Chapter 1

The year I turned sixteen, I was reborn.

I only did one thing.

I stayed as far away from Julian as possible.

In my past life, everyone saw him as a freak. He had severe autism.

On our first day of high school, he was mocked for his stutter and suddenly fell to the ground, seizing.

I was the one who carried him to the nurse's office.

After that, I stayed by his side, constantly encouraging him.

By the time he was thirty, he won the Fields Medal—the highest honor in mathematics.

But right after winning, he committed suicide, leaving behind only a single diary.

That diary was filled with confessions to another woman: Vivian.

It turned out that all those years, the one he loved wasn't me. It was Vivian.

He had even left our house to her in his will.

Heartbroken and devastated, I died on a freezing, snowy Christmas Eve.

Now that I was reborn, I watched as Vivian actively went up to greet Julian.

As for me, I quietly moved my desk to the farthest corner of the classroom, as far away from Julian as possible.

Vivian became Julian's lab partner, and because of that, she was instantly ostracized by the rest of the class.

The boy sitting behind her slipped a dead rat into her backpack. When she opened it, her face drained of all color, and she let out a bloodcurdling shriek.

Nobody expected Julian to snap.

He flipped the boy's desk over, slammed the rat right into his face, and tackled him to the ground. They instantly ended up in a brutal fistfight.

I just watched coldly from my seat.

In my past life, I was the one who had a rat thrown at me.

But when I screamed in terror, Julian had only glared at me, annoyed by the noise.

He hated how loud I was.

Seeing his reaction, the rest of the class mocked me for "simping for a freak" and called me desperate for attention.

After that, the bullying only got worse. Yet, I was naive enough to think Julian and I were in the same boat.

When he refused to clear his cluttered binders off our shared desk, I would hunch my shoulders and write on a tiny corner of the wood.

When he blocked the aisle and wouldn't let me out of my seat by the wall, I would hold my breath and wait. I'd have to climb over the back desks when the rowdy boys in the back weren't looking. For three years of high school, I barely dared to drink a sip of water just to avoid using the bathroom.

But he remained completely indifferent, treating me like air.

Yet now, Julian—who had always lived in his own bubble—actually cleared his things for Vivian.

He even fought someone for her.

How hilarious.

The things I couldn't achieve in a lifetime, Vivian did in a single minute.

After the teacher broke up the fight, Vivian gratefully slid a piece of fruit candy onto Julian's desk. She gently patted his head, treating him like a kicked puppy.

"Thanks for helping me. You're so sweet."

"It's their loss if they don't want to hang out with you."

As she spoke, she threw a provocative glance in my direction.

I frowned.

At the same time—though I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination—Julian's gaze drifted toward me for a split second before darting away.

Could it be... he was reborn too?

By lunchtime, the temperature in the classroom rose, and a foul odor began to emanate from Julian.

Vivian had already gagged twice and quietly dragged her chair outward three times.

By the time her chair was halfway into the hallway, Vivian forced a smile, trying her best to sound gentle. "Julian, do you want to go to the restroom and clean up a bit?"

Julian had injured his leg when he first enrolled, so he walked with a heavy limp.

Because of this, he was always the first to arrive in the classroom and the last to leave. He hated getting up from his seat.

In my past life, to protect his fragile self-esteem, I lied to everyone and said I worked a night shift at a greasy seafood shack, claiming the fishy smell came from me.

Even when the stench made me sick to my stomach, I swallowed my vomit and never made a sound.

But Vivian's gagging drew the attention of the entire class.

She seemed oblivious to it, continuing to coax him with fake patience. She probably thought Julian liked her, so he would do whatever she said.

But Julian just kept shaking his head, as if that was the only gesture he knew.

Vivian got a little annoyed. "Julian, hygiene is important. I'm only doing this for your own good!"

Julian's jaw clenched tight.

That was a sign of his extreme impatience.

I had seen that expression once in my past life. That time, he had sunk his teeth into my arm, leaving a bloody, mangled mess. The wound kept getting infected, and it took a whole month to barely heal.

Vivian kept nagging.

To my surprise, Julian didn't bite her. Instead, he pulled out a pocketknife and slashed his own arm.

Blood welled up instantly.

I subconsciously touched the faint scar on my own arm.

So, Julian could control his violent urges. He just chose not to control them for me.

Ignoring the sight of him bleeding, I turned around and started laughing and chatting with my new friends.

This time, Julian was just a stranger.

He had nothing to do with me anymore.