On the day of the mid-autumn festival, I handed in my resignation at St. Mary's Medical Center, a place filled with drama. Later that day, as I returned to Willow Creek for a much-needed break, my phone exploded with calls.

My boyfriend's childhood friend, Lily Davis, was bombarding me with messages, demanding to know why I had stopped working on my medical paper.

Feeling the warm countryside breeze, I shut off my phone, finally allowing myself to relax. But it didn't take long before the memories came flooding back.

In my past life, the research paper I busted my tail on got flagged for plagiarism. People called me shameless, said I had no morals, and didn't deserve to be a doctor.

On top of that, the online hate was vicious. Some extremists even crossed the line, waiting outside my house and running down my elderly parents, killing them on the spot.

The aftermath was unbearable.

I completely lost touch with reality, and eventually, my boyfriend, Kevin Smith, and Lily had me committed to a mental hospital.

One night, I ended it all with a red rope.

But when I opened my eyes, I was back, one month before the paper was set to be published.

——

That's when it hit me. I had been given a second chance.

"Dr. Carter, you're incredible! Once this paper gets published, it'll be a game-changer for our hospital in the world of surgery!"

"I never imagined you could be both stunning and a top-notch surgeon in orthopedics! You're my inspiration!"

My team members looked at me like I was a superstar. Even the head of the surgery department and my mentor, Dr. Andrew Stevens, came over to cheer me on.

"Well done! Your research topic is brilliant. You're an inspiration to all of us. Once you finish, this is going to shake the medical world!"

Tears filled my eyes as I looked at the familiar faces. The guilt was suffocating. These people had been caught in the fallout of the plagiarism scandal in my past life. Some were demoted, others lost their jobs, and a few were blacklisted from the medical field for good.

The weight of that guilt was crushing, but fear gripped me even harder.

I glanced at the time on my phone.

There was less than a month left before my medical research paper was set to be published.

I'll never forget that day.

Vicious rumors and hate surrounded it. The hospital's website crashed because of the number of people attacking it, and the phone lines were flooded with complaints.

"What kind of garbage hospital lets someone like Dr. Rachel Carter, a plagiarizing liar, stay?"

"If Dr. Carter's still working as a doctor, I'm going to raise hell at that hospital!"

"Why hasn't she dropped dead yet? How is someone like her even allowed to be a doctor? She treats people's lives like a joke!"

Even the doctors and nurses at St. Mary's glared at me like I was the lowest of the low.

"I heard she's the one who plagiarized Dr. Davis' work. Absolutely disgusting!"

"That bitch has the nerve to claim she's an expert in surgery and orthopedics? Please! She probably slept her way to the top."

"Word is, she's the hospital director's sugar baby. Just another gold digger."

The insults were relentless and cruel. I woke up drenched in cold sweat, a chill running down my spine.

It all started because of Lily, who reported me for plagiarism. Lily came from a prestigious medical family and had just transferred to our hospital. Her parents were well-known professors in the field. And, of course, she was Kevin's childhood friend.

She was pretty and had flawless skin. When she showed up, every male doctor started flocking to her like she was some goddess. Kevin was no different. He bought her breakfast one day and picked her up from work the next.

One time, after a night shift, I had just finished surgery and was exhausted, barely able to keep my eyes open in the car. But because of her, Kevin kicked me out and made me walk home in the dark without a second thought for my safety.

Whenever we fought about her, Kevin would accuse me of being unreasonable and jealous of Lily. One day, I overheard him joking with his colleagues about me, saying I was ugly and always causing drama, and he couldn't wait to dump me like trash.

Every time I tried to break up with him, he would return the next day with sweet words and apologies, but not anymore. I wasn't going to be Kevin's fall guy again.

With trembling hands, I opened Lily's social media.

She had just posted something new:

'After a month of hard work, I'm finally almost done with my research paper!'

She included screenshots of the abstract and structure. Although the details were limited, what I saw made my blood run cold.

Wasn't that precisely what I had drafted for my medical research paper? Could the topic similarity be a coincidence? But the identical structure and writing style? No way.

Even the section numbers, word count, specific points, and citations were quite alike.

How could two people think so alike?

I quickly opened my draft for comparison. It wasn't just similar. It was a carbon copy. I wrote that paper on my own. No one could've known my ideas.

Then, I saw the timestamp on her post. It was an hour before I finished my draft, and that's when doubt and paranoia consumed me.

All the accusations and attacks from my previous life came flooding back.

'She looks put-together, but who knew she became famous by plagiarizing. I bet all her academic papers were stolen!'

'A doctor like her is a disgrace to the profession. She's a danger to patients!'

'Plagiarists should rot in hell! I hope she gets into a car crash and takes her whole family down with her.'

Thinking about it made me shake and nearly lose my footing. Staring at the familiar words on the screen, I hesitated for a long time before biting the bullet and deleting my entire draft. If they had proven that the research paper was plagiarized, surely the orthopedic paper wouldn't have been the same, right?

With all my experience in orthopedics, I could pull a few all-nighters and finish it in a month!

Once that idea hit me, I couldn't stop.

Every night after work, I locked myself in my room, buried in drafts, digging through research and perfecting my arguments.

By the seventh night of burning the midnight oil, the door creaked open, and there was my mom, her familiar, kind face smiling at me. She set down a bowl of sweet soup on my desk.

My throat tightened, and my eyes stung a little. "Mom, why are you still up this late?"

"Sweetheart, you're pushing yourself too hard. Staring at the screen for hours like that isn't good for your eyes." Mom's words hit me like a splash of cold water.

One simple remark, and suddenly, I had an epiphany!

Why hadn't I thought of it before?

I didn't need to write everything on the computer. I could handwrite the drafts, and then, when the deadline got closer, I'd type everything up. That way, no one could accuse me of plagiarizing. If any similarities popped up, I'd edit them later.

Plus, I was the only one in the hospital with expertise in both surgery and orthopedics. No one, not even Lily, could pump out a high-level orthopedic paper like that in a week.

With this realization, I felt lighter, like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest. There was no way plagiarism would come up again this time.

I kissed my mom on the cheek, grinning. "Get some sleep, Mom. I've got this."

Then I got back to work, handwriting every part of my paper.

By morning, I had finished the first draft of my orthopedic medical paper. My heart soared with pride. This paper was my ticket to represent the hospital in an international academic exchange.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime career milestone. I couldn't afford to screw it up.

But even as I sat back to admire my work, doubt started to creep in. I remembered how, in my last life, Lily had stood in front of the entire hospital, sobbing while accusing me of stealing her paper. She even streamed it live online.

Lily, with her innocent face and soft voice, had everyone wrapped around her finger. Her tearful act triggered a wave of public outrage. People I used to work with shook their heads at me in disappointment. Others flat-out accused me of my face.

And the internet? It was brutal, and ruthless comments flooded in:

'You can tell by looking at her. This woman's trouble. Who steals from a sweet, young girl like that?'

'Ugly inside and out. Someone should just beat her to death and be done with it!'

'That poor girl is too nice. If I were her, I'd rip that woman's face off!'

'Is anyone putting together a protest? Let's take down that trashy hospital and get her fired!'

The more I read their comments, the angrier I became. My work had nothing to do with Lily.

Why was she accusing me of plagiarism?

Every time I tried to defend myself, it only made the hate grow stronger.

One thing Lily said stuck with me the most: "Rachel Carter got a higher position than me. I was always afraid if I said anything, she'd push me out. It took me days to build up the courage to come forward. Kevin was right. I shouldn't let plagiarism slide."

Lily's innocent, wounded look only fueled the public's rage against me. It was that comment that eventually led to that psycho driving a car into my parents and killing them.

Thinking about it tore me apart inside, but underneath the grief, a burning rage started to grow. I couldn't let this mess spiral out of control again. I had to get to the bottom of it this time.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I realized the sun had already risen. I quickly got ready and headed to the hospital.

As soon as I walked in, I overheard some nurses gossiping.

"Did you hear? Lily posted at 4 a.m. that someone plagiarized her paper, and now she has to rewrite it. This time it's about orthopedics."

"No way! I thought Lily was only good at surgery. She's doing orthopedics now, too?"

"That plagiarist has no shame. Lily worked her butt off for a month, and now her paper's trashed."

Hearing that hit me like a punch to the gut. I was in shock.

My first instinct? Confront her face-to-face.

Before I could confront Lily, the hospital's group chat blew up, with everyone talking about the same thing.

Earlier that morning, Lily posted an update. In the video, her face was red and puffy from crying, and her voice trembled with emotion. I even felt a twinge of sympathy.

"How can someone be so shameless as to take credit for plagiarizing another person's hard work? I've had to rethink my orthopedic medical paper, and I refuse to believe she'll try to steal from me again!"

Those were her exact words at the end of the video, and a chill ran down my spine.

Her following paper was also on orthopedics.

Could two people really have the same thoughts?

As I tried to process this, another message popped up in the group chat. Someone mentioned that Lily had developed mild depression from all the stress and was taking a leave of absence. The news sent the conversation into overdrive.

Of course, Kevin was the loudest in the group, fueling the fire.

He commented, 'This situation needs to be thoroughly investigated! We need to find the plagiarist and clear Lily's name. That plagiarist has no place in the medical field and shouldn't be allowed to practice!'

Not long after, Lily replied to his message. 'Thank you, Kevin. I miss Auntie's soup.'

Kevin responded almost immediately, 'Whenever you're feeling better, just come over. My mom will make it for you anytime.'

That was the moment I knew for sure. I had made the right decision to leave Kevin.

Everyone else in the chat was on their side, too. The conversation quickly turned into a one-sided bashing, and before long, someone started a petition asking the hospital to conduct a full investigation. They wanted to pressure the administration to take action.

As I stared at the growing list of signatures, my head started to spin. Flashbacks from my past life crashed over me like a wave, bringing back the cruel insults, the hate, and the death threats.

"Be careful walking at night. The spirits are waiting to drag you to hell!"

"You're disgusting, ruining that poor girl's life. Karma's coming for you, and your family will pay the price."

That last curse had come true. My parents had died because of me.

The memory of their deaths hit me like a punch to the gut, and I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms, drawing blood.

I couldn't let this happen again. I had to figure out what was going on before it spiraled out of control.

As I was staring at my phone, lost in thought, someone suddenly tagged me in the group chat.

'I heard Dr. Carter, who works in the same department as Dr. Lily Davis, is also working on an orthopedic paper. Could it be her who plagiarized?'

'I heard from someone on her team that her topic is the same as Lily's.'

'Rachel Carter? Isn't she the top ortho specialist? She's published so many papers. She wouldn't need to plagiarize, right?'

'But you never know. People aren't always what they seem. Who knows if her previous work was stolen, too?'

Right then, rumors spread like wildfire. Suddenly, the group chat was flooded with messages accusing me of stealing Lily's work.

And through it all, Kevin, who could've easily defended me, stayed utterly silent.

Frustration, disappointment, and a deep sense of betrayal hit me all at once. I wanted to leave the chat, to disconnect and calm myself down.

But before I could, someone posted several screenshots of Lily's latest orthopedic paper draft.

'To protect my work, I'm sharing the latest draft of my orthopedic paper with you all. Please help me if it gets plagiarized again. :(' Lily commented, adding a sad little emoji.

Meanwhile, her supporters immediately jumped to her defense.

'Don't worry! We all know how talented you are. We'll destroy anyone who tries to steal from you!' one said.

Another commented, 'Exactly! You're smart, kind, and beautiful. You deserve to be protected!'

With shaking hands, I clicked on the screenshots. The moment I saw them, an icy chill spread through me.

The content…it was identical to the handwritten draft I finished last night.