The memories of that exam day in my past life returned with terrifying clarity. Standing outside the hall, my eyes fixed on that familiar car in the distance. Everything came rushing back. Last time, he’d sped like a madman after his first love and crashed horribly. To pull him from the wreck, I missed two critical exams. Later, to help him through therapy, I gave up aerospace engineering for nursing. I’d foolishly thought years of devotion would earn his love. But on his deathbed, he coldly left everything to his first love. He called me just a live-in maid, while she was an elegant ballerina who needed comfort. He even accused me of causing the crash to come between them, saying I’d guilted him into staying and ruined his life. He said if he could do it over, he’d rather rot disabled than be with me. All those years of sacrifice—he erased them without a thought. I’d signed away my rights to his estate, whispered “Okay,” and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was back at our final exams. This time, I’d play dumb. His life, his choices, his mistakes—none of it concerned me anymore. In this life, I’d live only for myself. 1 The final bell had just rung when my dad grabbed my arm, practically dragging me into the passenger seat of our car. He started the engine while my mom filled me in on the panic. "Did you know Ziad was secretly dating someone? Well, she dumped him right before the exams today, and Ziad..." I didn't need to hear the rest. I already knew it by heart. Just like in my previous life, Ziad took off in his dad's car to chase after his girlfriend, crashed, and permanently destroyed his legs. The only difference was that this time, I stood by and watched him drive off to his doom, then calmly walked back inside to finish my afternoon exams. By the time we rushed to the hospital, two surgeons were just stepping out of the operating room, looking absolutely exhausted. "The crash was catastrophic, and there was a delay in getting the rescue teams to the site. We managed to save his life, but there is a very high probability he will never walk again. If the post-op recovery goes poorly, we might be looking at a double amputation." The moment those words left the doctor's mouth, Ziad's mother, Valerie, broke down into agonizing sobs. Mr. Prescott held his wife up, his own face contorted in devastating grief. My parents stood frozen in shock, completely speechless. "It's just such a shame. Ziad worked so hard in school all these years, only for this to happen on the most important day of his life," my mom whispered. My dad shot her a warning look, silently telling her to shut her mouth. When they finally wheeled Ziad out, all four parents swarmed the gurney. I was the only one hanging back, staring blankly at my own hands. They were slender and smooth. There were no thick calluses. My knuckles weren't swollen and deformed from years of washing his dirty bedsheets in freezing water. I really had been reborn. And I had actually finished my exams this afternoon. In my past life, Ziad's first love, Stella, had coldly dumped him on the morning of our finals. Desperate to win her back, Ziad stole his dad's car and sped after her without a second thought. I had seen him speed off. Terrified for his safety, I hopped in a cab and followed him, which meant I witnessed the gruesome crash with my own eyes. To get him to the hospital as fast as possible, I missed my two afternoon exams. I was a straight-A student who regularly scored near the absolute top of the state, but my final score was completely ruined. I originally planned to take a gap year and retake the exams, but Ziad suddenly dropped to his knees and confessed his love to me. He told me, "The doctors said if you hadn't risked your life to pull me out of that burning car, they would have had to amputate both my legs." "You gave up your exams for me. You sacrificed your dream of aerospace engineering. I want to spend the rest of my life taking care of you. That is... if you don't mind being with a cripple." My years of secret, unrequited love for him had suddenly blossomed into reality. At that moment, my brain totally short-circuited. "But... what about Stella?" I had stammered. Ziad's eyes had filled with pure venom. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be in this wheelchair! I hate her guts!" After hesitating for a day, and listening to Ziad swear up and down that he couldn't survive without me, my stupidly romantic heart gave in. I gave up the major I was born for. To help him walk again, I enrolled in a nursing program. For the next couple of decades, my entire existence revolved around his physical therapy. He claimed he hated having strangers in the house, so I was the only one who cooked his meals, washed his clothes, and massaged his atrophied muscles every single day. I waited on him hand and foot until he finally managed to stand on his own two feet again. When he refused to wallow in self-pity and decided to start his own tech company, I was the one running around behind the scenes, handling all the grunt work. But on the night his company finally went public, during the lavish celebration banquet... I overheard him talking to his executive assistant. "Did you manage to hire Stella as my plus-one for tonight?" The assistant nodded, hesitating. "Yes, Mr. Prescott. But... what about your wife?" Ziad looked at his own impeccably tailored reflection in the mirror and let out a cold sneer. "My wife? Please. She's just the hired help." I had stood frozen behind the heavy oak doors, my fingers turning white as I gripped the fabric of my evening gown in utter humiliation. Maybe God finally took pity on me, because not long after, Ziad suffered massive complications from his old injuries and ended up back in the ICU. But right before he flatlined, he transferred every single penny of his massive estate to Stella. He even had his lawyers drain our joint accounts, giving the meager savings I had built up to her as well. "Harper, you and her are fundamentally different," he had gasped out. "You're a maid. But she is an artist. She has lived an elegant life, and she needs this money to keep her comfortable." "Besides, if you hadn't staged that entire car crash back then to play the hero, she and I would never have broken up in the first place." "You used a fake life debt to chain me down. You ruined my entire life." "If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would rather rot in a wheelchair than ever let you touch me." After serving him like a slave for half my life, I was left absolutely penniless, with nothing to my name but the calluses on my hands. In my past life, I paid the ultimate price for being blindingly, foolishly in love. 2 This time, I stood in complete silence, watching Mr. and Mrs. Prescott cry their eyes out. "He's our only son. Christophe and I poured everything we had into him. Ziad was always such a brilliant, perfect kid. Why did he have to go and fall for some girl?" "I already asked around. That girl is just some performing arts student with terrible grades. The final exams didn't even matter to her! But she had no right to destroy Ziad's life on the most important day of the year!" Valerie sobbed hysterically. My mom sighed in sympathy. "That girl really is something else. Ziad nearly died for her, and she hasn't even bothered to show up at the hospital." A flash of pure hatred crossed Valerie's face as she abruptly stood up. "We are reasonable people, but that little tramp ruined my son! The least she can do is get her ass down here and apologize!" Valerie was about to storm out to hunt Stella down, but before she could take two steps, agonizing screams erupted from inside the hospital room. "Stella! Stella!" I followed the panicked parents into the room, lingering near the back. Ziad's head was heavily bandaged, and both of his legs were locked into thick braces. He was thrashing wildly, desperately trying to sit up but failing miserably. Because I hadn't chased after him this time, rumor had it that Ziad was trapped unconscious in the crushed car for over an hour before a passing teacher finally spotted the wreck and called 911. The delay in medical attention meant his spinal injuries were far more severe. The surgeons had warned that the odds of amputation were terrifyingly high. Valerie rushed to the bedside, choking back her tears. "Don't move, sweetie! The doctors said you absolutely cannot move. Your incisions haven't even begun to heal!" Ziad stared down at his legs, blinking in confusion before forcing a weak, nonchalant smile. "It's fine, Mom. It's just a couple of broken bones, right? It's not a big deal." "Look, I can still move them." Ziad tried to shift his legs. Nothing happened. The forced smile on his face slowly froze. As he tried again and again, sheer panic began to bleed into his features. "Why can't I move my legs? It's just the anesthesia, right? It just hasn't worn off yet, right?!" His parents stood there with tears streaming down their faces, completely unable to form the words. "Say something! Tell me what's wrong!" Ziad frantically slammed his fist onto the nurse call button. The moment a nurse rushed in, he cornered her with panicked demands. "What happened to my legs?!" "Tell me right now! What is wrong with my legs!" The young nurse recoiled in shock. Just as she opened her mouth to explain, Ziad suddenly started violently punching his own thighs. "Why can't I feel anything?!" He was completely hysterical. It took three people to physically pin him down to the mattress. Watching him thrash around like a pathetic worm, a dark, twisted sense of satisfaction blossomed in my chest. I stepped up to the edge of the bed and looked down at him, enunciating every single word. "Keep punching them. Right now, your legs are just paralyzed. But if you keep smashing your own crushed bones, they'll just amputate them entirely." Ziad stiffened instantly, as if the word "paralyzed" was a bullet that had just struck him in the chest. "P-paralyzed?" Valerie finally broke down, wailing in absolute despair. Mr. Prescott rubbed his face tiredly. "Your mother and I know exactly what happened today. Now that you're in this state, that Stella girl..." Before his dad could even finish the sentence, Ziad snapped. "This has nothing to do with Stella!" "It was my fault. I was driving too fast." I lowered my eyes to hide my smirk. So this is what blind devotion looks like? She literally caused you to become a paraplegic, yet you still defend her honor in front of everyone? No matter how you looked at it, this car crash had absolutely zero to do with me. Yet in my past life, Ziad had ruthlessly pinned the entire blame on my shoulders without a shred of guilt. The difference between who he loved and who he used was glaringly obvious. In my past life, he said he'd rather rot as a cripple than have anything to do with me. Well, in this life, he gets to be a cripple, and I get to go to my dream college. Everybody wins. 3 This time around, I didn't volunteer to stay overnight at the hospital. I sat in the plastic chair for twenty minutes, then quietly went home. But the very next day, the stress and trauma caused Valerie to physically collapse. She was admitted to the hospital herself. To make matters worse, the media caught wind of the fact that a high school senior had caused a massive pile-up while driving without a valid license. The internet was tearing Ziad to shreds. Mr. Prescott couldn't handle the fallout alone. Out of desperation, my mom forced me to go to the hospital to help out, since my exams were officially over. When I walked into his room, the flicker of hope in Ziad's eyes instantly died when he realized it was me. I ignored him entirely. I just pulled up a chair in the corner and played on my phone, strictly treating my presence as a required chore. But when it was time to change his dressings, Ziad turned into an absolute nightmare. "Bed 18, time to change your bandages," the nurse said gently. Ziad whipped his head around, his eyes completely bloodshot. "Get out." The nurse sighed, clearly exhausted but completely unsurprised. She looked like she had dealt with a hundred patients exactly like him. "If we don't clean the wounds, the necrotic tissue will spread. It's going to get much worse." She stepped forward and reached out to unwrap the gauze around his shattered knee. "I said get out!" Ziad violently swatted his arm out, knocking the metal medical tray right out of her hands. Bottles of iodine and sterilized tools crashed onto the linoleum floor with a deafening clatter. I frowned and stood up. In my past life, Ziad had struggled to accept his paralysis too, but he was never this much of a violent bastard about it. I quickly replayed the memories in my head and realized the difference. In my previous life, after the crash, I had personally hunted Stella down and begged her to visit him. Thanks to my pleading, she showed up the very next day. But this time, the news of his horrific accident had spread like wildfire through the entire school, yet Stella hadn't so much as sent him a text. He wasn't angry at the nurse. He was throwing a tantrum because he was heartbroken. The young nurse looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she bent down to pick up the supplies, trying to do her job. Before she could even touch him, Ziad actually shoved her hard in the shoulder. "Are you deaf?! I said I don't need you! Are all you hospital workers this pathetic? Do you just not understand English..." My patience snapped. I marched up to the bed and slapped him squarely across the face. The sharp crack echoed in the room. "If you want to rot and die, sign yourself out against medical advice. Don't take your psychotic breakdown out on the staff." The nurse wiped her eyes, took a deep, shaky breath, and hurried out to grab a fresh tray of supplies. "Bed 18..." she started softly when she returned. I snatched the iodine and bandages from her hands and tossed them directly onto Ziad's chest. "If you want to die, do it faster. If you don't want to die, change it yourself." The nurse shot me a look of profound gratitude before practically fleeing the room. I felt genuinely sorry for her. Having to deal with a piece of trash like Ziad was far above her pay grade. Ziad was panting heavily like a rabid dog, glaring at me with pure venom. "Harper Bennett, who the hell gave you the right to hit me?!" Looking at the angry red handprint blooming on his cheek, I felt a deep sense of catharsis. "Before you act like a spoiled brat, take a look at your parents. Your mom is hospitalized from a panic attack. Your dad aged ten years overnight. What right do you have to act like a victim here?" "Just because Stella didn't visit you? If you're so mad, why don't you go throw a fit at her?" My words struck a nerve. Ziad instantly fell silent. After a long pause, his voice cracked as he mumbled, "Stella is probably just at her dance camp... She probably just hasn't heard the news yet. That's why she hasn't come." I brutally popped his delusional little bubble. "Exams are over. She was literally at the senior class party last night." Ziad's jaw clenched tight. He turned his head away, staring at the blank wall, violently refusing to accept reality. When I came back from the bathroom ten minutes later, I noticed he had quietly changed his own bandages. In my past life, I was so heartbroken by his condition that I waited on him hand and foot. I spoon-fed him. I bathed him. I basically babied him until he turned into a helpless man-child who wouldn't even swallow his painkillers unless I placed them directly into his palm. Look at him now. Left to his own devices, he's perfectly capable of wrapping his own wounds. When I got home that night, I checked Stella's Instagram. She was living her absolute best life. Parties, shopping, beach trips. After thinking it over, I opened my DMs and clicked on her name. I wanted to see exactly how she would treat him without me constantly playing the peacemaker in the background. 4 The next morning, Stella and I arrived at the hospital ward just a few minutes apart. When I walked in, Ziad looked like a corpse. The moment Stella walked in, he suddenly came back to life. His eyes lit up like Christmas morning. "Stella! You finally came." "How did you know I was here? It's so hot out today, thank you for making the trip. Harper, hurry up and go buy Stella an iced latte." Even though I had completely purged this man from my heart, the sheer audacity of his request still made me laugh out loud. In my past life, I sacrificed my college education, dedicated my life to nursing, and dragged him out of his wheelchair. Instead of showing an ounce of gratitude, he treated me like the hired help and accused me of orchestrating his accident just to trap him. I guess it really is true. The one who is truly loved doesn't have to lift a finger—they just have to exist, and they win. I didn't move an inch. Stella crossed her arms over her chest and coldly told him not to bother. She stood as close to the door as possible, keeping a massive distance between them. "I'm not here for coffee." "Ziad, what exactly is your game here? You drove like an idiot, crashed your car, and now you're trying to tie yourself to me so I'm forced to take care of you?" "Are you out of your mind? You crashed your car after I dumped you. We have absolutely nothing to do with each other anymore, do you understand?" It was the first time I had ever seen Ziad make that specific face. It was a mix of shock, profound embarrassment, and a desperate, fragile smile that looked utterly pathetic. He stammered, "Stella, no... I never expected you to take care of me, I just..." Stella ruthlessly cut him off. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't find out you had your friends spread the news of your accident all over school? You're just trying to guilt-trip me into staying!" "The harder you try, the more disgusting I find you! You're the one who refused to let me go. Are you seriously trying to drag me down with you for the rest of my life?" "Don't ever contact me again. I'm telling you for the absolute last time—we are done!" Stella spun on her heel and stormed out. Ziad actually shed a couple of tears. In his past life, he didn't shed a single tear on his deathbed. In this life, he didn't cry when he found out he was permanently paralyzed. But a few harsh words from Stella broke him completely. A vindictive smirk touched my lips. "College applications are opening up soon. I need to go home and finalize my university choices." "Mr. Prescott needs to take care of your mom, so you guys should probably just hire a professional nurse." I rattled off my exit speech, completely unbothered by the fact that Ziad didn't hear a single word of it. It didn't matter. I had fulfilled my mom's mandatory hospital visit quota. Though I did hear through the grapevine that Ziad spiked a massive stress fever that night and had to be rushed into emergency care again. 5 I stopped visiting the hospital entirely. Instead, I buried myself in textbooks on orbital mechanics and astrophysics. In my past life, Ziad degraded me as a maid because I threw away my degree for him. This time, I was going to conquer the stars. I signed up for a highly competitive aerospace engineering summer intensive, scheduled to leave in three days. But the very next morning, while my mom was helping me pack my duffel bag, her phone started ringing frantically. It was Valerie. She was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe, and the wail of police sirens echoed loudly in the background. "Get to the hospital, please, right now! That girl Ziad likes just posted a picture with a new boyfriend. Ziad lost his mind—he's trying to kill himself!" "Ziad, please, step down from there!" Valerie screamed into the phone. My parents locked eyes in absolute terror. My dad, who had been chopping vegetables, sliced right into his own thumb. "Suicide?! Let's go, let's go, get in the car!" During the chaotic drive, my parents were beside themselves. "Such a brilliant kid, totally destroyed just like that. He had such a bright future! Harper, promise me you will never get involved in high school drama. No, promise me you'll never become one of those girls who throws her life away for a boy!" My mom glared at my dad. "Don't be ridiculous! Our daughter would never be that stupid!" I sat in the backseat, silent, a bitter taste in my mouth. Actually, in my past life, I never regretted pulling him out of that burning car. But I certainly paid the price for being blindly, stupidly in love with him afterward. My mistakes in my past life forced my parents to spend their golden years worrying themselves to death over me. "Don't worry, Mom, Dad. I promise I'll never be like that." No matter who the guy is, it's never going to happen again. Instead of playing the martyr, in this life, I was going to do right by myself. 6 The streets around the hospital were gridlocked with traffic, so my mom dragged me out of the car and we sprinted the last few blocks. Police cruisers and fire trucks had swarmed the plaza. Inflatable rescue cushions were already being deployed on the pavement. The hospital room was on the 15th floor. Up there, a tiny figure in a hospital gown was dangling out of an open window. It was Ziad. Honestly, I didn't feel a shred of panic. I calmly pulled out my phone, recorded a quick video of him on the ledge, and texted it directly to Stella. Whether he genuinely wanted to die or was just putting on a psychotic show to emotionally blackmail her, that was their toxic problem to sort out. It had nothing to do with me. I just didn't want to see him die so easily. Because compared to dying, living the rest of his life like this was going to be pure agony. By the time we fought our way up to the 15th floor, Ziad was sitting precariously on the windowsill, the glass pushed wide open. All it would take was a slight lean backward, and gravity would do the rest. My mom leaned in and whispered the question everyone was thinking. "Wait... aren't his legs paralyzed? How the hell did he drag himself up there!?" My dad nudged her hard with his elbow. "Is this really the time for logistics?!" He stepped forward, raising his hands pacifyingly. "Ziad, listen to me. Come down from there. You're so young, there's nothing in this world you can't overcome." Ziad looked like a shattered porcelain doll. He pointed a shaking finger at his lifeless legs. "Look at me. What is the point of being alive?" I sent another video clip to Stella. I added a quick text: "If you don't want the guilt of a dead body hanging over your head for the rest of your life, you better get your ass down here." Valerie was slapping her own thighs in hysterics. "Come down, sweetie, please! Your life is just starting! So what if your legs don't work? We have money! Your dad and I can take care of you forever!" "Please, just come back inside!" Ziad screamed back, totally unhinged. "How?! How are you going to take care of me?! I'm never going to stand up again!" "Harper gets to go to her dream college. Everyone else gets to have a future! I have to rot in a wheelchair until the day I die!" "Mom, Dad, I really don't want to do this anymore. Just let me go." "You guys aren't that old. You can have another kid. Just make sure the next one doesn't end up a pathetic loser like me." Ziad closed his eyes and began to lean backward into the open air. Just as the entire room shrieked in horror, Stella finally burst through the doors. "Ziad Prescott, don't you dare!!!" Ziad froze on the ledge. Stella was doubled over, her hands on her knees, gasping for air. "Don't jump. I'm begging you, don't jump." "I know what you want. I agree. I'll stay with you." A flicker of pure, unadulterated joy sparked in Ziad's eyes, but he quickly forced it down, replacing it with a look of tragic martyrdom. He shook his head slowly. "I know you already moved on... I don't want to be a burden to you." Stella took a slow, cautious step toward the window. "I only did that because I was too scared to face you, but I couldn't forget you. That's why I tried to date someone else." "Ziad, I want to be with you." The moment the firefighters hauled Ziad safely back inside, Valerie collapsed onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably in relief. My mom knelt beside her, rubbing her back soothingly. "It's okay, it's okay now. Everything is going to be fine." Is it? Because the look of pure, homicidal rage burning in Stella's eyes didn't look "fine" at all.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "441000", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel