My roommate, Quinn York, is a nice person who knows how to pay one's act of benevolence back.

At the orientation party, a classmate gives Quinn a cheap lipstick. She insists on repaying that classmate by giving her my expensive custom-ordered dress.

When the supervisor of the girls' dorm gives Quinn a bottle of water, Quinn tells me to treat the entire class to a meal at a five-star hotel.

When the campus bully, Kendrick Olsen, helps Quinn out of a sticky situation, she has the audacity to deliver me to his bed just to thank him.

Because of that, I'm infected with STDs. That's when Quinn posts the report on the Internet purposefully.

Since then, everyone views me as a loose woman who has zero love for herself.

Not wanting to suffer from such humiliation, I decide to take my own life by jumping off a building.

When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the orientation party.

Since Quinn likes repaying others that much, she should be the one doing the actual repaying!

"Lydia, I'm giving your dress to Melissa. You don't mind, right?"

Standing in front of me, Quinn York pulled out the couture gown I'd carefully hung in my closet, smiling like it was the most natural thing in the world.

As I looked at that all-too-familiar face, I knew I'd been reborn.

"Why are you spacing out?" Quinn gave me a hard shove when I didn't answer. "I'm talking about Melissa Shore from the dorm next door. She gave me some lipstick, so I've decided to give your dress to her as thanks.

"We should always repay kindness, you know? When people are good to us, we should pay them back a hundredfold."

Her eyes shone, as if this was perfectly reasonable.

I stared at her, my face devoid of emotion. "You're absolutely right. There's nothing wrong with returning a favor. So how about you return it yourself? Melissa gave the lipstick to you. Why don't you give her your own dress?"

In my last life, Quinn had used the exact same excuse to give my couture gown to Melissa, while I went to the party in a plain T-shirt and jeans.

Melissa was our class rep, and she became the center of attention that night. After that, she'd given Quinn all kinds of special treatment and little perks.

But when Melissa returned the dress to me, it was filthy, and all the hand-stitched gems on it were gone. Quinn, of course, didn't care at all.

"It's just a dress. What's the big deal? You should be honored that Melissa was willing to wear your clothes in the first place!"

I sneered to myself as I remembered that. If Quinn was so desperate to play the good guy, then I would help her really commit to it.

She blew up the moment she heard me. "Why are you so petty, Lydia? I was just trying to help you get along better with everyone else because you have terrible social skills!"

This was her usual routine. She would find any excuse to guilt-trip me, then act generous with my things so she could brand herself as some kind of saint who always repaid favors.

I didn't argue. Instead, I got up, walked over to Quinn's closet, and pulled out the pale yellow dress she'd carefully picked out for herself.

"I think this would look great on Melissa. Your skin tone's pretty dark, after all. This color doesn't really suit you. Why don't you give your dress to her?" I asked.

Quinn's face instantly twisted with anger. She rushed over and snatched the dress out of my hands.

"Why should I? Why should I give my dress to her? She's so fat she'll rip it apart!"

I spread my hands. "Exactly. Why should you? If you're not even willing to lend your own clothes, why should mine be up for grabs? I'm not an idiot. From now on, Ms. York, use your own stuff if you want to repay favors. Got it?"

With that, I took my couture gown out of her hands. She was livid, but there was nothing she could do.

When Melissa came to knock on our door for the dress, I greeted her enthusiastically. "Hi, Melissa! Quinn said she wants to lend you her own dress. She even said it's fine if you ruin it. Right, Quinn? It's your honor to have Melissa wear your clothes."

The best way to deal with someone like Quinn was to give her a taste of her own medicine. In that moment, her face went so dark that it was almost scary.

She opened her mouth and tried to explain. "That's not what I meant…"

I pulled out my phone and played a recording.

"I think this would look great on Melissa. Your skin tone's pretty dark, after all. This color doesn't really suit you. Why don't you give your dress to her?"

Quinn panicked the second she heard that. There was no way she would let Melissa hear the way she'd insulted her after that.

She rushed over to turn off the recording, her expression twisted as she ground her teeth and agreed.

Melissa took the dress from her and forced herself into it. I faintly heard the sound of seams tearing.

As for me, I put on my couture gown and went to the party. Several people complimented me.

"Whoa, Lydia Gable's gown is gorgeous!"

"Look at Quinn York—she actually showed up in a T-shirt. She looks like a total idiot standing in the corner. How embarrassing."

Unlike my last life, I wasn't the one everyone made fun of this time. It was Quinn.

By the end of the night, the waist of Melissa's dress had split open, and the hem was a dirty mess. When she returned it, Quinn put on an act of being oh-so-generous, forcing out a smile.

"It's fine, it's fine. It's just a dress," she ground out.

Watching her swallow her pride like that brought me a quiet surge of satisfaction, especially when I remembered everything she'd done to me in my past life.

Still, this time around, what I had planned for her was far from over.

Quinn constantly preached about how important it was to repay kindness. But most of the time, what she really did was acknowledge someone else's kindness… and then use others' stuff to repay it.

That was textbook moral blackmail. She pretended to be generous and noble, but the second it involved her own interests, she suddenly no longer agreed with that kind of generosity.

To build up her whole "grateful and kind-hearted" persona, she even set up a social media account just for it. She took staged photos and posted them with long, emotional captions.

For example, Quinn once took all the cakes and bread I'd bought and handed them out to the campus janitors. She said they worked hard to keep the campus clean and beautiful, so they deserved it.

When I said I wasn't okay with that, she immediately took the moral high ground and scolded me for not having any compassion.

She even started a live stream and deliberately aimed the camera at me. "Babes, all the janitors and cleaning staff really loved the bread I gave them. My dormmate is against what I do, but I'm still going to keep doing what I believe in. Love you guys!"

She didn't spell it out, but she also said everything she needed to say. And so, online, Quinn was this grateful, kind, and socially responsible model citizen, while I was painted as a stingy, cold-hearted piece of trash.

Her clueless fans showered her with gifts and donations. Even though she claimed she would use the money for charity, she pocketed it all.

I watched her antics coldly. I knew very well that if I wanted her to fall hard, I had to let her climb higher first.

…

That day, Quinn went out drinking and came back completely wasted. The dorm supervisor, Ms. Carlton, gave her a bottle of water to help her sober up. She even helped Quinn back to the dorm.

When Quinn woke up, she rubbed her forehead and said, "Oh man, I'm such a scatterbrain. I'm so grateful for the water that Ms. Carlton gave me. I really have to repay her properly."

As she spoke, her eyes kept drifting toward me. That alone told me that, just like in my past life, she was already plotting against me.

In my past life, she'd insisted I foot the bill so she could treat Ms. Carlton to a thank-you dinner. And somehow, that had turned into bringing all 50 of our classmates along.

She'd said, all righteously, "Ms. Carlton treats us like family. How can you invite just one person in a family and not the rest? Our classmates are like our siblings. When we're away from home, we have to stay united. Don't you get that?"

A dinner with 50 people meant there were five tables in total. Quinn ordered a ton of seafood and premium beef. In the end, the bill came out to six thousand dollars per table.

I emptied all my savings, yet it still wasn't enough. I had to call my parents and borrow money from them just to pay off the final bill.

After I paid, Quinn didn't mention me covering the cost at all. When our classmates started praising her, she just waved it off, acting all modest.

"I was just doing the right thing! We're one big family—we're supposed to look out for each other!"

If that was how she wanted things to be, then she could "look out for everyone" by herself.

When I didn't react, Quinn tested the waters again. "Lydia, Ms. Carlton has been so nice to me. How about we treat her to a meal?"

I nodded. "You're right. And while we're at it, let's invite the whole class too."

Her eyes lit up. She couldn't hide her excitement. "That's perfect—it's exactly what I was thinking! Ms. Carlton works so hard all the time. The least we can do is buy her a nice meal. How about we set the venue at the Regalion Hotel?"

I smiled. "It's your call."

Quinn was thrilled because she thought I would cover the entire bill just like before. I would spend the money, and she would walk away with a good reputation.

This time, though, I had no intention of playing the sucker.

Quinn immediately sent a message to our class group chat and specifically tagged Ms. Carlton.

"Dear classmates, to thank Ms. Carlton for taking such good care of us, I've booked a private room at the Regalion Hotel. Order whatever you want—don't worry about my wallet. And if any of you skip out on this dinner, I'm gonna be mad!"

The messages that came after that were all singing her praises.

"Whoa. Quinn, your family must be loaded! This is the Regalion Hotel we're talking about. A single dish there costs hundreds of dollars!"

"Quinn, are you mixed or something? Half-beauty and half-deity, if you know what I mean."

"Give the rest of us a chance. How can someone be this gorgeous and this sweet at the same time?"

"Damn, I think I'm in love."

Quinn's face lit up with a look of pure satisfaction when she saw all the praise.

Right before we were about to head out, she specifically called out to me. "Lydia, you'd better show up for dinner later, okay?"

I knew exactly what her underlying meaning was. She didn't actually care whether I ate or not—all that mattered was that I showed up to pay.

I hurried to reassure her. "Don't worry. I won't forget."

…

By the time I got to the hotel, Quinn had already generously ordered one of every single signature dish on the menu. Each table was piled high with expensive seafood and top-grade beef.

"Ms. Carlton, everyone, just order whatever you feel like having. Don't bother saving me any money! And if you don't like something, go ahead and toss it," she said.

I sneered to myself. So, when someone else's money was involved, it meant nothing to her, huh?

When everyone had almost eaten their fill, I stood up and headed for the door. Quinn watched me warily. "Lydia, where are you going? Don't forget the most important thing later!"

In her mind, the most important thing had to be paying the bill.

I nodded. "I know."

After leaving the private room, I found a server and politely said, "Hi, I'd like to get some mac and cheese to go."

…

Back at the dorm, I happily dug into my mac and cheese. It totally lived up to the hype. If I'd known, I would've ordered another one.

Just as I was craving more, my phone started ringing nonstop with call after call from Quinn. When I finally hit accept, she exploded the second the call connected.

"Lydia, where did you go? The server said you left!"

I picked at my ear. Where was all this barking coming from?

"Me? I'm back at the dorm, of course."

Quinn dropped her voice on the other end of the line. "Didn't I tell you not to forget the most important thing? If you leave, who's going to pay?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Right, the most important thing. Isn't it filling my stomach? The mac and cheese from the restaurant there is amazing. Oh, and don't worry, I already paid for my food. You don't have to trouble yourself."

She went silent for a beat, then suddenly flew into a rage. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Look, whatever. Transfer the money to me right now. The total is 30 thousand dollars!"