider.
“Don’t worry, she won’t let go no matter what.”
“She can’t go back to her old life, so all she can do is stay here and orbit me. Ha.”
His father looked at him.
“Matteo, stop associating with girls from families like this. Your friend’s daughter would make a fine match. You should put some thought into that.”
The words had barely left his mouth when Matteo suddenly fell out of his chair and started writhing on the floor.
He screamed, “Fire… it’s all fire… it burns… help me…”
The room erupted.
Several people rushed over to pin him down.
It took a long while before Matteo came back to himself, pulled from the memory of being burned alive.
But he was still shaking uncontrollably.
He could barely form a complete sentence.
And when he saw me, there was nothing left in his eyes but pure fear.
None of the furious resistance from the earlier loops remained.
I rose from my seat and looked at him.
“Matteo, can I be your girlfriend?”