He Killed Me Then Loved Me Chapter 08
At this point, I no longer wanted any pretense.
I said bluntly, “Charles, stop disgusting me.
“I’m begging you—don’t show up in my life again, okay?”
In an instant, his face drained of color. His lips trembled, but he could not force out a single word.
He stepped forward to take my hand, and I recoiled from him in disgust.
“Lina, can you give me one more chance?”
“I’ll treat you well. I’ll get rid of all my bad habits. I will never hurt you again.”
I rolled my eyes and said in a low voice, “So all the damage you did to me before can just be written off?”
“Charles, don’t forget—you took my life in the previous life.
“The fact that I’m not plotting to kill you is already mercy.”
Of course, if killing him came with no consequences, I would have done it.
Charles stumbled back a few steps, as if all his strength had been drained away. In the end, he said listlessly, “Fine.”
“Lina, if I give my life back to you, will you forgive me?”
I looked at him in silence and said nothing.
Charles left just like that.
After the one-day break ended, I threw myself back into intense studying. I aced all my practice exams.
As the SAT drew near, the homeroom teacher spoke with each student one by one. She told me that if I held steady at this level, getting into a top-tier university would not be a problem.
Because I had wasted more than a year on Charles, my original goal had been simply to get into a regular college. The outcome now was far better than I had imagined.
This year’s SAT went exceptionally smoothly. Nothing unexpected happened.
When I walked out of the test center, I saw Charles again, and my face immediately darkened.
He looked flustered and hurried to explain, “Lina, don’t be mad.”
“I’m here to see you one last time.”
Probably afraid I’d walk away, he spoke very fast. “The people who bullied you in the previous life have all been sent to prison, and Vanessa is tasting what it feels like to be bullied, too. I hope hearing this will make you feel a little better.”
After a brief pause, Charles continued, “I keep feeling like you do have feelings for me.”
“Lina, you let me drink from your cup. When you got bullied, you instinctively sought my help instead of going to Arnold anymore. Even when you got close to him, it was because you wanted to make me jealous, right? It’s just that I was such a bastard in my previous life that you don’t want to accept me.”
I shattered his illusion without mercy.
“You’re overthinking it.”
“I went along with you because I was afraid you’d lose your mind. I stopped turning to Arnold for help because I didn’t want to drag him in again. And as for trying to make you jealous—that part is true.”
At that, Charles’s eyes flared bright for a split second. But quickly, his face fell into a dead gray.
I went on, “But I only did it to drive you crazy sooner—so I could get something on you and shake you off. Charles, I understand you better than you understand yourself.”
“You can’t control your emotions. You’ll hurt everyone around you, indiscriminately.”
After he heard that, Charles covered his face with his hand, and a stifled whimper leaked uncontrollably from his mouth.
After the SAT ended, I rented a place in Denver for two months and used the break to take on a few part-time jobs.
Soon, it was time for the scores to come out.
I was not very nervous; the process of checking my score was calm. When I saw the 1500, I was not particularly surprised, either.
This year’s SAT questions were easy, so this score was not high. But just as my homeroom teacher had said, it was enough to get into a top-tier university.
A few days later, a torrential downpour started. Worse still, the rain came mixed with hail.
I had just finished my part-time shift at the flower shop and was rushing back to the rental. Because I did not have an umbrella, the hail slammed into me, stinging like fire.
Every place to take shelter nearby was packed with people, so I could only shield my head with my hands and run back the way I came, to avoid getting hurt even worse.
Not until a black long-handled umbrella opened above my head.
I looked up in shock—and there in front of me was the face I had been dreaming of day and night.