I was the ultimate simp. My bestie must have told me to dump Jake a hundred times. I never listened. When my boyfriend announced he was a business genius and decided to open an herbal burger joint with his girl best friend, Sam, I didn’t hesitate. I drained my savings for him. Then he claimed they were desperately short-staffed. I quit my $18,000-a-month job to work for free. Then I caught them. Jake said he was off for a “business meeting” with Sam. The business was her, naked in our bed. As I sobbed, Sam had the nerve to shrug. “Don’t overthink it, Chloe. Best friends can have super intense meetings under the covers. It’s all for you, so Jake can marry you!” Like an idiot, I almost believed her. Until the business went bankrupt, and Jake ran off with Sam and all the cash, leaving me with $700,000 in online loans. The debt collectors drove me to the roof’s edge. I jumped. Then I opened my eyes. I was back on the day Jake first pitched his brilliant business idea. My bestie Harper burst in, her eyes red. “Chloe, ‘love blindness’ is a real condition now. Insurance covers it.. You HAVE to get treated!”
“Harper, what are you talking about?” Jake stomped over, scowling. “Are you trying to sabotage my relationship with Chloe again?. Then he turned to me, his tone dripping with possession. “Chloe, I’m planning to open an herbal burger joint.I’m short on cash. Hand over your savings.” My love-blind self was already nodding, ready to agree. “No!” Harper cut in fiercely. “An ‘herbal burger joint’? Does that even sound like a real business? Chloe, do NOT give him your money! Come with me. Now!” Harper squeezed my hand so hard, I nearly cried ou. But when I met her tear-filled, red eyes, the truth slammed into me. Harper and I had both been reborn. The last time I saw that look in her eyes was right after I jumped. She had cradled my broken body, sobbing hysterically. And I, a mere wisp of a soul, could do nothing to wipe her tears away. My eyes instantly welled up too, and a sudden calm washed over me. I spoke to Jake, my voice stiff. “Jake, I suddenly don’t feel so good. I’m going to have Harper take me home to rest.” “I’ll figure out the money situation later.” Jake frowned, annoyed, and let out a dismissive “Tsk.” “Fine, whatever. Just send the money over as soon as you can.” I nodded, then pulled Harper and turned to leave. As we walked, Harper vented, shaking her head in frustration. “Chloe! Snap out of it!” “You just said you weren’t feeling well, and he didn’t even care! All he thought about was getting his hands on your money.” “Are you seriously going to keep being a ‘love-blind’ idiot for a guy like that?!” Once we were in the car, I urgently prompted her. “Harper, hurry! Let’s go to the hospital!” Harper’s eyes lit up. “Chloe, what did you say?!” I looked into her sparkling eyes, stating each word with serious intent. “You’re right. ‘Love-blindness’ is covered by insurance now. I’m going to get my brain fixed!”
Lying in the hospital operating room, the anesthesia needle slowly sent me into a hazy state. In my dream, I saw the debt collectors from my past life again. Last time, Jake used my phone to take out $700,000 in online loans. After the herbal burger joint went bust, he just ran off with Sam. He left me with nothing but a huge mess and those $700,000 in debts. Several tall, mean-looking guys with tattooed arms blocked my front door, yelling and banging, their mouths spewing obscenities. “You damn bitch, pay up now!” “No money? Then go sell yourself! If you don’t pay, we’ll drag you off and sell you to traffickers!” I huddled in my room, trembling and crying, calling Jake. “Jake, please, pay me back…” Jake just coldly replied, “You’re the one who owes the money, not me. Figure it out yourself. Don’t bother me.” From his end of the call, I heard Sam’s voice, sickly sweet yet trying to sound tough. “Ugh, women are so annoying with all their crying.” “Jake, forget her. Come on, have a drink with Daddy!” The next second, the call was cut, leaving only the endless “beep, beep, beep” of a busy signal. In the silent darkness, I curled up in the corner of my room, shaking and in tears. The banging and shouting from outside were terribly loud and terrifying. The scene shifted. My dream moved to the rooftop. I stood at the edge, dialing Jake’s number one last time. “Jake, I’m dying. The debt collectors are killing me…” What came through the receiver, though, was the sound of heavy, breathless panting, enough to make anyone blush. Jake was gasping, his voice hoarse but brutal. “If you’re going to die, just do it. You don’t need to tell me.” Sam’s voice echoed with an ambiguous laugh, a teasing purr. “Women are so annoying, Jake. Just block her.” The call was disconnected again. When I tried calling back, Jake had actually blocked me. In that moment, my heart turned to ash. I leaped, falling from the rooftop onto the hard concrete below. Bright red blood stained the ground. It hurt so much, truly agonizing… “No! Stop!” I jolted upright, my eyes filled with regret and terror. Harper, sitting by my bed, immediately grabbed my hand. She gently patted my back, soothing me. “Chloe, don’t be scared. The surgery is over.” “Your ‘love-blindness’ has been cured.” Two days later, I was discharged, completely recovered. After my insurance covered it, the whole thing cost me less than $500. And my love for Jake? It was completely wiped clean. This time, I was going to make them pay tenfold for all the pain they’d inflicted on me! My phone suddenly rang. It was Jake. He impatiently demanded, “Chloe, why haven’t you sent me the money for the shop yet?!” “I need to pay the store’s deposit! Hurry up and send me the money!”
After hanging up, I went straight to the bank. I locked all my savings into a long-term CD and canceled all my credit cards. Then I changed my phone password to stop Jake from taking out more loans. Only then did I go to inspect Jake’s chosen location. I stared at the three-story building. My unpaid workplace for six months. And I laughed. It was sandwiched between a McDonald’s and a KFC. A Burger King stood directly across the street. And Jake wanted to open his “herbal burger” joint here, under siege by fast-food giants. The very idea turned my stomach. Who would ever eat that? But the biggest fool was my past self who funded it. Not this time. I put on a troubled face and fidgeted. “Jake, my parents locked my savings in a long term CD,” I said. “And I maxed out all my credit cards last month. I cannot get any money right now.” Seeing Jake frown and ready to explode, I cut in quickly. “Jake, you said you saved $28,000 for our wedding. Why not use that? When we marry, I won’t ask for a single dollar. Consider it my investment in your startup.” His frown deepened, a flicker of guilt crossing his face. I smirked inside. That wedding fund was a fantasy, an empty promise he never meant to keep. I didn’t press him, instead shifting gears with a tone of innocent concern. “But… your herbal burgers don’t sound very appetizing. Will people actually eat them?” The moment I questioned him, Jake’s annoyance flared. “This is a project Sam and I researched personally! It perfectly merges health consciousness with modern food trends!” “What the hell do you know? Just keep quiet if you don’t understand!” Sam chimed in from the side, “Ugh, women just have such a narrow view, no vision at all.” “Our herbal burger joint is entering a completely blank market right now. There’s so much money to be made!” I wanted to burst out laughing. Seriously, Sam? Have you ever stopped to think why the market is blank? It’s because this garbage won’t make any money! But Sam was still lost in her self-proclaimed brilliant vision. She slapped Jake on the butt, winking and grinning. “Jake, Daddy here has found us the ultimate path to riches! We’re going for it, even if we have to take out loans!” “We’ll take over this whole three-story building! Herbal burgers on the first floor, boba tea on the second, and a trendy rooftop patio for Instagram on the third! It’s going to be an instant hit the moment we open!” Last time, they did exactly the same thing. Before they even opened, they blew nearly $100,000 on renovations for all three floors. But after opening, nobody bought the herbal burgers, and the generic tea shop on the second floor was completely ignored. As for the trendy rooftop patio? Only mosquitoes and flies ever ‘checked in’ there. In my previous life, I tried to convince them not to invest so much money all at once, to just try one floor first. But then I was called timid and lacking vision. This time, I mentally gave Sam a huge thumbs-up! Go for it! Take out massive loans! You two deserve to experience what it’s like to be hounded by debt collectors, driven to despair. But on my face, I maintained a worried expression, deliberately questioning, “Can that really work? What if your judgment is wrong and you lose everything?!” Sure enough, Jake, who couldn’t handle even the slightest challenge, got even more hyped up. “What the hell do you know?! Sam and I picked this project! How could we lose money?” “We’re listening to Sam! We’re taking all three floors and making it a huge, bustling success!” They exchanged a sweet glance, lost in their delusional dreams of getting rich. Watching their public display of affection, in my previous life, I would have been consumed by jealousy and self-doubt. Now, I just felt utterly disgusted.
I was about to make an excuse to leave when Jake dropped another task on me. “Chloe, you’re an interior designer. The design and renovation are all on you.” Memories of my past life flooded back-a brutal experience that would make a slave driver wince. Sam was impossible. She wanted American style one day, vintage the next, then industrial. She bombarded me with hundreds of photos but never gave a clear direction. “Just show me what you come up with,” was all she said. My designs changed constantly, shifting styles, sometimes reverting to the first draft. She made impossible demands, like asking for “a colorful black,” just to mess with me. I went back and forth 99 times before she finally approved one. When Jake found out, he patted Sam’s shoulder sympathetically. “Poor Sam, you worked so hard. It’s Chloe’s fault for being so incompetent.” The memory makes my blood boil. But not this time. I’m done playing. Let’s see what masterpiece Sam can create without her free, devoted labor! So, I put on my troubled face again. “I sprained my hand a couple of days ago. The doctor said I need a lot of rest, so I can’t draw any designs for at least two months.” Jake raised his voice, agitated. “Two months?! We can’t wait that long!” “Why did you have to sprain your hand at such a bad time?” I put on a hurt and regretful expression, looking down, but in my head, I’d already cursed that selfish jerk eight hundred times. Sam, looking completely confident, spoke up. “Forget it, I don’t think she’d design anything good anyway.” “I’ll handle the design and renovation. I’ll make it so dazzling it’ll blind you all!” A few months later, Sam’s renovation finally blindsided me. She had spent nearly $200,000. The result was pure apocalyptic junkyard chic. It looked like she’d just dumped a bunch of hideous, eye-sore second-hand furniture into a bare concrete shell. That was it? Any customer walking in would probably burst into tears from the ugliness. But Sam proudly declared, “Look at my design style! Isn’t it super cool? Super badass?” Jake’s expression was a little complicated. He awkwardly glanced around a few times before finally managing to squeeze out, “It definitely… has style…”
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “305924”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic #重生Reborn
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