When I got home, I started up my own food streaming account.
The competitive eating contest three months from now was when Selina rose to fame in my past life. I would crush her completely at the height of her success.
My brief appearance in her afternoon stream had boosted my popularity significantly. I struck while the iron was hot and went live that evening.
Viewers flooded into my stream. The metrics exceeded my expectations.
Unlike Selina's competitive eating angle, my appeal was high-end aesthetics and elegant dining, combined with refined plating.
Even a ten-dollar order of street food would look like a thousand-dollar fine dining experience when I ate it.
These were skills I had learned from years of collaborating with luxury brands and dining within high society. Table manners and refined taste were second nature to me now.
In just one night, I gained 30 thousand followers.
By the time I ended the stream, it was already midnight.
I had over a dozen missed calls from Selina on my phone. She must have realized I was encroaching on her territory and was furious.
I ignored them. The very next second, my front door opened and my boyfriend Derek Hayes walked in.
He looked exhausted. The moment he saw me, he demanded, "What are you thinking, starting a food channel? Eating that much will make you gain weight. Do you even want to keep modeling?"
I shook my head. "I quit."
"What?!" Derek's voice cracked with panic. "Are you insane? You just walked away from a job that pays millions a year! Did you even think about me?"
I looked up at him. "Is that all you care about?"
He froze, then immediately put on a sincere expression.
"Of course not! I'm thinking about our future. If you earn more money now, you can retire earlier and we can get married and start a family sooner!
"Babe, I'm not some scumbag. I'm working hard for our future too!"
His eight-thousand-dollar-a-month version of working hard made me want to roll my eyes so far back I could slap myself.
How had I been blind enough to fall for someone like him?
I pulled out the medical report I had prepared in advance. "I've done too many runway shows over the years. My knees are damaged. I can't keep modeling.
"Social media is booming right now, and I want to get a piece of the pie while I'm still young.
"Look at how successful Selina is. I want to try it too. If I do this right, it could be just as good as modeling!"
Derek stared at the medical report for several minutes. Then his eyes reddened and he pulled me into his arms.
"I'm so sorry, babe. This is all because I'm useless. You've had to work so hard.
"I'll support you no matter what you do! Look what I brought you!"
I looked closely. In his palm lay a red cord with a black bead strung on it.
"This is black obsidian. It's for protection."
He slipped the bracelet onto my wrist, staring into my eyes as he spoke slowly and deliberately. "You have to wear this at all times. Don't take it off for even a second."
I was about to respond when I suddenly felt my abdomen swell. It was as if something beneath my skin was expanding.
My heart tightened. Here it was.
In my past life, I constantly felt this swelling sensation under my skin.
At first, I thought I had some kind of growth, but every hospital test came back showing nothing except increasingly thick layers of fat.
Later, I learned that Selina had bound the fat transfer system to me. This swelling sensation was the feeling of fat expanding in my body whenever she consumed food.
I never knew how she had bound the system to me. Now, I finally understood.
In my past life, Derek had given me this same bead. Even when I ballooned to 200 pounds and the red cord cut into my flesh, he would not let me remove it.
This bead was the carrier for Selina's system.
I smiled at Derek. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of anything you give me."
As he leaned down to kiss me, his phone rang.
After taking the call, he said hurriedly, "Something came up at work. I have to go. Babe, I'll come see you tomorrow."
Then he strode out quickly. The air still carried traces of his cologne, the scent Selina loved most.
So they had been involved with each other this early on. Derek was one of the people who killed me.
That night, I contacted a friend who ran a jewelry business and brought the bead to her house.
The next day, that cursed bead was hidden inside Derek's leather wrap bracelet that he had left at my friend's shop for repair.
My wrist now wore an identical fake.
Watching Derek happily retrieve his bracelet, I could not help but smile slightly.
Derek, in this lifetime, you would be the one to gain weight and die.
