"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."

I laughed though I was annoyed by his remarks..

The truth was, Jasper could go to college because my family paid for his tuition fees. I didn’t understand why he had the nerve to talk to me like that.

My patience wore thin. Since Jasper provoked me first, I would teach him a lesson. sMaking my decision, I put the principal on the speaker. Since Jasper made his way towards me, I had called the principal and hadn’t ended the call.

"Principal Litt, did you hear that? Jasper is involved with spreading compromising photos and blackmailing others. Students like him are not qualified to get scholarships."

There was a moment of silence, and the principal’s serious voice came from the other end of the line.

"We’ll get to the bottom of this. If it’s true, he’ll be punished."

The principal’s words left Jasper frozen in place. When he overcame his shock, anger washed over him.

"James, stop fucking messing with me. It's not funny at all. If you continue like this, don't blame me for persuade Adrienne against speaking to you for the rest of her life," he seethed.

eThose who sided with Jasper were scared, not daring to make a sound.

The reason why they had been so cocky in front of me all because they were unaware that how I felt about Adrienne.

I had always had respect for her friends because I had been attracted to her.

I had to admit hat I had terrible judgement in my past life, otherwise I wouldn’t have fallen in love with her.!

Now that I no longer cared for her, Jasper's threat didn’t work.

Seeing that I always remained a serious demeanor, Jasper began to panic.

"Is it because of those photos? Adrienne implored me to take them. I’ve the right to post them. You can’t blame me for it."

As I didn’t respond, he continued.

"James, you can't even handle a woman yourself. Are you going to take it out on me and run-in my life?"

His hysterical shout didn’t stir anything within me.

In the past life, Adrienne had been crazy about a man who tried to ruin her future and even or-chestrated that fire that killed my family.

In this life, I would like to see what would become of Adrienne and Jasper when she lost my fi-nancial support.