Chapter 1

On the day the guaranteed graduate placements were posted, Matthew Perry from the student council marched straight into my open lecture and demanded, loud enough for the whole room to hear.

"Professor, you really had to punish me like this? I didn't come to the hotel to see you that night, so you handed my placement to someone else?"

In my last life, I assumed he'd just cracked under the disappointment of losing his spot, and I let the words go.

I never imagined that by that same day the whole campus was buzzing with it, saying I chased men, saying I traded graduate placements for sexual favors from students.

My daughter got bullied at school because of me, my parents were pointed at all over the neighborhood, and my husband couldn't stand it and divorced me, taking our daughter with him.

Matthew, meanwhile, not only collected a payout from the school, he got his graduate placement outright.

Blow after blow, storm after storm of online abuse, and I jumped.

Right before I lost consciousness, Matthew leaned in and said one thing.

"Thank you, Professor. I wouldn't be where I am without you."

Reborn, I was back on the day my suffering began, and Matthew pushed open my office door for the first time.

1

"Professor Pruitt, may I join your research team?"

I looked at him and shook my head.

"Sorry, Matthew, I don't take undergraduates."

The smile froze on his face, a flash of shock and disbelief crossing his eyes.

He clearly hadn't expected me to turn him down without a second's thought.

"Professor Pruitt, but you said before that undergraduates could come learn in your group if they asked."

"And you're the authority in this field, in our college and in the whole country."

"If you'd just give me a chance, I promise I won't let you down."

By the last words, a hard, determined light rose in his eyes.

Exactly the same as last time.

Back then, looking at this student with the polished résumé and the student council title, I really had felt a spark of interest.

That determined look especially made me think he was promising material.

I even paid out of my own pocket, giving him a stipend at the graduate student rate.

But I never realized all of it was fake.

His purpose was simple. Step on me to get what he wanted.

Seeing that look again, I couldn't help clenching my fist, my body giving an involuntary shudder.

"Matthew, I've already said I don't want undergraduates."

"I won't get in the way of the older students' research."

"I'll do odd jobs in the lab if that's all right."

"..."

No matter what he said, I only kept shaking my head.

By then a few of the other professors in the office had started chiming in too.

"Professor Pruitt, I know this Matthew kid, he's definitely promising material."

"Right, just let him learn from you."

"You wouldn't even have to manage him, Professor Pruitt, just let him help out with the grad students."

Their words meant nothing to me.

Last life, after everything blew up, these same people scattered as far as they could, and not one of them spoke a word for me.

Just then Ernest Finch, director of the academic affairs office, happened to pass by in the hallway.

"What's going on?"

The moment he saw him, Matthew said quickly, "Mr. Finch, I want to learn in Professor Pruitt's project group, but she won't take undergraduates no matter what."

"I don't mean anything by it, I just want to learn more."

Ernest looked me over.

"Professor Pruitt, this is a good thing. What's wrong with an extra pair of hands?"

I knew perfectly well that Matthew was on the student council and stood close to Ernest.

But this was my life on the line, and I wasn't going to spare anyone's feelings over it.

"Director Finch, my energy only goes so far. The grad students I already have wear me out. I don't have time for him."

Sure enough, the second I refused, Ernest's expression soured.

"Professor Pruitt! This is a school. It's a place for academic work and for serving students."

"Matthew wants to learn. Why won't you give him the chance?"

"And Matthew is on the student council. If he goes to grad school, he has a shot at a faculty position here."

"By every measure, Professor Pruitt, I think you should say yes."

I knew Ernest well enough.

Once he'd pushed it this far, refusing again would only earn me endless grief down the line.

I figured that, with a second life, I could keep a close watch on Matthew and still give Ernest his face.

I nodded. "Director Finch, I can agree. But let me be blunt up front. He has to write a formal application to the department, stating that he's joining to learn of his own free will, and have his advisor sign and stamp it, then contact me so it's on file."

Last life, Matthew twisted my letting him learn from me and work in the lab into "a test of my obedience."

And in the end he took his own failure to win a placement and reframed it as "refusing to submit to my abuse of power."

I'd had nothing I could put on the table, no way to defend myself.

This time, I wouldn't hand him that opening.

Seeing me relent, that humble smile surfaced again on Matthew's face, though the calculation in his eyes was more than he could hide.