The night before the national college entrance exam. I had my head down, grinding through practice problems.

Then a woman appeared in the mirror—my face, but wrecked. Skin mottled with disease, hair matted and filthy, close enough to death that I could see it in her hollowed-out eyes.

She stared at me like I was her last hope.

"Stella. I'm you, from the future."

"Don't help Boris cheat. Please—I'm begging you. If you do, you'll lose everything. Your name, your score, all of it. And after you fail the exam, he'll lure you to the worst place you can imagine, and they will break you until you're dead."

I let out a scornful laugh, certain it was some kind of prank.

Everyone knew Boris Gilbert was the boy I'd grown up with, my childhood friend since before I could remember.

No one had ever been better to me.

But the next second, his text came through.

"Stella, I've arranged for Karen to sit right behind you at the exam tomorrow. You've got the grades. Just help her out a little, and the three of us can go to college together."

Ice shot through my hands and feet.

I whipped around. The woman in the mirror was already gone.

……

I stared at the glass, numb.

Nothing there. No woman. Just an empty mirror.

But my phone screen was still lit, the message still glowing, reminding me that none of this had been a dream.

It couldn't be real.

I let out a long breath, forced my shoulders to drop.

Just nerves. Pre-exam stress. A hallucination, nothing more.

Boris had always been principled. Firm in his convictions.

Asking me to cheat? He wouldn't.

He couldn't even tell a white lie without blushing for half the day.

Let alone gamble with my future.

Whoever sent that text from his phone had to be working with whoever pulled that mirror stunt.

But before I could turn back to the next problem,

my phone buzzed again.

Not a text this time. A video call.

Boris's face filled the screen, tense and urgent.

"Stella, did you see the message I just sent? Why didn't you reply?"

Gone was every trace of his usual composure.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out—my throat had closed like a fist, and inside my skull something detonated.

"Stella?"

When I still hadn't spoken after a long moment, Boris frowned with visible impatience.

"Stella, are you even hearing me right now?"

"It doesn't matter what you think. You're helping Karen tomorrow—end of discussion. She's not like us, okay? She never had anyone. No parents who gave a damn. This exam is all she's got."

It took me a long time to find my voice again.

When I did, it came out tight.

"Boris, you're asking me to help her cheat."

"What happens to me if we get caught?"

He scoffed.

"We won't. My dad's already taken care of everything on the exam site. Just do it."

I stared at him, motionless.

Boris looked like a different person.

Someone I had never known.

The Boris I remembered was gentle, courteous, warm with everyone.

Not like this. Not with contempt written across his brow.

As if no one around him mattered at all.

When had it started?

The day Karen Summers transferred in, probably.

She'd stood at the front of the classroom like a sad little white flower, telling everyone her life story.

But thinking about it now—who lays out that much misery on the very first day?

Father a drunk, mother remarried and gone, nobody who cared.

Surviving off the kindness of a neighbor who lived by a junkyard.

And Boris had believed every word.

I took a deep breath. The tremor in my voice steadied.

"Boris, what if I say no?"

He froze. The air between us went dead silent.

Karen stepped out from behind him.

She lifted her face, and something flashed in her eyes, quick and triumphant, before it melted into the most perfectly timed look of guilt.

"Big Sis Stella is right. It's my fault—I'm just too stupid. If I don't pass, well… that's what I deserve, isn't it? I can't blame anyone but myself."

Her eyes reddened, and she bit down on her lower lip, voice going small and wavering.

"Boris, thank you. Really. Just the fact that you tried means everything to me. But please—don't fight with Big Sis Stella because of someone like me."

Boris couldn't stand her being upset.

He snapped, shouting at me through the phone.

"Stella, why are you so selfish? Your grades are that good—what's it cost you to share a few answers with Karen?"

"Of course. Someone as miserable as you can't stand seeing anyone else have something good!"

"I'm telling you, tomorrow you're helping whether you want to or not. Otherwise, don't blame me for dragging your dirty little secret into the open. See how long you last as everyone's perfect top student then!"

He hung up, seething.

Dirty little secret.

I stood frozen where I was.

He was actually threatening me with what happened that night.

The pain hit my chest in a swarm, wave after wave, until I could barely breathe.

But by the next morning,

the woman in the mirror still hadn't appeared.

The moment I walked into the exam hall,

Boris rushed over, guilt written all over his face.

"Stella, I'm sorry. I... last night, I didn't mean it."

"You know I'd never actually do something like that. Don't hold it against me, okay?"

A dull pain still throbbed in my chest.

Not every apology deserves forgiveness.

I kept my eyes forward and walked straight past him.

He grabbed my hand hard, glanced around in a panic, and lowered his voice.

"Stella, don't be like this. The exam's about to start. Please stop being mad?"

"I messaged you all night saying sorry—you didn't answer once. I know that's not fair to you, but just help me out here, okay? I really do just feel bad for Karen, that's it."

"Don't worry. Once we both get into Kingston University, I'll cut things off with her, clean. I'll stay right by your side and we'll settle down properly."

He leaned down slightly,

coaxing me the way he had a hundred times before.

Any other day, I would have caved.

But the image of that ruined woman in the mirror wouldn't leave me.

I looked into his eyes and spoke calmly.

"Boris, your grades aren't bad either. Why don't you help her yourself?"

His expression froze. His gaze darted away.

My heart sank.

This was more complicated than I'd thought.

Before I could think further,

the bell rang and the proctors filed in.

Karen raised her brows at me, smug as anything.

"Big Sis Stella, I'm going to need your help today~"

I scoffed.

I didn't bother responding. I shut everything else out

and focused on the exam.

I wasn't even halfway through the paper before Karen lost patience.

She kept kicking the back of my chair, coughing on purpose, dropping her pen on the floor—one little stunt after another, nonstop.

I frowned slightly and glanced up without thinking.

Every single proctor was looking the other way, as if by agreement.

After the exam, Karen glared at me with open hatred, her face twisted.

She spat the words at me—

"Just you wait, Stella Fox!"

"Sooner or later you'll come crawling to me!"

Then she put on her wounded act and leaned in to whisper something in Boris's ear.

Boris looked torn.

But it didn't take long before he wavered, nodded, and turned to me with a smile.

"Stella, forget it. If you don't want to, I won't push."

"After all, you're the one who's going to be my wife. I'm not going to let some outsider come between us."

"Let me take you to that private restaurant on the west side of town tonight, okay? Think of it as me making it up to you."

"No thanks. I need to review for tomorrow."

I shook my head.

The disappointment inside me kept sinking deeper.

There was something wrong in his eyes—unmistakably wrong.

But no matter how I turned it over, I couldn't understand how we'd ended up here.

We grew up together, Boris and I. So close our parents had already bought the apartment, the car—everything for the wedding.

After college, we'd get married. That was always the understanding.

I got home.

And the last thing I expected happened.

The woman in the mirror was back.

Worse than before—barely hanging on, each word dragged out of her like it might be her last.

"Stella, from now until the exam is over, do not eat alone with Boris."

"He's going to drug your food."

"What?!"

My pupils contracted to pinpoints.

The cold hit all at once, so deep it didn't stop at skin or bone.

I'd made so many excuses for him.

Told myself he was just confused, blinded by Karen, not thinking straight.

We'd grown up together. Even without romance, we were still family.

But in his eyes, I was already someone who needed to be drugged into compliance.

She watched me with aching pity, each breath a struggle, her voice fading with every word.

"Stella, you have to be careful from here on out. Based on everything I know about them, they won't stop until they get what they want."

"Karen is more dangerous than she looks. And you have to watch out in the exam room—"

But before she could finish, she went limp and collapsed.

"Stella! Stella!"

I lunged at the mirror, palms slamming against the glass.

"Finish what you were saying! Watch out for what in the exam room?"

But there was nothing I could do. She was already gone.

Calm down.

I forced myself to breathe. Told myself over and over: stay calm.

Panic wouldn't solve anything.

But the fear kept spreading through me, deep and quiet.

Every time she appeared she was weaker, and now she'd cut out mid-sentence again.

The danger hadn't passed. My future hadn't changed.

My gaze drifted to the computer screen.

And something fierce and bright flared inside me.

Boris didn't know this, but a week ago I'd already received my acceptance letter from the National Justice Academy.

It was the school I'd dreamed of. But because I wanted to stay with Boris,

I'd been stupid enough to hesitate.

Not anymore. There was still time.

I took a long, slow breath and began typing my reply.

"I'm very glad to receive your acceptance letter. I will do my utmost to live up to your school's expectations."

"Additionally, I wish to file a formal report under my real name. I have evidence that individuals are organizing cheating during the national college entrance exam, and the case involves other serious crimes."

I knew this alone wasn't enough.

The evidence was still thin.

The real question was how I was going to break out of this trap myself.

The woman in the mirror hadn't finished her warning.

I couldn't afford to let my guard down. I took out every piece of stationery I owned and began inspecting them one by one.

I even held my ruler up to the light and checked every groove along the markings.

Boris's family had power—real power.

But not nearly enough to make every proctor in the exam hall look the other way.

Unless someone with a far longer reach was pulling the strings.

My phone buzzed once. A message brimming with confidence.

"Stella, tomorrow is the day you're finished!"

I smiled. Cold and thin.

We'll see about that.

The next morning, I walked into the exam hall.

I didn't sit down. I went straight to my desk and started checking it—top, bottom, every edge, every seam.

"Aw, Big Sis Stella, what are you doing?"

Karen sneered at me from her seat.

"Really? Flipping the whole thing over? What, you think you're some kind of detective now?"

The room cracked up instantly.

"Well, she *is* a top student—so nervous she's losing it. Cut her some slack. What if someone really is out to get her? Ha!"

"Please. Who'd bother?"