I found myself once again pinned beneath Zachary Young’s body. In my previous life, after Zachary drunkenly slept with me, we were forced to marry when the media exposed us. But after the wedding, he pointed at me accusingly and shouted, “You schemed your way into marrying me and drove Sarah away. Are you satisfied now?” Only then did I realize the one he truly loved was Sarah, the poor student he had been supporting. To get revenge on me, he bankrupted my family and destroyed us completely. This time, I firmly pushed him away and went to open the door. “I’m in the wrong room. My boyfriend is across the hall.” The door opposite opened at that moment. Jason Harper, Zachary’s rival, was standing there. I threw myself into his arms. “Honey, I missed you so much!” Zachary’s face darkened. At the same time, I closed the door behind me. Surrounded by the heavy scent of alcohol, I was pinned beneath Zachary Young. He was as passionate as he had been in my previous life. His heavy breathing fell on my temple as he called out emotionally, “Sarah…” My whole body tensed as I suddenly came to my senses. In my past life, I had a secret crush on Zachary. When he drunkenly pinned me to the bed, my excitement and anticipation outweighed my fear. Hearing him passionately call my name, I thought Zachary must have feelings for me too. But on our wedding night, when he kicked me out of the master bedroom despite all my careful preparations, I finally understood – the “Sarah” he called out wasn’t me at all. The one he loved had always been Sarah Zhang, the poor student he sponsored, not me, Sophia Thompson. How ridiculous that I had gone along with this marriage just because of that one night of passion. I thought it was a romance we both wanted, not knowing I was walking into hell on earth. Zachary took cruel revenge on me, destroying my family and ruining us completely. The feeling of being pinned down by that despicable man was vivid in my mind. It felt like countless greasy hands were roaming over my body. In my past life, I was tortured to death by those men. Surrounded by humiliation and shame, I forcefully pushed away the person on top of me. Zachary froze beside me, but I didn’t even look at him as I stumbled towards the door. As I grabbed the doorknob, he called out my name from behind. “Sophia—” So he knew who I was after all. He knew, yet he still went along with the mistake and blamed everything on me after we married. How laughable. I didn’t even turn back as I opened the door and said coldly, “I’m in the wrong room. My boyfriend is across the hall.” The door opposite opened at that moment. Jason Harper, Zachary’s rival, was standing there. Sensing footsteps behind me, I gritted my teeth and threw myself into his arms. Then I put on the most affected voice I could muster: “Honey, I missed you so much!” “Sophia.” Zachary’s voice came from behind, seething with anger. I clung to Jason without letting go, secretly glancing back from his embrace. Zachary’s face had darkened. At the same time, I closed the door behind me. As the door shut, Zachary’s furious voice squeezed through the crack. “Don’t you dare regret this!” Of course I wouldn’t regret it. In my past life, I had done plenty of things I regretted. This time, I absolutely would not repeat those mistakes.
Just as I closed the door, a commotion of footsteps sounded from around the corner of the hallway. I suddenly remembered something and frowned, instinctively pushing Jason into his room. Soon after we closed the door, the footsteps stopped outside. “Is this the room?” “Yes, hurry and knock!” It was those reporters. In my past life, photos of me sleeping with him were leaked by these unscrupulous media outlets. Under pressure from all sides, Zachary was forced to marry me. At the time, I was overjoyed and completely failed to notice his reluctance. It wasn’t until after the wedding, when he berated me to my face and treated me coldly, that I realized. Not only that, Zachary also schemed to destroy my family’s company. After we went bankrupt, my father committed suicide by jumping off a building, unable to bear the pressure. My mother followed soon after by slitting her wrists. I became an orphan overnight, and was then sold to rich businessmen to pay off debts. Used by countless men. Those days were like hell on earth. Even now, the memory makes my whole body tremble uncontrollably. I was like a toy, an ornament, enduring their endless torture. I still remember when they first captured me. I was still naive then, and warned them with a trembling voice: “My husband is Zachary Young. If he finds out how you’re treating me—” Before I could finish, the leering man opposite burst into laughter. Then he slapped my face over and over, telling me the cruel truth. “Zachary Young? Don’t be so naive. He’s the one who sold you to us.” I knew Zachary had always loved Sarah, but I never imagined he could be so heartless towards me. Fortunately now, I had a chance to start over. I avoided the reporters and didn’t sleep with Zachary. Clutching my chest in lingering fear, the joy of my rebirth made me forget where I was for a moment. Until the man in front of me spoke teasingly. “Boyfriend?” I was stunned, then looked up. Jason Harper was raising an eyebrow at me. This was the first time I had observed him up close. His looks were completely different from Zachary’s pretty-boy appearance – harder and colder, with thick eyebrows and bright black eyes. No wonder he made countless girls in the city swoon. But now wasn’t the time to be starstruck. Hearing the door open across the hall, I quickly lowered my voice and pleaded with him: “Can you help me? Just pretend to be my boyfriend in front of Zachary for a few days. I’m leaving the country soon, you can say you dumped me then.” Jason’s expression remained neutral the whole time. After hearing me out, he just glanced at the door with an ambiguous smile. “What if I say no?” My heart leapt into my throat. I knew this was no joking matter. If Jason opened the door now and revealed what he had seen, I would be falling back into the same trap as my previous life. Thinking of this, I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, there was a hint of resolve in my gaze. “What would it take for you to agree? I’ll accept any condition.” Perhaps it was the seriousness in my tone, but Jason was taken aback for a moment. Then he stepped further into the room. “I never thought I’d see the day the high and mighty Miss Thompson would lower herself to beg.” My heart loosened a bit, knowing there was hope. I quickly followed him. By now Jason had walked over to sit by the window, dramatically picking up a glass of red wine from the table. “I suppose I could help you, but you’ll have to do something for me in return.” I nodded without hesitation: “Of course, what is it?” He held the glass by the rim, tapping it lightly with his finger. “I haven’t decided yet. Let’s say you owe me one, to be determined later.” Jason was true to his word. Those reporters didn’t get any useful information from the room across the hall, but they still refused to leave the hotel lobby. Jason snuck me out through the service elevator and we escaped unnoticed through the parking garage.
I didn’t expect the news to still break. Someone had photographed Zachary and me entering the hotel together from behind. Combined with Zachary’s state when he opened the door, the reporters were convinced he must have been on a date. But the mystery woman had only been captured from behind before vanishing without a trace. The love lives of the city’s most eligible bachelors were always a hot topic. In less than a day, news of Zachary’s secret lover spread like wildfire. Meanwhile, he was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning. The next day at breakfast, my parents scrolled through their phones and asked me, “Is it true Zachary’s dating someone?” I played dumb: “I don’t know, we haven’t been in touch lately.” I scrolled through my own phone for a while, only relaxing after confirming Zachary hadn’t revealed my name to the cameras. Right after, a message from him popped up on my screen. “Come see me at the hospital.” His tone was as commanding as ever. I instinctively wanted to refuse, but thought better of it. If I angered him, he might leak my name to the media and cause a whole new mess. That afternoon, I got ready and went to the hospital. When I pushed open the door, I saw Zachary recklessly working on his laptop in the hospital bed. Seeing me enter, he immediately closed the laptop and pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up his nose. His face was pale as he coldly questioned me. “When did you start liking Jason Harper?” Without waiting for my answer, he continued firing accusations: “Do you know what kind of person Jason Harper is? Everyone in our circle says he’s gay, always surrounded by male escorts. You—” “I’ve liked him since I was little,” I said softly, cutting him off. I forced myself to ignore the shocked expression on Zachary’s face. Though they ran in the same circles, Zachary and Jason were well-known rivals. Zachary was the typical golden boy – excelling at everything, perfect in every way. In contrast, Jason was a troublemaker. Yet from childhood through adulthood, Jason’s grades had always surpassed Zachary’s. Even when they started their own businesses as adults, the two remained competitors in the same field. The one I had liked since childhood was actually Zachary. When I was young, my parents were always busy with work. We had just moved to the city from out of state, and I wasn’t familiar with the area yet. One day I snuck out of our mansion to play, but accidentally got lost. I couldn’t find my way home even as it got dark, and ended up crying by the roadside. That day, Zachary appeared before me like an angel, gently wiping away my tears with a tissue. “Don’t be afraid, I’ll take you home,” he said. He held my small hand and really did bring me back to my front door. From then on, I became Zachary’s little shadow. My childhood crush gradually became a habit, and I secretly loved him all this time. Hearing my response, Zachary’s expression grew increasingly ugly. “Sophia, this isn’t a joke. Of all people, why would you like that plague—” Just then, there was a polite knock at the door. It was Sarah Zhang. Seeing me, her expression didn’t change at all as she set down the thermos she had brought on a nearby table. “I saw the news that you were hospitalized and rushed over. This is soup I made myself, it’s very good for you. Drink it while it’s hot.” Sarah spoke unhurriedly in a soft, pleasant voice, a smile constantly on her face. Such a caring demeanor – what man wouldn’t like it? Seeing her, Zachary’s expression softened. “You didn’t have to go to the trouble of making it yourself.” Sarah sat down beside him, inadvertently squeezing me to the side. I took the hint and excused myself from the room. In this life, I hoped the two of them would end up together for good.
Zachary and I could be considered childhood sweethearts. After he rescued me that day, he introduced me to his other friends. Growing up, we attended the same elite schools and were seen as an ideal couple by others. When I first arrived, it was Zachary who repeatedly stood up for me, firmly telling others: “She’s with me, don’t you dare bully her.” In high school when classmates tried to give me love letters, Zachary would rush out to intercept them, warning: “She’s mine, back off.” We went to school together, came home together, and were part of almost every big and small moment in each other’s youth. I always believed Zachary had feelings for me too. Until Sarah Zhang appeared.
Sarah Zhang was a charity case sponsored by Zachary’s family. He paid for her college tuition at the same university as us. I’m not sure when it started, but Sarah gradually infiltrated our lives. Zachary began attending club activities with Sarah, taking her to off-campus English training camps, and even inexplicably getting called away to tutor her when he was supposed to be in class with me. I was slowly pushed to the outside, suddenly becoming a third wheel. In a panic, I couldn’t help wanting to confess my feelings to Zachary. But before I could get the words out, he cut me off coldly. He said: “Sophia, don’t. I’ve always seen you as a sister.” After that, he started appearing with Sarah even more frequently. They became the Cinderella and Prince Charming of campus, while I was cast as the evil stepsister in their story. For a group project in our major, Sarah was absent and didn’t submit her research. I truthfully reported this to the professor, but when I returned to the classroom, I found her in tears in front of everyone. “Sophia has always disliked me. I can accept being ostracized by her, I just want to graduate in peace.” That day, the way Zachary looked at me – I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life. That evening, I went to pick up my best friend Rachel from work. In the car, when Rachel heard I had given up on Zachary and was now with Jason, she nearly dropped her jaw in shock.
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