Five years after I was brought home, I died in a car accident. As my soul left my mangled body, I wondered how my parents—who had always despised me, regretting the day they brought me home—would react. Would they be heartbroken? Or would they feel relieved? The answer was neither. My dad used a business trip as an excuse to skip my funeral altogether. My mom shed a few crocodile tears but later confided in her friends that she felt a weight had been lifted. My brother thought my death was a blessing. No one would be trying to take what he thought was rightfully his sister’s anymore. They even went on a family vacation abroad to comfort their adopted daughter, who had shed a few insincere tears. Seeing all this, I gave a bitter laugh. I had overestimated my importance in their lives. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day my parents came to the orphanage to take me home. Looking at my parents sitting across from me, their eyes red and voices trembling with emotion, I knew I had been reborn. It was the same scene and the same words that had moved me to tears in my previous life. As a child who grew up in an orphanage, I had been overjoyed to finally have a family and the love I had always longed for. But the excruciating pain of being crushed by a car in my last moments still sent shivers down my spine. I clenched my fists to suppress the disappointment of being ignored and dismissed by my so-called family after my death. Seeing my silence, my parents thought I was just unfamiliar with them. My mom took my hand and led me upstairs. “Zoe, the rooms on the second floor are for us to rest. You can pick one you like.” I scanned the area and settled on the sunniest room, filled with pink and exquisitely decorated like a princess’ bedroom straight out of a fairy tale. In my previous life, I had thought my parents had prepared this room for me, and I had chosen it with delight. However, my choice had made my parents’ expressions freeze awkwardly. Then, my mom forced a smile and said, “Zoe, this room is Bella’s. She’s your sister. If you like the decoration, we can do the same for your room.” I was puzzled and asked, “Sister? Mom, I thought I was your only daughter.” My mom choked on my words and her face changed slightly. “Bella was adopted after you got lost. She’s your sister now.” I felt a pang of disappointment. They had adopted another daughter to replace me after I was lost. Feeling a mix of bitterness and jealousy, I wanted to prove that I was more important to them than their adopted daughter. “Mom, I’m your biological daughter. This room is rightfully mine, isn’t it?” My parents were left speechless. Just as they were caught in a dilemma, Bella Brooks, who had returned without my notice, stepped in to ease their embarrassment. “I’m already happy to be your child. I don’t mind giving up the room,” she said with a forced smile, though the hurt in her eyes was evident to my parents. Bella was the same age as me but far more mature. Compared to her, I seemed rude and petty. After a long silence, my dad spoke up, “Zoe, wouldn’t you prefer a brand-new room? We can decorate it exactly the same way.” He was trying to persuade me for Bella’s sake. They clearly favored her over me. What did that make me to them? I fell silent, and the atmosphere grew awkward. Bella broke the silence. “If Zoe likes it, she should have it. It’s just a room.” She began packing her clothes. My mom watched, her eyes filled with sympathy for Bella, but Bella shook her head gently. In my previous life, I had ignored all this and gleefully thought I had won my place in their hearts.
I moved into Bella’s room, and she was relocated to an even more lavishly decorated space that my parents had prepared to make up for it. When my brother, Alex Brooks, returned, Bella was tearfully packing her new room. Alex’s anger flared. He dragged Bella to confront me. “You, from the orphanage, have no manners. You just got here and you took my sister’s room. Get out of my house!” I was exploring the room, admiring a delicate cup, when Alex’s furious face made me drop it. The shattering glass echoed through the house, bringing my parents upstairs. Alex turned to our parents. “Bella has been with you for years, and yet you let an outsider take her room. Does blood really mean that much?” I was stunned. They were my parents, my brother, my family. Why was I the outsider? Our parents remained silent, implicitly agreeing with Alex’s words. It turned out they didn’t think of me as family. In the days that followed, the more I lacked something, the more I tried to prove myself. Under Bella’s influence and my own foolishness, I competed with her in everything, yet I always fell short. Later, Bella won the international piano competition. At her celebration party, I was ridiculed by her friends. Humiliated, I ran out of the hotel and was hit by a speeding car right outside the entrance. Inside the hotel, there was joy and celebration; outside, I was alone, bidding farewell to the world. In my last moments, memories flashed before my eyes, fleeting and gone. In this life, I wouldn’t be a fool again. Reborn, I would recognize what I truly wanted and stop chasing after a love that wasn’t worth it. “Any small room will do.” My parents were taken aback by my modest request. “Are you sure? Do you need us to decorate it?” they asked, pretending to care. “No need. A simple room is fine. Actually, a smaller room makes me feel safer.” Their relief was evident. They were more than happy to let me stay in a shabby, cramped room. When Bella came back and saw me moving my luggage into the small room, she put on a show. She approached me with a carefully wrapped gift. “Zoe, I got you a necklace as a welcome-home gift.”
Before I could react, Bella pulled out the necklace and reached for my neck, pretending to trip backward as if I were pushing her. But I was ready for this. As she leaned back, I grabbed her arm, and instead, I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Bella was taken aback by my move, while I calmly stood up, dusting myself off. “Thanks for the gift, but you should be more careful. You almost hurt yourself. Good thing I caught you. Otherwise, you’d be the one on the floor,” I said, my voice steady. Bella was speechless, her plan foiled. I wasn’t naive. I knew exactly what she was up to. In the previous life, it was the room, and in this life, it was the necklace. Bella had always been a master of backup plans, scheming to make me her shadow. But I wasn’t falling for it. I had changed my path this time, and her schemes seemed almost comical to me. I had learned to love myself in this life, and I wasn’t interested in anything she cared about. When I was reborn, all I wanted was to leave this family, be independent, and find my own worth. “I’m really too clumsy. I just wanted to give you the necklace and get along with you, but I ended up causing trouble,” Bella said, still quick on her feet. Her words, of course, were not for me but for our parents. “I’m just a burden. Everything I do seems to cause trouble,” she continued. Sure enough, my mom couldn’t bear to hear that. She pulled Bella into her arms and comforted her, “Of course, you’re not a burden. No one in this family is a burden. You’re all my treasures.” My dad chimed in, “Parents never think their kids are a hassle.” When similar things happened to me, I was just a troublemaker. But with Bella, they assured her that no parent would ever think their child was a burden. In my past life, when I stumbled, they called me clumsy and told me not to embarrass them. I didn’t want to watch their act anymore, so I walked straight into my room and shut the door. Through the thin walls, I could faintly hear Bella’s voice. “Does Zoe not like me?” “Zoe’s just tired,” my mom quickly replied. My dad added, “She left without saying a word. Kids from the orphanage really need to be taught some manners.” I pulled the blanket over my head with a cold laugh, blocking out their voices. What was there left to expect from a family like this? When I came downstairs, the only people around were the maids cleaning up. As expected, my parents were probably comforting Bella after her little performance and taking her out to cool off. I grabbed my book and headed for the door. It was time to start planning my future. I was still a student. Getting into a good university was my only way to a better life. Just as I was about to leave, Alex was walking back in. We locked eyes, and he looked at me warily, like I was some thief. “Where do you think you’re going, Zoe?” he asked. “To the library to study,” I replied honestly. Alex let out a mocking laugh. “Don’t be pretending. Are you really going to study or just trying to act like the perfect child and steal Mom and Dad’s attention from Bella?” I ignored him, but he wasn’t done. “I’m warning you. No tricks. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never replace Bella in their hearts.” In both lives, Alex had always seen me as someone out to steal the love meant for Bella, as if I were the villain trying to break up their perfect family. But who cared what he thought? I walked past him without another word, heading for the library. Alex wasn’t giving up. “Watch it, Zoe. Keep your fox tail hidden. I’m onto you!” Dinner was a family affair—Mom, Dad, Bella, and Alex were all there. They had planned a big dinner to announce me as their child. In my past life, I had eagerly anticipated this dinner, competing with Bella every step of the way. But it never happened. I kept asking, and they kept making excuses. In the end, they blamed me for being selfish and vain. “You only think about yourself. You never considered how Bella would feel, and how she might be judged at this dinner. You’re so selfish and conceited! “You’re nothing like a Brooks. You only think about yourself and don’t care about others. How could I have a daughter like you?” Back then, I didn’t understand. It was their idea and their promise, so why did they turn it around and call me selfish? So, in this life, I refused when they brought it up. “There’s no need to waste time and money on a fancy dinner. It’s enough that we know the truth among ourselves,” I said. My parents were shocked. After all, I had grown up in an orphanage, and they hadn’t expected me to turn down such a grand event. Bella couldn’t hide her relief, but she still pretended to persuade me. “A dinner would help more people get to know you.” “No, thanks. I don’t like noisy dinners. It doesn’t matter if people know me or not,” I insisted. My firmness pleased my dad, who was worried about the cost and didn’t think I was presentable enough for such an event. He was afraid I’d embarrass him. My refusal made them happy, but they were too concerned with appearances to let it go. “This dinner could help you expand your social circle. It’s a good idea,” they insisted. Their act was so transparent. It was almost funny. Thinking of what I was about to do next, I said, “Since you’re so concerned about me, I guess I can’t say no.” Their smiles froze as soon as the words left my lips.
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