Chapter 1

The darling of the screen, Mandy Creel, took a fall from her horse during a shoot and nearly lost her face.

I gave everything I had in the operating room. But despite my best efforts, a faint scar remained.

And for that, Mandy unleashed the internet on me.

"I don't blame Dr. Zendaya Kenton," she told the press sweetly. "She's just... not very skilled. I'm sure she is not jealous of me."

The hospital suspended me. They demanded outrageous compensation. Even my boyfriend turned on me, accusing me of envy and a lack of medical ethics.

In the end, one of Mandy's obsessed fans shoved me off a building.

But when I opened my eyes, I was back. Back on the very day Mandy came to me for surgery.

Silently, I turned on the hidden camera and placed the waiver form on the table.

I asked her deliberately, "As long as there's no scar, that's all you care about, isn't it?"

*****

The trending topic read: [Innocent Starlet Mandy Creel Falls Off Horse While Filming, Up-and-Coming Businessman Hayden Gilliard Comes to Her Rescue.]

The topic climbed to the top of the trending list, and I casually clicked on it.

It turned out that Mandy had fallen off a horse, and the elegant, unapproachable Hayden Gilliard, totally lost his composure. He even forgot to dodge the cameras and carried Mandy straight to the hospital bridal-style.

In the photo, Hayden was rocking a crisp shirt, looking every bit the tall, handsome CEO.

Mandy was draped in Hayden's suit jacket, curled up in his arms, her arms around his neck, her flawless legs on full display. She looked so fragile that it tugged at people's heartstrings.

The size difference and their intimate posture made the photo drip with ambiguity.

Honestly, if I weren't Hayden's secret girlfriend of seven years, even I would be shipping them hard.

The next moment, my phone rang; it was Hayden.

"Zendaya, why aren't you at the hospital? Get over here right now. I have an important friend who needs surgery," he said.

I repeated, "An important friend?"

I smirked to myself. Important enough to end up in his bed?

His voice was nervous and all over the place, nothing like the always-in-control, unflappable Hayden I used to know.

He was so anxious about Mandy, but barely spared me a glance.

Why was I so blind in my previous life?

In my previous life, after pulling several all-nighters, I was in no mood to even glance at the trending topics.

I was trying to catch some sleep in my apartment when Hayden called and dragged me out of bed. I had to rush to the hospital in a taxi to operate on his so-called "important friend."

Before the surgery, Mandy and her agent were acting all high and mighty.

"Mandy's got a perfect face, so you better make sure there's not even a scratch left behind. Otherwise, you'll be hearing from my lawyer. Got it?" her agent snapped.

Whether or not there'd be a scar really depended on the situation. No doctor could promise a flawless result.

I really didn't want to take on a patient this unreasonable.

I was just about to turn them down, but Hayden agreed on my behalf before I could say a word.

He rubbed his brow, looking completely worn out.

"Mandy is our company's spokesperson, and I see her as a friend. Zendaya, stop being so difficult. Please don't disappoint me again, okay?" he pleaded.

Hayden and I co-founded a medical aesthetics tech company.

He was in charge of marketing and operations, while I invested my technical expertise for equity and also led product development.

Back then, we had major disagreements about our business philosophy. Arguing and debating became part of our daily routine.

He looked so exhausted. My heart ached for him, and I just couldn't bring myself to refuse. So I stayed silent and walked into the operating room.

During the surgery, I realized that Mandy, who always flaunted her "natural beauty," actually had work done all over her face.

She'd had jaw shaving, a nose implant, and plenty of filler injections.

But then, she fell off a horse and ended up with multiple facial fractures.

To even have a shot at leaving no scars, I'd have to remove all the implants and fillers first; otherwise, I couldn't even get the right angle for the operation.

Even though I didn't keep up with celebrity gossip, I still knew Mandy was a fairly popular star.

If I took out all the implants and fillers, her looks would be completely ruined.

But in the end, I still had a doctor's compassion.

After thinking it over, I decided to take a gamble.

I'd operate from a super tricky angle, doing my best to work around the implants and fillers.

But that meant the incision would be right on her face, and a scar was unavoidable.

The operation lasted for a full four hours.

By the time the surgery was over, my back was drenched in sweat.

But at least, the operation was a success.

A month later, Mandy's face looked as good as new, with only a faint scar left under her left eye.

When she was discharged, Mandy thanked me in a soft, delicate voice.

She also gave me a pair of pink diamond earrings as a token of her gratitude.

But right after that, Mandy went on a variety show and used makeup to make the scar look even worse.

On her tanned, flawless face, the scar looked absolutely ghastly and dramatic.

She was clearly milking it for pity points, trying to get her fans to feel sorry for her.

The host flashed a photo of Hayden carrying Mandy and arched his eyebrow in pure gossip mode.

"I'm so jealous of you, Mandy. Mr. Gilliard is such a dependable boyfriend, isn't he?" the host teased.

Mandy didn't deny it. Instead, she blushed, her eyes dewy and full of affection, looking every bit like a lovestruck girl.

The host suddenly changed the topic and put up another photo.

"But I heard that Mr. Gilliard has a girlfriend he's been with for seven years," he added.

The photo showed Hayden and me back when we were undergrads in med school, looking so young and innocent.

Mandy's face went through a whole range of emotions.

Then, she bit her lip and put on her best teary-eyed look.

"Oh, so it's her." Mandy's voice was soft, but there was a hint of something else beneath it.

"That's the doctor who operated on me, Zendaya. She's always had a crush on Hayden," she said, sounding all innocent.

"I mean, I thought my injury wasn't even that bad. How could I end up with a scar on my face?" Mandy's voice trembled, as if she couldn't believe her misfortune.

She hurriedly wiped away her tears, waved her hands, and forced a smile.

"I don't blame Dr. Zendaya Kenton. She's just... not very skilled. I'm sure she is not jealous of me."

She didn't want to be labeled the other woman, so she threw me under the bus instead.

And just like that, the story of how my "incompetence" ruined a celebrity's face blew up online.

The cyberbullying crashed over me like a tidal wave.

Every day, people would show up at the hospital just to scream insults in my face. Some even slapped me and called me a homewrecker.

They even strung up banners outside the hospital that read [Zendaya the Heartless Quack] and [Zendaya's Malice Will Not Be Tolerated.] After that, my patients all started switching to other doctors.

The patients who used to greet me with warm smiles and respect now looked at me with utter disdain, whispering and pointing at me behind my back.

I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but I still couldn't help but keep my head down, afraid to meet anyone's eyes.

I wanted to explain.

So I took to social media, telling everyone that Hayden and I had been together for years. It wasn't just some one-sided crush.

I explained that with all the work Mandy had done on her face, a faint scar was honestly the best anyone could hope for.

But no one believed me.

I asked Hayden to speak up for me and set the record straight, but he just looked at me with disappointment written all over his face.

"Zendaya, if I clear things up now, wouldn't that just destroy Mandy's whole career?" he said.

"It's just some people saying nasty things about you. You're being way too petty, and honestly, a little vicious," he snapped.

So I got suspended from the hospital, and some crazy fan actually came after me and hacked off my hand. I lost my ability to perform surgery for good. Then, Mandy's team came after me with a lawsuit, demanding a ridiculous amount in damages.

Even my mom got involved. Her private info was plastered all over the internet, and someone splashed paint all over our house. She was so terrified that she ended up having a heart attack.

And then, Mandy put out a fresh statement, accusing me of being unethical and even claiming I tried to shake her down for a huge bribe.

She even released a video.

In the video, it looked like I snatched the jewelry box from her hands and hid it in my drawer.

But that wasn't what really happened. She was the one who hid the jewelry box in my drawer. I just opened it to check, and then shoved it right back into her hands.

It was nothing but a sloppily reversed and edited video, but everyone took it as the truth.

In the end, I was pushed off a high-rise by Mandy's crazed fan.

To the world, I became the evil doctor who supposedly killed herself out of guilt, while Mandy was still the sweet, innocent rising starlet with her whole future ahead of her.

After I died, Hayden went public with Mandy, the very same Mandy who led the cyberbullying against me.

He said, "Mandy is the purest, most innocent girl I've ever met.

"Zendaya spread vicious lies about her. She got exactly what she deserved."

As it turned out, the two of them had been together all along.

My death played right into their hands.