My name is Melanie Sutton. The moment I'm reborn, the first thing I do is scatter the "ashes" of my best friend, Helen Doyle.

In my last life, she got pregnant before marriage and was abandoned by both her boyfriend and her family. She struggled alone all the way through childbirth, only to suffer massive bleeding in the delivery room.

With her last breath, she begged me to adopt her son.

I agreed out of pity.

To raise the child, I fell behind in my studies and was forced to drop out of school.

With no choice, I took my adopted son, Aidan Sutton, with me to work, enduring endless humiliation and cold stares.

Finally, when he turned 18, a talent scout discovered him. One movie later, he became an overnight sensation and won Best Actor.

At the awards ceremony, Helen, whom I watched die 18 years ago, entered arm in arm with my ex-boyfriend, Joe Shepherd.

Stunned, I rushed forward to confront her. She only smiled at me.

"Congratulations, you passed the test."

I stood there in shock as Joe explained proudly, "Helen is the daughter of the richest man. Who knows if you got close to her for her money?

"Since you've raised our son well, you can be her ordinary friend. If you raise him until he gets married and has kids, then you can become Helen's best friend."

My mind exploded. As if I wanted to be her friend. That was 18 years of my life!

Overwhelmed by fury and hurt, I lunged at the two of them with bloodshot eyes.

But Aidan suddenly rushed down from the stage and shoved me hard. "Are you crazy? How dare you hurt my parents?"

Anger rushed to my head, and I passed out right then and there.

When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day Helen goes into labor.

"The patient's hemorrhaging. Get Dr. Cooper in here now!" a nurse shouted.

She then stepped up to me. "Are you the patient's family? We're short on Type B blood. Can you donate?"

I blinked in a daze. When I looked up, I saw the words "In Operation" overhead.

I instinctively clenched my sleeve, and my breathing turned sharp and fast. My best friend, Helen Doyle, was in surgery.

Had I been reborn?

Noticing no response from me, the nurse nudged me. "Hurry up. She's not going to hold on much longer."

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, then replied calmly, "No, I'm not her family. Find someone else."

The nurse stared in surprise for a second, then rushed back into the operating room.

I let out a sneer. In my last life, I had followed her without hesitation to donate blood.

Yet, the nurse didn't bother with so much as a basic check and directly took almost one pint of my blood. It was clearly premeditated.

After losing that much blood, I had nearly passed out. I was dizzy and weak, in no state to think clearly.

By the time someone helped me into the delivery ward, Helen begged me to raise her child. I had agreed without even realizing what I was doing.

While I was lost in thought, the operating room light suddenly went out. A doctor stepped out with a grave expression.

"We did everything we could. She's still conscious for now. You can go say goodbye."

I walked in slowly. Just like in my last life, Helen lay weak and pale on the hospital bed.

She looked at me with a hint of hurt in her eyes and said, "Melanie, why didn't you donate blood to me? If you had, maybe I could have made it."

The nurse chimed in from the side, "Exactly. She treated you like her best friend, and you wouldn't even give a little blood? That's a human life. Don't you feel guilty at all?"

Helen pretended to wipe the tears from the corner of her eye. "It's already come to this, so I won't blame you. My parents and boyfriend both abandoned me. There's nothing left for me to hold on to in this world anyway.

"But my newborn son is so small. I'm terrified for him. Melanie, you're the only one I can trust. Can you help me raise him?"

The nurse began to sniffle while casting an accusing look at me. "It's so tragic. She's dying because of you. You're not going to be heartless and abandon her baby, are you?"

Watching the two of them play their parts, I felt nothing but disgust.

In my last life, I was already weak from blood loss, yet Helen bribed the nurse to guilt-trip me.

At that time, I truly thought of Helen as my best friend. Seeing her on the verge of death, I agreed out of deep sorrow.

And what did I get in return?

My boyfriend, Joe Shepherd, suspected the child was mine from another man and dumped me without a second thought.

I couldn't afford to hire help, and juggling school with raising a child became impossible. In the end, I had to leave the top university in town, going from a top student to someone with only a high school diploma.

With no degree, I couldn't find a decent job and could only do manual labor.

When the child, Aidan Sutton—named after my surname—was eight, he came down with a high fever and was rushed to the ICU. The medical bills were more than I could handle. With no other choice, I took out online loans.

By the time Aidan recovered, I couldn't repay the debt. The creditors tracked me down and began threatening me.

Aidan cried in terror day after day. The neighbors grew tired of the constant noise and reported me to the landlord together.

I was thrown out of the apartment and wandered the streets with Aidan like a beggar.

Over those 18 years, I had worked as a restaurant waitress and even a janitor.

When I finally met a boss who cared about ability instead of education, my life slowly stabilized. I began to pay attention to the people around me and hoped to find someone to lean on.

The first time I brought Zac Bennett—a man I was seeing—back home, the neighbor lady went on a rant about me while I wasn't around.

"Young man, you've made a wrong choice. Don't you know she has a kid? With your conditions, marrying her would be a waste."

Zac hesitated. "But Melanie said the boy is her best friend's son."

The woman smacked her lips. "And you believed that? She must have fooled around when she was young and gotten pregnant out of wedlock. She's afraid no one would marry her, so she made up that story. I've seen plenty like her. Listen to me. You should find a more innocent lady."

He hesitated for a long time. In the end, he turned and left without even saying goodbye.

Hidden behind the door, I crouched down and sobbed into my hands.

For 18 years, I endured endless mockery and cold stares. I raised Aidan alone with everything I had.

And in the end, at his award ceremony, I was told it had all been a test.

I wasn't even that desperate to be Helen's friend. That was 18 whole years of my life!

My youth, future, and marriage were all destroyed. Yet in the end, they told me it was all fake.

Even the child I raised with my own hands chose to stand against me without hesitation at that moment.

Hatred surged in my chest, almost spilling out of me.

I took several deep breaths before I barely managed to steady myself. "I'm not obliged to raise your child. If you can't raise him, send him to an orphanage."

Helen suddenly sat up. There wasn't a hint of weakness in her voice as she pointed at me and yelled, "Are you even human? You kept calling me your best friend, yet you wouldn't donate blood for me or help raise my baby! What kind of friend does that?"

I glanced at her sideways. "You look pretty fine to me. Maybe the hospital messed up the diagnosis."

Realizing she'd just slipped up, she panicked for a moment before lying down on the bed with a pained expression, calling for the doctor.

Chaos erupted around us, and I was shoved out of the room.

A few minutes later, the nurse who had been working with Helen came out carrying Aidan.

She shoved him into my arms firmly. "The patient just experienced a brief moment of clarity before passing. The baby's birth certificate is already processed, and your name is listed as the mother. Don't even think about ditching him. We have the right to call the cops."

I nearly laughed out loud. What a blatant forced handover. I was the one who should be calling the police!

I pushed past her and stormed back into the operating room. I wanted to see just how far Helen's performance could go.

Only a few minutes had passed since I left the room, but she was already gone.

The nurse followed behind, shouting, "This is the OR! You can't just barge in! Get out of here!"

I stopped her from going on with her constant scolding. "Where is she?"

She rolled her eyes. "She's dead. She's been taken for cremation, of course."

No sooner had she finished speaking than an urn was brought in.

Just then, realization dawned upon me. I suddenly remembered that this was exactly what had happened in my last life.

I'd been pushed out of the operating room and soon told Helen was dead. Heartbroken, I cried while holding Aidan. Not long after, they brought me Helen's ashes.

However, the hospital had no right to cremate her without her family's consent. Besides, there was no way a cremation could happen that quickly.

Back then, I was in such bad shape I never questioned it.

But this time, no way I was going to accept this burden or be the fool again.

I grabbed the urn, popped it open, and dumped everything inside onto the floor.

Dark powder scattered everywhere. The nurse let out a piercing scream. "What do you think you're doing? That's her ashes!"

People nearby gasped and quickly backed away.

"What the hell? Why is she dumping ashes here? Is she crazy?"

"Hey, security! What are you waiting for? Get her out of here before she causes more trouble!"

"Did it get on me? If anything bad happens to me because of this, I'm suing!"

A chorus of angry shouts filled the air.

Just as things were about to get out of hand, the nurse jumped in. "You're disrespecting the deceased! Pick up those ashes with both hands right now! You need to get on your knees and grovel to calm the spirit's anger. Don't bring misfortune on innocent people nearby."

I sneered. "When did hospitals start believing in superstition? If I really dumped ashes, then yeah, I'd be wrong. But take a closer look. Are these even ashes?"

Everyone bent down to look at the powder on the floor, and a doubtful voice said, "That doesn't look like ashes. There aren't even any bone fragments."

After cremation, what was left should be crushed bones, not just a pile of sand.

I turned to the nurse. "You cremated my best friend without my consent. Now, you can't even account for her ashes. I think it's reasonable for me to suspect there was a mistake in surgery, and your hospital is just trying to cover it up."

The nurse immediately panicked and loudly denied it. "No! Our hospital is the most reputable one around."

However, the suspicion had taken root. It wasn't so easy to explain away.

Several onlookers whispered to each other, "My grandma had surgery here and suddenly passed too. Could the hospital be hiding something?"

"And they're the ones who recommended all those crematoriums and funeral homes. Could there be some shady business going on?" another person asked.

The nurse was sweating bullets. She clearly didn't expect me to cause such a scene by dumping the ashes.

She forced herself to stay calm and soothe the crowd before quickly rushing into the operating room.

I chuckled softly and gently stroked Aidan's cheek. Sure, I could raise him, but it was going to come at a cost.

After a while, the nurse came back, sweating profusely and holding a document.

Smiling awkwardly at me, she said, "It's all a misunderstanding. The patient signed a consent form agreeing to immediate cremation if anything happened to her.

"As for the ashes, a new nurse made a mistake. Your friend's body is still being cremated. We're not trying to avoid responsibility. Would a compensation of 2,000 dollars be acceptable to make up for it?"

I took the envelope, weighing it in my hand.

After glancing at the still-wet ink on the consent form, I chose not to press further. Without hesitation, I left with Aidan in my arms.

Since Helen trusted me so much that she was willing to pay for me to raise her son…

I couldn't help but scoff. Well, I definitely wasn't going to let her down.

…

Eighteen years passed in the blink of an eye.

Over those years, I used that 2,000 dollars as startup capital to establish a professional social media account. I hired countless streamers and even invested in films and TV shows.

The money kept growing, and I spent most of it on Aidan's training.

This time around, I had Aidan start acting in small roles in major productions since he was a kid.

Before he won Best Actor, he was already a household name. His fame and status far surpassed what he'd had in my last life.

Sitting in the VIP seats, I watched Aidan deliver his acceptance speech while silently counting the time.

I had raised Aidan to be so outstanding. Helen would be itching to reconnect with him by now.

Sure enough, as soon as Aidan finished, Helen appeared, linking arms with Joe. They confidently strode toward the stage.

Her eyes were red as she pulled Aidan into a tight hug. "My son, I finally found you."

The crowd and fans were baffled. "What's going on? Is this some kind of performance?"

Aidan looked equally confused. "My mom died 18 years ago. Who are you?"

Helen's face lit up. "That's right. 18 years ago, I almost died giving birth to you, and I asked Melanie to raise you. Perhaps I was lucky. I was saved on the way to cremation. But when I came back to find you, you were already gone from the hospital."

Helen glanced at me, her voice breaking. "Melanie, I'm really grateful you raised my son all these years. But I don't understand why he's so distant with me. Have you been badmouthing me to him?"

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she looked heartbroken.

I sneered. Just like in my last life, Helen believed the Best Actor I raised with my own hands was her son.

But this time, I was here for revenge. I wasn't about to be the fool again.

"Of course I won't stop you from reclaiming your son," I said.

Helen's eyes lit up with joy, and her expression turned smug.

Puzzled, I continued, "But he's not your son."