He Killed Me Then Loved Me Chapter 01
Charles Spence, whose family paid for my education since I was dirt-poor, hated my guts.
He made me run errands for him, smashed my water bottle, and got the other kids to ice me out.
I faced it with indifference, refusing to stoop to their level.
Yet, Charles’s malice seemed insatiable.
On the day of the SAT, trying to scare me, he drove straight at me in a speeding sports car.
The brakes failed. I died on the spot.
He held my cold body in his arms, completely falling apart, weeping in pure agony.
Only then did I know he had feelings for me.
When I opened my eyes, I was back on the day Charles first started picking on me.
***
A few seconds after I got out of the same car as Charles, we were surrounded.
Everyone wondered who I was. Some guessed I was Charles’s housekeeper, and some said I was his new girlfriend.
But whatever I was to him, it couldn’t change the fact that I didn’t belong in their world. The disdainful looks were simply unavoidable.
I followed Charles, trying my best to ignore their stares.
Just as we reached the classroom door, a pretty, saucy girl suddenly blocked our path.
She grabbed Charles’s right hand and swung it playfully. “Chuck, who’s she?” she asked straight out.
She glanced at me and quickly looked away, like I was contagious. The gesture was calculated to humiliate.
Charles didn’t seem offended at all. He even gave her a faint smile. Then he turned his head to look at me. His gaze sharpened as his brows tipped up slightly.
“Catalina,” he spoke with hidden meaning, “answer her question.”
I lowered my gaze, my fingers moving slightly.
Just as I was about to say I was a scholarship student sponsored by Charles’s parents, I paused. Memories from my previous life came flooding back.
In my previous life, this was where my nightmares began. Not wanting to have much to do with Charles, I’d said who I was truthfully, trying my best to distance myself from him.
But right after that, his face turned thunderous. He glanced at me in disgust, his voice icy with displeasure. “Then remember your place. You broke-ass charity case.”
With that, he strode away, leaving me there alone to be ridiculed and mocked.
“So she’s just some scholarship kid? I thought she was actually somebody.”
“You’re giving her too much credit. She’s practically the Spence family’s pet.”
“See that look on Charles’s face? She’s totally screwed now, crossing the golden boy.”
“Stupid girl. I’d have just said I was the maid or something.”
That day, everyone decided Charles hated my guts because I’d embarrassed him. So naturally, I became an easy target, bullied however they wanted.
And it didn’t stop there. Charles cut off the money his parents had set aside for me. That gave him leverage. From then on, I needed his permission for everything.
He made me humiliate myself in every way he could think of, until I was completely isolated. Because of all that, I always thought he hated me. He hated that I, some nobody, had anything to do with him.
It was only when he ran me over that I knew he’d been into me for three years.
Because I kept my distance and introduced myself as “a scholarship student sponsored by his parents,” he decided I was ungrateful.
While having feelings for me, he bullied me for three entire years. How ridiculous.
I snapped back to reality to find Vanessa looking down at me, her face full of scorn. Chin tilted up, she said, “Hey, Chuck’s talking to you. Are you deaf?”
With that, she raised her foot to kick me. I feigned terror and quickly hid behind Charles. Then I gently tugged at his black shirt.
Since neither answer would please him, I might as well let him do the answering.
His body went stiff, and he didn’t move. He let me use him as a shield.
It only made Vanessa even angrier. She stormed forward, wanting to yank me away, but Charles didn’t budge.
“Charles, you gonna protect this cheap bitch now?” She pulled her hand back, her face twisted with fury.
Charles remained expressionless. He looked away and said flatly, “My dad asked me to take care of her.”
The moment Charles said that, everyone was shocked.
Vanessa, my chief tormentor in my previous life, froze on the spot.
Someone whispered, “Don’t tell me this broke-ass nobody is Charles’s relative.”
“Has to be. Why else would he stick up for her?”
Someone clicked his tongue. “And here I thought we could have some fun with her.”
Their grating voices reached my ears. But one look from Charles, and they shut up instantly.
I knew it then. Everything would be different this time.