I knew that Laura was actually the one who made the call.

If she left first before Adam, I would not end up suspecting them.

I nodded nonchalantly.

Adam hurried over to hug me. “Babe, you’re the best. I’ll come visit you in a few days, okay?”

“Sure.”

While Adam apologized, I saw excitement in his eyes.

At the moment he left, I even heard Laura’s voice through his phone.

Once they left, I ate and drank to my fill before I went to a music store and bought a gramophone that looked exactly the same as the one Laura gave me.

When I got home, William asked me puzzledly, “Why did you buy two gramophones, Anya?”

I just smiled and said nothing. Instead, I grabbed two records of cliche classics and played them.

Songs that were so common that everyone was sick of them started playing.

I started clapping to the rhythm, and even my footsteps became much lighter.

But William suffered from it since he was a professor in the department of music. He covered his ears.

Just when I finished playing an entire recording, Laura called. She sounded lazy and breathless. I could immediately tell what happened to her.

These two sure were eager.

“Anya, how’s the gramophone? Have you tried it? Is it good?”

“It sure is. William said it’s good too.”

Laura could not help it. She started laughing. “That’s great! At least my efforts didn’t go to waste! Use it often! The record I gave you is a limited edition.”

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Laura ended the call, but I still heard the coughing from the man on her side.

These two pieces of trash were waiting for me to make a fool of myself!

I caressed the lines on the gramophone. It was like a living thing and felt warm under my fingers.

“Why don’t you use up your annual leave, William? You don’t have anything urgent on hand, so you could take some time to keep me company instead.”

Even though I had returned to the past, the memories of the previous cycle still brought me great pain, and I did not want to remember them at all.

After some thought, William agreed to it, even though he did not understand why I would suddenly request that of him.

I also booked an appointment for my father to get a full body checkup from the most famous specialists in the country.

The results showed that my father was fine. In fact, he was in the perfect picture of health.

Because of it, I felt marginally relieved.

Once I was done with those things, I hurried back to the university and asked the academic affairs office about my graduation. I even asked my lecturers about this, and they said that since I was an outstanding student, nothing would go wrong with my graduation.

In order to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, I managed to secure the video that was used to accuse me of cheating in the previous cycle, and I watched it without sleep for three days before I was finally certain that I could not be found anywhere in it.

With a huge sigh of relief, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I found my phone bombarded with miscalls from Laura and Adam.

Apparently, Gary’s lenders had come to him. Since he had no money to give them, they destroyed his house and even beat him up so badly that he was hospitalized.

I took my sweet time to call Laura. The moment the call went through, I heard Laura’s choked-up voice. “Anya, we’re in trouble, and I really don’t know what to do.

“Could you keep me company? I don’t dare to step outside.”

I knew that the lenders were standing guard around the hospital and waiting for Laura and her family to step out.

If this was in the past, I would have hurried over, but I only said in a troubled fashion, “Some problems came up with my graduation, and I have to go back to the university.”

“Oh!” Laura exclaimed. “Okay. Could you come find me once you’re done?”

When I went to the hospital, it was already the next day.

Since Laura could not leave the hospital, she had not eaten anything for two days, and she was starving. “Anya, don’t you care about your own uncle anymore?”

I went over and apologized to her. “I didn’t do it on purpose. There were some problems at the university. Anyway, how is Uncle Gary? Did he get hurt anywhere important?”

Laura smiled wryly, but there was resentment in her eyes. “He’s fine this time. But don’t worry. Soon, we won’t have to live like this anymore.”

As she said this, I could see eager excitement in her eyes.

I said nothing and only smiled.

Things were not going to go how she wanted.

Later on, I did my best to avoid getting into contact with Laura. I kept pretending to be busy looking for a job, and even Adam seldom came to visit me.

But he was happy about that since it meant that he did not actually have to rack his brain for excuses to go on dates with Laura. I had even almost run into them a few times while they were busy being sickeningly sweet with each other.

On this day, I sent William and my father on a plane so that they could go on a holiday abroad.

Right after they left, Laura called me. “Anya, what have you been up to lately? Do you have time to come to the hospital? My father misses you.”

It was indeed time for me to go over.

When I pushed the door open, Laura was wiping off the porridge on Gary’s body.

Something was off about Gary’s face. He looked like his head was not all present. Not only did he throw the things on the table on the floor, but he also kept pinching Laura’s elbow. He pinched her so hard that several parts of Laura’s skin were red and bleeding.

“What happened here, Laura?”

At the sound of my voice, Laura turned around.

It was then that I saw her face clearly. Many red pimples had popped up on her face, and some had burst. Pus kept oozing out of them.

Seeing me staring at her, Laura stiffly wiped off the pus on her face. “I don’t know what happened. I might be suffering from some sort of inflammation. My father is alright as well. He could just still be suffering from a concussion.”

I raised my eyebrows and did not question this any further.

But Laura started asking around, “How’s William and Uncle Colin?”

The eager look in her eyes made me put up an act and shake my head as I sighed. “I don’t know what happened. William has been in a daze as if he’s sleepy all the time, and my dad can’t quite remember the people around him anymore.”

Laura sighed in relief and grumbled, “Then, it’s about to happen soon.”

“What did you say?”

The sight of my puzzled expression made Laura immediately shake her head. With a forced laugh, she changed the topic. “By the way, Anya, about the record I asked you to play at home, what did your family say about it? Did William and Uncle Colin find it nice?”

I scratched my head in a troubled fashion and opened my photo album. “William is on a business trip. My dad’s head hasn’t been entirely clear lately either, so I didn’t have the chance to play your record.

“I used the gramophone to play some classics, but it broke down. Could you find a place to repair it?”

Laura snatched my phone and looked at the photo, only to see that the needle of the gramophone had been bent.

She trembled with rage.

“Are you stupid?!

“I got you the gramophone and record for you to play music on it, not for you to play with it?!

“Go ask William how to fix it, then play the record for both of them!”