Chapter 3

Seraphina's prediction wasn't wrong. In fact, Julian's bullying came even earlier than in the previous life.

At school, my head was shoved into a sink, surrounded by the mocking laughter of a group of boys.

Just as I was about to run out of breath, someone grabbed my neck and pulled me up. Julian looked at me with a smirk:

"You want my family's money? Fine."

"Drink all the water from the toilet. Drink one gulp and I'll give you ten thousand. How about it?"

His followers cheered, excited.

I looked at Julian.

This person, who had gently declared his love for me in the previous life, was now unrestrainedly unleashing his malice upon me.

But Julian wasn't looking at me.

His gaze swept past me, looking behind me.

I knew Seraphina Finch was there, bending over to scrub the floor.

"Isn't that Seraphina Finch?"

"Why is she still scrubbing the floor?"

One of his followers told Julian, "Seraphina's mom is the school cleaner, you know. She goes to school during the day, but at night, she has to help her mom with work."

A flicker of shock, then a hint of pity, crossed Julian's eyes.

He called out loudly to Seraphina, "Hey! It's so cold, stop scrubbing. Nobody's checking anyway."

Seraphina straightened up, her black hair cascading over her shoulders, a stubborn expression on her delicate face.

She shook her head, "I can't."

"If someone comes to check and finds the floor isn't clean, Mom will have a hundred dollars deducted from her pay."

"I know a hundred dollars is nothing to a rich kid like you, but for my family, it's a week's worth of groceries."

With that, Seraphina bent down and continued scrubbing the floor.

Honestly, Seraphina's intentions were obvious. With so much floor, she specifically chose to scrub in front of Julian.

She even deliberately let her hair down and found the right angle to present herself in the most beautiful way.

Too bad for her, Julian fell for it completely.

Sure enough, Julian walked over, gently helped Seraphina up, snatched the rag from her hand, and tossed it to his followers:

"You guys, help her scrub the rest of the floor."

He glanced at Seraphina's red, frozen hands, then, after a moment's thought, draped his jacket over her shoulders:

"It's too late. How are you getting home later?"

"I'll bike."

"You're biking in this freezing weather?" Julian was shocked, then said without room for argument, "Go wait downstairs. I'll have my driver take you home."

Seraphina left, shielded by Julian.

As she walked away, she didn't forget to discreetly glance back, giving a mocking smile to my disheveled self.

A moment later, everyone dispersed, leaving only me by the sink.

Struggling to get to my feet, I used my sleeve to wipe the water dripping from my hair.

"Use this."

A cool, clear voice sounded from behind me.

I turned my head. It was Hazel, our class representative.

She was a quiet girl, very diligent in her studies, always wearing long sleeves regardless of the season.

In my previous life, she had also helped Seraphina when she was bullied.

She offered Seraphina a towel and advised her to expose Julian's bullying.

But Seraphina slapped her hand away:

"What do you know? He's my brother!"

At that time, Seraphina was still dreaming of making Julian fall in love with her.

So later, Hazel stopped bothering with her and continued her silent, solitary existence.

Even later, just before graduation, Hazel took her own life.

It was then we learned her family was incredibly poor. Her grandmother had been bedridden for years, and her father was a gambler who not only regularly abused her but also tried to sell her to pay off debts.

Now, she stood beside me, a clean towel in her hand.

I paused, then took it.

She said nothing more, turning to leave.

She probably felt there was nothing to say to a rich girl like me.

Just as her back was about to disappear, I suddenly spoke:

"Hazel!"

Her steps halted.

I scratched my head, "Uh, listen, I just transferred, and I don't know my way around yet."

"Where's the cafeteria? Can you take me there?"