I lost a game of Truth or Dare. My boyfriend, Carter Bennett, was forcing me to go eat a pickle right off the tray of Caleb Vance, the school’s charity case. “What are you waiting for, Maya? Go! I can’t wait to see that freak lose his mind.” I rubbed my eyes. Was I dreaming? I was back in high school? Seventeen again? I walked straight up to Caleb. Under his cold, piercing gaze, I reached down, grabbed a slice of pickle from his plate, and popped it into my mouth. He looked up. His eyes were dark, freezing cold. Then, with everyone in the cafeteria watching, I dumped my entire container of expensive salmon sushi onto his tray. “Hey, Caleb. Sorry about the pickle. Consider this an upgrade. Hope you don’t mind.” I looked at the boy who would one day rule the entire tech industry, and gave him my brightest smile. “By the way, I’m Maya. Nice to finally meet you.” This year, we were both seventeen. Back then, he was drowning in insecurity, and I was the radiant, spoiled rich girl. But in this lifetime, I would never let those jerks hurt him again.
When I opened my eyes again, my boyfriend, Carter, was grinning like an idiot, nudging me to go mess with Caleb’s food. Our wealthy friends around the table immediately chimed in. “Yeah, Maya! I can’t wait to see that arrogant loser look totally humiliated.” “Ugh, so what if he gets straight A’s? He’s just a broke nobody. After graduation, he’ll probably end up fetching our coffee, haha!” Listening to them mock Caleb, I let out a cold laugh. Carter and I both came from filthy rich families. We grew up in the same gated community. Childhood sweethearts, they called us. Naturally, our circle was exclusive—only the rich and powerful. But I hated this circle. I didn’t have a choice, though. My parents controlled my life, and they didn’t let me hang out with anyone outside our tax bracket. In my past life, ten years ago, I had listened to them. I went over and snatched a pickle from Caleb’s plate. But out of guilt, I had slipped a chocolate bar onto his desk afterward. That was the only interaction we had during our entire high school years. Back then, Caleb always walked with his head down. So low, it felt like he was trying to disappear into the dirt. Ten years later, I had completely forgotten about him. Until we met again at a hot dog cart on a rainy street. By then, he was the famous tech billionaire, a powerful tycoon in Silicon Valley. And I, because of my father’s prison sentence and my ex-husband’s betrayal, had become the biggest joke in the city. “Why did we walk so far just to buy a hot dog from a street cart?” a girl carrying a brand-new Hermès Birkin complained nearby. “Oh, come on. That’s not just a hot dog. That’s a ‘golden hot dog’ made by an ex-senator’s daughter.” “Wait, is that really Maya? She looks like she’s in her late thirties.” “It’s her, alright. After her dad’s company went under, Carter dumped her. That’s why she ended up like this.” “How pathetic…” The girl with the Birkin bag smirked and walked up to my cart. “Hey, give me ten more hot dogs. Make sure they’re good. I’m going to feed them to my maid and driver.” I forced a polite smile. “Sure thing, ma’am. You’re as kind as you are beautiful.” Hearing me call her “ma’am” made her puff up with pride. “Make it twenty.” The man next to her pulled her back. “Why are you buying so many? You’re not even going to eat them.” She rolled her eyes in disgust. “As if I’d ever eat garbage food made by lower-class people.” Lower-class food. Once upon a time, I used to buy street food just to feed stray cats, never taking a bite myself. At that moment, the boomerang of my youth hit me right between the eyes. I bit my lip and forced myself to grill faster. “Let me help you with that.” When Caleb, dressed in a bespoke designer suit, suddenly appeared in front of my cart, I froze. He took me in. I was homeless, and he took me to his private estate. There was no locking me up, no forcing me into anything, nothing inappropriate. He simply acted like an old friend. He gave me a safe place to live and helped me find a decent, respectable job. I was so grateful to him. I kept trying to think of ways to repay him. But I didn’t know how. On many nights, when I went downstairs to get a glass of water, I would see Caleb standing by the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. A lit cigarette would be resting between his pale fingers. The cold moonlight would wash over him, leaving him completely isolated in a sea of loneliness. More than once, I wanted to walk up and hug him from behind, to comfort him. But I had no right. I was nobody to him.
Time passed. He truly wanted nothing from me. He had everything. Maybe he brought me home simply because he felt sorry for me. Just like the way I used to pick up stray dogs and cats when I was a kid. Until he fell ill from years of overwork. Cancer. He still remembered my birthday. He insisted on having me blow out the candles right by his hospital bed. He said, “Maya, a birthday always needs to be celebrated properly.” Yes, later on, he loved calling me Maya. Due to the brutal chemotherapy, he had lost so much weight. His eyes were sunken, and he looked like a shadow of his former self. Even his hand, as he placed the candle on the cake, was deathly pale, his wrist bones sharply protruding. He forced a weak smile. “Maya… happy… birthday.” His voice was barely a whisper. I had to lean my ear right next to his lips to hear him. I looked at him through my tears, but he just kept smiling at me. “Go on… blow out the candle.” The way he looked at me made it feel like he was trying to burn my face into his memory forever. Still smiling, his eyes slowly closed. The hand holding mine suddenly lost all its strength and slipped off the bed. The taste of grief hit me, thick and heavy, like wet leaves after a torrential storm. It hurt so bad I couldn’t breathe. Trembling, I blew out the candle and closed my eyes to make a wish. God, for my twenty-seventh birthday, please let me go back to when I was seventeen. To my absolute shock, my wish came true. When I opened my eyes again, my rich friends were pushing me. “Maya, what are you spacing out for? Go! I can’t wait to see him lose his temper.” They were grinning maliciously, looking toward Caleb’s table. Seventeen-year-old Caleb was sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, eating alone. The lighting was dim over there, and his back looked so lonely. Just like he did when he was twenty-seven. Whether he was dirt poor or filthy rich, he was always entirely alone. Seeing him young and healthy again made my eyes sting with tears. I picked up my tray and walked straight over to him. As I approached, intending to sit next to him, he noticed. He immediately squeezed himself further into the cramped corner. His tray was practically empty. Just two slices of plain toast and some pickles. An agonizing pain shot through my chest. When he had cancer in my past life, he could have fought longer with chemo. But the doctors said his body was too weak. He had suffered from severe malnutrition during his teenage years, which had permanently ruined his health. In the end, he couldn’t even survive the second round of chemo. Looking at his thin, pale face, my throat felt incredibly tight. “Hey… can I… can I have…” I tried to control my emotions, but I couldn’t even finish the sentence. He must think I’m a total psycho right now. Taking a deep breath, I stopped talking. Under his shocked gaze, I used my forks to grab a piece of his pickle and put it in my mouth. It was salty, sour, and tasted like cardboard. Caleb, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I’m late.
When I looked up, his expression was incredibly cold. “You know, they give out free pickles at the counter. Please stop playing these stupid games.” By now, half the cafeteria had stopped eating. Everyone was watching us, whispering loudly. The table right in front of us was the loudest. “Haha, Maya is savage. She actually went to mess with the Jinx. Did you know his nickname in middle school was ‘The Curse’?” “Wait, why?” “Because he literally got his own parents killed, and his little sister too—” Hearing this, Caleb’s fist clenched so hard the veins on his pale hand bulged. Before the girl at the front table could finish her sentence, I stood up and slammed my hand down. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to talk trash behind people’s backs?” Still furious, I snapped, “Oh, wait, you actually have parents, but clearly, they forgot to teach you any manners.” The girl, knowing my family was powerful, didn’t dare fight back. She just muttered under her breath, “Did she lose her mind? Wasn’t she trying to bully Caleb too?” I was so angry I was about to step out of my seat to give her a piece of my mind. But then, a cold touch wrapped around my wrist. It was Caleb. He was holding me back. “Just sit down and eat.” His tone was flat, and his face had already returned to a calm, emotionless mask. I sat back down. In front of everyone, I dumped all of my premium salmon sushi onto his plate. I gave him an apologetic smile. “This is for the pickle. Please don’t hate me.” “Oh, and by the way, even though we’ve been in the same grade forever, we’ve never officially met.” “Hi, seventeen-year-old Caleb. I’m seventeen-year-old Maya.” I flashed a bright smile and extended my hand to him. My words came out like a rapid-fire machine gun. He just stared at me, dumbfounded. “I’m done eating,” he said quietly after a long silence. He stood up and walked away. Leaving me sitting there, holding a chocolate bar in my hand that was already starting to melt from the heat of my palm. In my past life, even though I knew it was wrong, I had listened to Carter and took Caleb’s food. Because I found his food disgusting, I threw it straight into the trash. Then, out of pure guilt, I left a chocolate bar on his desk before leaving. Carter had laughed, saying that chocolate would be the most expensive thing Caleb would ever eat in his life. But ten years later, while helping Caleb organize his study, I found that exact same chocolate bar on his desk. Caleb had kept it inside a beautiful, sealed glass case. At that moment, a thousand thoughts had rushed through my mind, and my heart had broken into a million pieces. That chocolate bar was the key to his deepest, most hidden secret. But back then, the massive gap in our social status made me bury all my feelings. Besides, it was just a piece of chocolate. Did it really mean anything? I was no longer a rich senator’s daughter back then. I had no right to stand by his side.
“Maya, that was brutal. Dumping your leftovers on the Jinx? Damn, when it comes to humiliating people, you really take the crown.” Carter slid into the seat next to me, grinning. I stared at him, disgusted. So in their eyes, what I just did was a form of humiliation? Did… did Caleb think so too? Oh my god, I’m such an idiot. I just wanted him to have a decent lunch, but my execution was terrible. Jaxson Sterling sat down on my other side, speaking in his usual slow, arrogant drawl. “But why did you defend him? Those girls weren’t lying. Caleb did kill his parents and his sister. If you get too close to him, his curse might rub off on you.” Jaxson was the principal’s son. He basically ruled the school. He was violent and loved bullying weaker students, always calling it “just playing a little game.” In my past life, after my family went bankrupt, Carter’s attitude toward me did a complete 180 overnight. He actually tried to push me into Jaxson’s bed just to secure a business deal for his family. And back then, I was stupid enough to think they still cared about me. Until we went on a joint family trip, and Carter went to another room while Jaxson walked into mine. That was when I realized our entire circle was rotten to the core. I rolled my eyes at Jaxson. “Are you seriously that superstitious? If curses are real, you should be worried about getting struck by lightning for being such a piece of trash.” Jaxson’s face instantly turned red with rage. “What did you say, Maya? Say that again.” Seeing the tension, Carter quickly stepped in to play peacemaker. “Whoa, chill. Jaxson, she’s just having an off day. Don’t take it personally.” I violently slapped Carter’s hand away. “You’re no better, you absolute parasite.” Both of them stared at me, completely stunned. They couldn’t understand why the usually compliant Maya had suddenly turned into a tiger. Before they could react, I grabbed my bag and headed straight to the classroom. I couldn’t stand being near these disgusting people for another second. By the time I got back to the classroom, the bell had already rung. I would have to wait until after class to explain to Caleb that I didn’t mean to insult him with the sushi. This period was AP Calculus—my absolute worst subject. Even though my mind was racing, I forced myself to pay attention. In my past life, because I neglected my studies, I ended up at a mediocre college. After graduation, I immediately married Carter. I spent the first half of my life relying on my dad, and the second half relying on my husband. That’s how a person becomes completely useless. Because I had no real skills and a useless degree, I ended up flipping hot dogs on the street. Since God gave me a second chance, I was going to make it count. But looking at the complex math problems, I sighed and glanced around the room. My eyes landed on the left front row. Caleb was staring intently at the board. His frame was thin, his face pale. Compared to the intimidating billionaire he would become in ten years, the current him was just a shy, insecure boy. “Maya! What are you staring at? Stand up and answer the question!” Because I was staring at Caleb too intensely, the math teacher caught me red-handed. I stood up calmly and said with a straight face, “I was looking at Caleb.” The entire class gasped. Caleb kept solving his math problem, but his pale ears flushed a bright, unmistakable red. The teacher was furious. “Oh really? And what exactly are you looking at? Tell us, or you’re staying after class.” I smiled brightly. “I was looking at him because he’s handsome.” The classroom erupted into chaos.
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