Chapter 1
I gave up MIT for them in my last life.
They paid me back by stealing my lab notes, framing me for misconduct, and choosing her over me when I drowned.
I watched them choose her over me a hundred times
Now I’m 17 again. I block all three and fly to MIT.
They think I’m throwing a tantrum.
Wait till they find out who saved them out of that cave—
The biting chill of the stainless-steel lab bench shocked me awake.
I gasped, my lungs burning as if I were still dying in that freezing, mold-infested rental apartment. But the air here smelled of ethanol and ozone, not decay.
I stared at my hands. The skin was smooth, pale, and unblemished. The ugly chemical burns from the lab explosion Moira orchestrated were gone.
My eyes darted to the digital clock on the wall. October 15th.,2025!!!
I grabbed my phone from the counter. The screen glared back at me: MIT Early Decision Deadline in 3 days.
I was seventeen again!
God actually gave me a second chance.
I remembered rejecting the MIT early admission just to follow Xavier and Magnus to UC Berkeley.
I had foolishly believed I would spend a blissful, uninterrupted college life with my two childhood friends by my side.
To me, they were the guiding lights who had protected me since we were kids, offering the unconditional warmth and anchor my divorced parents never bothered to give. I thought we were inseparable.
It wasn't until my last agonizing breath that I realized the brutal, humiliating truth: the only woman they ever truly loved was Moira.
Immediately, I opened my laptop and logged into the college application portal. Staring at the joint UC Berkeley application draft I had spent weeks perfecting, I felt a wave of profound disgust.
I hit Delete.
Without a second thought, I uploaded my solo research portfolio, completely rewrote my personal statement, and submitted my application for MIT Early Decision.
Then, I dialed my chemistry mentor, Professor Davis.
"Seraphina?" His voice crackled through the speaker, laced with shock. "Did you just submit your MIT application? I thought you were dead set on going to Berkeley with the boys."
"I was just being willful and immature before, Professor," I said, my voice steady and cold. "MIT is where my future is."
"Brilliant! I'm thrilled, Sera. This is where you belong."
I hung up, packed my backpack, and drove back to the California villa my parents had thrown at me after their divorce.
"Surprise!"
The grand living room was aggressively decorated with blue and gold balloons.
Xavier Sterling, the heir to California’s top tech empire and our school's untouchable physics prodigy, stood by the dining table. His usually cold, aristocratic face was softened into a practiced, gentle smile.
Magnus Thorne, the rebellious heir to a real estate fortune and the notoriously arrogant center of the varsity basketball team, bounded over with a freshly frosted cake in his hands.
And right between them stood Moira. She wore an oversized beige cardigan, looking as fragile and innocent as a white lotus trembling in the wind.
"Sera, you're back!" Moira coughed delicately into her sleeve, then beamed at me. "We're celebrating! The four of us, officially committing to UC Berkeley together!"
Magnus grinned, his boyish, arrogant charm on full display. "Yeah, Sera. You better keep tutoring me, or I'm going to fail out freshman year."
Xavier walked over, pulling out a chair for me. His dark eyes met mine, feigning a deep, attentive warmth. "You've worked hard lately. Sit down. Let's celebrate our future."
Looking at their handsome faces, my stomach churned.
Before I could speak, my phone buzzed. It was Professor Davis again.
I answered it right there in the hallway. "Professor?"
"Sera... I don't know how to say this." He sounded furious, his voice trembling with helpless rage. "The USNCO state finalist roster was just published. You’ve been replaced by Moira."
Silence stretched between us.
"The Sterling and Thorne families... their board members called the principal directly," Professor Davis continued bitterly. "They cited Moira's 'extenuating medical circumstances.' They bought your spot for her."
“Fine, I got it. ” I said
He paused, clearly expecting me to explode into tears or scream in anger. "This is a massive opportunity and honor, Sera! Are you really going to let Moira take it?"
I slowly lowered the phone. Moira was watching me. She knew exactly what this phone call was about.
Xavier and Magnus stood beside her, entirely complicit in stealing my hard-earned competition slot for another girl.
"Yes," I said calmly to the phone. I even smiled. "Let her have it."
Professor Davis gasped. "Sera?"
"It's fine. Thank you, Professor." I ended the call.
Not just the competition slot. I was letting her have Xavier and Magnus, too. I had no use for recycled trash.
As I stared at Moira's victorious smirk, the agonizing memory of my past life's final moments violently tore through my mind.
I remembered the freezing, mold-infested rental room.
I remembered coughing up blood, my body shutting down after being expelled, disgraced, and utterly abandoned.
I remembered Xavier, standing beside Moira at the press conference. “Seraphina’s academic misconduct is a disgrace,” his cold voice had echoed through the speakers.
I remembered Magnus, the boy whose grades I dragged out of the gutter, blocking the door when I tried to expose the truth. “Moira is sick, Sera! She needs this patent for her medical bills. Why are you so selfish?”
I remembered Moira had stood over my deathbed, wearing designer clothes bought with the patent money she stole from me. She didn't look sick at all. She looked radiant.
"Why?" I had gasped out, clutching my chest.
Moira had laughed, a shrill, ugly sound that echoed off the peeling wallpaper. "Why? Because I'm jealous of you, Seraphina! You were born a wealthy heiress. You're a 'genius.' You had Xavier and Magnus wrapped around your finger. Everyone envied you! I had to claw for things you got effortlessly. I couldn't stand it."
She leaned in close, her eyes filled with manic glee. "I wanted to see you in pain. I wanted to prove that everything you cherished was just an illusion I gave you! They never loved you, Sera. You died a pathetic, unloved joke."
"Sera?"
Magnus’s voice dragged me back to the present. He was waving a hand in front of my face, looking mildly annoyed. "Did you hear Moira? She asked if you want the first slice of cake."
I blinked. The lavish living room snapped back into focus.
Moira stepped forward, holding out a porcelain plate. "You look pale, Sera. Was it bad news on the phone? Did something happen with the competition?"
I looked at the cake. Then I looked at Xavier, who was watching me with fake concern, and Magnus, who was cluelessly waiting for me to play my part.
They were waiting for the old Seraphina. The desperate girl who craved their affection so much she would swallow any poison they fed her.
"No," I said, my voice perfectly smooth, devoid of any warmth. "It wasn't bad news at all. It was exactly what I expected."
I didn't take the plate. Instead, I walked right past them, heading straight for the staircase.
"Wait, where are you going?" Xavier frowned, his gentle mask slipping for a fraction of a second. "We set all this up for you."
"I'm tired," I said, not bothering to look back. "Enjoy the cake."
I had no time to waste on local high school drama. With my MIT application submitted, I needed to secure an independent lab to finalize my independent research project.
Pushing open the heavy oak doors of the science building, my path was instantly blocked by a wall of deep red roses.
"Sera! Wait up."
Magnus Thorne stood at the bottom of the stairs, his towering 6'4" frame clad in his signature varsity basketball jacket. He shoved the massive bouquet toward me.
Standing right beside him was Xavier. His usually cold, aristocratic face was forced into an uncomfortable, gentle expression. He held a custom-made velvet box containing the limited-edition fountain pen I had admired last month.
"We heard about the roster," Magnus said, running a hand through his messy blonde hair. He gave me his trademark roguish grin—the one that used to make my teenage heart skip a beat. "Don't throw a tantrum, okay? It's just one stupid competition. Moira really needed a win today."
"We wanted to make it up to you," Xavier added, his tone smooth, though his eyes lacked any real warmth. "We're going to my family's private library this weekend to prep. Be our study partner? You can bring your physical data notebooks. We can work together."
I looked at the roses. I looked at the pen. Then I looked at the two boys who had literally watched me die in my past life.
And they were playing along perfectly, sacrificing my future to repay a fake debt to her.
"You guys bought these just for me?" I asked, my voice dangerously soft.
Magnus let out a breath of relief, thinking I was successfully appeased. "Of course, Sera. You know you're special to us."
"Fascinating."
