My childhood friend took a fancy to taking photos.

Noticing that she became so obsessed with it that she didn’t even focus on her studies, I filled her parents in on it.

Later, she focused on her schoolwork and agreed to date me after we graduated from college.

On our wedding day, she set fire to our new house, causing my whole family to die tragically.

"If it weren't for you, how would he spend the rest of his life in prison? Why didn't you advise me earlier? You know what, I have already fallen in love with him," she said getting worked up.

After I died, she used my money to bail the man out, and they lived a happy life together.

When I opened my eyes again, I went back to the day when the misfortune began.

——

Adrienne Chilton, my childhood friend, gave me a hard slap. My cheek got swollen immediately.

The classroom instantly fell silent.

She stared at me with tearful eyes as if she had been unjustly treated.

"James, who do you think you are to get in my business? It’s true your parents are rich, and my folks always butter you up. But I’m not like them. I’ll never fall for someone like you!" she de-clared...

She was right. I had no right to get my nose in her business.

Despite our engagement since childhood and her parents’ request of me taking care of her, I shouldn’t have meddled with her business.

My advice out of kindness caused Adrienne’s face to twist with anger as if I had done something terrible.

In an instant, I froze visibly, and it took me quite a while to react.

I was reborn on the day I filled Adrienne's parents in on her obsession with picture-taking.

While Adrienne appeared to be well-behaved and understanding, she was the epitome of rebel-lion and boldness.

She often made fun of me because she thought I was nerdy and only focused on my schoolwork. She was convinced that my life was a waste of time and meaningless.

She believed we should try something new and populate our lives when we were young.

She could have infused her life with meaning, yet she chose to ruin her future.

Since she met a photographer online, Adrienne had taken a fancy to taking photos.

At first, the photos she shared on Facebook were quite normal, but later on, the clothes she was wearing in the pictures became more revealing. But she seemed oblivious to that and was still keen on inviting that photographer to take pictures of her.

Worried that she might be taken advantage, I had had the photographer checked out. It turned out that he had leaked some girls’ private photos he had taken. I shared that with Adrienne.

But she thought I was jealous of the photographer’s talent and deliberately gave her problems.

This was not the first time I have advised her against entrusting the photographer with taking photos of her. But this time, she not only dismissed it but also snapped at me in the classroom.

"James, don't think we’re unaware of what you're up to. You just hate it when Ady makes friends with guys."

"What has Ady done to deserve a childhood friend like you?"

"You think you can poke your nose into other people’s businesses just because your parents are rich. People like you don't deserve true love."

Seeing Adrienne shedding tears, several of her good friends stood by her side and spoke up for her.

Even though they were out of the loop, they still put the blame on me.

In my past life, I couldn't bear to see Adrienne ruin her future and told her parents about the photographer.

After hearing my story, they rushed to the school overnight and made her cut ties with the pho-tographer.

They also sued him for molestation and spreading harmful information.

Later on, Adrienne seemed to have changed and focused on her schoolwork. We went to gradu-ate school.

And the two of us ended up together.

I thought she had moved on from that event, but it turned out that she had held it against me all those years. On our wedding night, she set to our house, which caused the tragic death of all seven members of my family.

I snapped back to reality and gazed at an angry Adrienne silently.

The tension unsettled some students.

One of them intervened, addressing Adrienne, "Come on, Adrienne, you and James have been friends since you were little. Don't let a trivial matter really ruin your relationship."

However, Adrienne snorted, her eyes laden with contempt, "If you really take offense, don’t spoke to me again.""

This was her usual way of threatening me. She was convinced that I couldn’t let go of her after all our time spent together.

Unfortunately, this time, she was wrong.

"Fine, from now on, I’ll stay out of your business," I declared.

"Is that a threat? Let me tell you. No matter what you do, you’ll always be a loser to me!"

Adrienne's face contorted with anger. Perhaps it was in her wildest imagination that I would say something like that.

Without getting my response after a long time, she put on an expression which invoked sympa-thy from others.

But I was aware of her true colors. There was a devil behind her facade!

With this in thought, I sneered mockingly, "Haven’t I made my point clear to you? What’s up? Can’t you even understand English?"

Adrienne had been proud. Especially after we got into college and I confessed my love to her, she had been acting all mighty and high in front of me. She was convinced I wouldn’t be upset with her no matter what she did.

Facing my defiant demeanor, she couldn’t stop trembling and her face drained of color due to fury.

"James, remember what you said. Even if you beg for my forgiveness, I won't have a change of heart," she seethed.

Begging for forgiveness?

I laughed out loud as if I had heard a big joke.

Now that I had my life to do over, I was dying to cut her off.

After saying this, Adrienne stormed off without looking back.

The onlookers also dispersed.

Only I and several of my good friends were left in the classroom.

Brandan Evans, one of my close friends, approached me with a bewildered look and touched my forehead with his hand.

"You’re not burning up. What has gotten into you?" he asked.

I didn't say anything. I just silently picked up my textbook on the floor and immersed myself in it.

"James, I get men value their pride. But sometimes you have to throw it away when you pursue a girl. You should really apologize to Adrienne. You’ll regret it when it’s too late," he continued.

But I dismissed it as if I hand’t heard anything, my face devoid of any emotions.

My silence left them more baffled.

"James, haven't you been wooing Adrienne all the time? What the hell is going on? Acting rashly might get you into trouble."

In the past, I would always simmer when others talked about Adrienne. But now the mention of her name only reminded me of my miserable ending in my past life.

I calmly spoke. "I’ve realized that if she doesn’t feel the same way, our relationship won’t last even if we get together. I’ve given up on her.""

My friends fell silent, regarding me with puzzled eyes.

I understood why they reacted like that.

After all, in their eyes, I had been smitten with Adrienne and would do anything I could to make her happy.

I had never said no to her, not to mention have a fight with her..

In order to win her over, I had been surprised her every once in a while since my freshman year.

I had even paid for her tuition fees since she got into college.

Realizing that he couldn’t sway me, Brandan patted my shoulder and chose to remain silent.

That night, I studied in the library until it closed before returning to my dormitory.

As I recalled the ordeals in the past life, sleep eluded me.

Before I finally fell asleep, I noticed that she had shared some new artistic photos on Facebook.

I just glanced at them and put my phone aside.

The next morning, I was awakened by Brandan’s angry voice.

"We got a situation here, James. Wake up. Jasper is such a jerk. He posted Adrienne's private photos on Element, and now many people are discussing this matter."

Brandan knew about Element because we had participated in a hacking competition together before.

Jasper also participated in the competition.

Brandan and my other friends stared at me with anticipation, confident that I would sort this out.

But to their disappointment, I didn’t even bother to open my eyes.

"That’s not my concern," I responded testily.

My words caught them off guard.

Noticing that I seemed unfazed, they became aware that I was serious about my decision to give up on Adrienne.

Rarely having free time to sleep in, I didn't get up until noon.

In my past life, I always worried that Adrienne might skip breakfast and get stomach problems, so I would get up early every day to get her favorite breakfast.

Since I was reborn, I suddenly had understood many things.

If a person didn’t even know how to love themselves, how could they love others?

After lunch, I went to the library as usual to study, and when I took a seat, I overheard discus-sions from the distance.

"Jasper, you’re really something. How did you get your hands on those pictures?"

I turned to the direction of the voice and saw Jasper who responded with a smirk..

A group of people stared at him with admiration.

"Come on, Jasper, tell us how did you obtain the photos?"

Jasper deliberately kept them in suspense, and it was only after quite a while that he opened his mouth.

"Why are you being so dramatic? Our school belle approached me and implored me to take pic-tures of her. I have some other photos of her."

.In the eyes of others, Adrienne was the aloof campus belle of Artaw University. Even I, born into wealth, couldn't win her affection with all the money I spent on her.

But Jasper had effortlessly drawn her attention. It was not surprising that he was showing off.

"James has really brought disgrace to us men."

"Although he is rich, he is still a loser. Despite his efforts, he still failed to get Adrienne to fall for him. I heard that she didn’t even give him a look."

The discussions continued.

I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly, regretting my actions in the past life.

What had gotten into me?

I was supposed to lead a good life, yet I had swallowed my pride to pursue a woman who didn’t deserve my affection??

Jasper and his friends heard me laugh and turned to look in my direction. When they spotted me, their expressions soured.

"Speak of the devil."

"So what if he's here? Everyone in the school knows that he's thrown away his pride to pursue a woman. Jasper said it was Adrienne who approached him. What else can he do except live with it?

I dismissed them and proceeded to study for a test.

Jasper, however, confidently walked up to me and said, "James you’ve heard of the photos, right. Each is worth 16,000. If you pay for them, I can remove them. I bet it’s just pocket money to you. After all, you’ve spent a tens of thousands of dollars to please her."

Those nearby stopped what they were doing and watched the unfolding drama with interest. And they expressed that they roosted for Jasper...

Getting carried away with their support, Jasper cast me a derisive glance and declared, "How about this? If you beg me to be your boss, I’ll help you win over .Adrienne…"

After he finished speaking, I looked up at him with indifference.

"Thank you for letting me enjoy a free show. It was impressive," I remarked.

Jasper didn’t get what he wanted, and instead, got embarrassed.

His face turned livid. As he spoke, there was a touch of anger in his voice.

"You’ve crossed a line, James. I’ve given you an opportunity, yet you didn’t cherish it."