Chapter 1

In my last life, I lent someone a lighter out of kindness during a typhoon, and it earned me the name of an arsonist and left me dead in the street.

That day the rain came down in sheets, and the intern, Luther Fox, had soaked every one of his windproof lighters until not one of them would spark.

He begged me to lend him the spare kerosene lighter from my desk, then went to the warehouse door to light up and set off a flash fire.

After the fire investigation, he needed to bury the truth: that he'd been breaking the rules for days, smoking inside the warehouse, laying the groundwork for the blaze all along.

So he swore up and down that I had secretly filled the lighter with gasoline.

The whole company turned on me, and his fiancee, in a fury, had me thrown into a holding cell.

Not only was I blacklisted across the entire industry, on the day I walked out of detention a van driven by someone out of his mind plowed straight into me and threw me through the air.

Living it all over again, I land right back at the moment Luther is standing over my desk, milking my lighter for pity.

......

"Oliver Henson, can I borrow that spare windproof kerosene lighter of yours, just for a second?"

My eyes snapped open, my vision sharpening out of a blur all at once.

Luther was crouched beside my desk, both hands clamped hard on the armrests of my chair.

Cold sweat broke out down my back.

The splitting pain of a van crushing my bones seemed to linger in my body still.

I pulled my hand back into the desk drawer, my voice flat and hard.

"No."

Luther froze for a second.

Disbelief spread across his face, and open anger crept into his voice.

"Oliver, just for a second. One cigarette and I'll give it right back."

"All my lighters got soaked. None of them work."

"You've got a spare sitting right there in your drawer. Can't you cut me a little slack?"

The moment he said it, most of the keyboard clatter in the office died away.

Several pairs of eyes lifted from behind their monitors.

I looked at him coldly.

Last time, he'd crouched right here and made the same request.

I went soft and lent him the lighter, and he rushed to the warehouse door to light up, ignited the leaking dust in the air, and started the fire.

Then swore up and down that I'd filled the lighter with gasoline.

I stared at that harmless-looking face of his and spaced out every word.

"Didn't you say last time that a guy playing with a kerosene lighter looks like some hick? What, not too low-class for you now?"

"Besides, I have asthma. I stopped using kerosene lighters a long time ago. I really can't help you."

Manager Mason came striding into the office.

He slammed a stack of reports down on my desk.

"Oliver, what are you playing at?"

"You're a senior employee here. You're his mentor."

"It's just a lighter. You really have to pull rank and bully an intern over it?"

I raised my eyes to Mason.

Last time, he was the one who'd led the charge, accusing me of being jealous of the new hire.

He was also the one who'd let Luther's fiancee come to the company and make a scene.

I kicked my chair back and stood up straight.

"Manager Mason, the company has clear fire-safety rules and a no-smoking policy."

"Of all times, he wants to light a cigarette right now. Isn't that his problem?"

"If you think he's done nothing wrong, you're welcome to lend him your own windproof lighter."

Mason jabbed a finger against my desk.

"Oliver! You really have to wreck the whole department's unity over a little thing like this?"

"We're all colleagues here. You get the whole helping-each-other thing, don't you?"

"He's in a bad mood. So who's running today's data reconciliation? You handling it all yourself?"

I dropped straight back into my chair and logged into the company's admin and facilities system.

"Besides, admin always keeps lighters on hand."

"Since Manager Mason cares so much about his subordinate's health, I'd be glad to check with admin for him."

Eight minutes later, the admin assistant walked in carrying a whole box of lighters.

"Luther, you don't need Oliver's lighter anymore."

"There are plenty here. This should be more than enough for you."

Luther took the box with trembling hands and muttered under his breath.

"This kind of thing... how am I even supposed to use it? It's so tacky."

Mason shot him a glare. "Just take them and stop causing trouble."

Luther bit his lip and took the lighters.