: Rebirth
2
I surveyed the lab. Everything in it was very familiar to me.
Four years of undergrad, two years of grad school—I spent most of my campus life in the lab.
I was my Professor's last and most treasured disciple, and I held his life's work in my hands.
In my past life, the research specimens were destroyed in an explosion, and my Professor's hair turned white overnight from the shock.
I lay in the hospital, looking at my severely burned body and listening to them discuss how I needed an amputation. I lost the will to live.
Devastated by the immense blow, my Professor staggered over to encourage me. "You have to get better. When you're out of the hospital, we'll continue our research. We can start everything over!"
I nodded, my eyes brimming with tears. "Professor, I'll definitely keep living."
Unfortunately, no sooner had I promised my Professor I would fight to live...
...than Raina Ashwood posted lies on the campus forum, claiming I had intentionally blown up the lab and destroyed the research specimens.
She claimed she hadn't wanted to expose me, but she couldn't bear to see everyone's future ruined by my selfishness.
The Seniors couldn't complete their theses without the research specimens, so they had to delay their graduation.
One of the more radical Seniors ran me over with his car and killed me on the day I was discharged from the hospital.
After I died, I became a vengeful spirit. I watched my fiancé act heartbroken in public, only to use my research to win Raina Ashwood's favor in private.
I watched my brother console my parents, who were heartbroken over my death, while he used his own body to "console" Raina Ashwood—who ranked dead last in her exams—in my own bedroom.
I was dead.
Dead men tell no tales, so they slandered me, cursed me, and took what was mine for themselves.
I never knew. I never knew that my fiancé's voice could be filled with such disgust when he mentioned my name.
And I never knew my brother believed my birth had stolen my parents' affection from him.
Fortunately, the wicked always get their comeuppance, and heaven let me be reborn.
Raina Ashwood and Ethan Stratton were still pressed against each other as if no one else was there, completely ignoring me watching from behind.
After all, they used to say, "This is just a normal distance for conversation."
'Yeah, right. They're already at the point of intimate contact, and they still call it normal.'
I took out my Phone and deliberately started recording their shameless flirting, then tucked my Professor's research into my pocket.
Ethan Stratton's phone rang. He pulled his arm away from Raina Ashwood's chest and said, "I'm stepping out to take a call."
Only Raina Ashwood and I were left in the lab.
Raina Ashwood walked toward me like a triumphant victor. "Juliana Valerius, what's the point of working so hard? Men don't like women who are too smart or too aggressive."
"Everything that's yours, I'm going to take it all."
I reached out and stroked Raina Ashwood's smooth, pale face. "Tsk, tsk," I said. "I wonder, do they like you for your face, your body, or your completely empty head?"
