Chapter 6
The rain had been coming down for about half an hour before it finally started to ease up. As I was about to dash out, Jason called out, "Wait a second."
He pulled a compact umbrella from his pocket and handed it to me.
"You had an umbrella with you?" I couldn't help but be surprised.
"Yeah, I always carry one," Jason said. "But I wanted a smoke, so I stuck around."
That excuse was so lame.
Who would stand on the porch for half an hour with an umbrella, to smoke a cigarette he never lights?
I didn't call him out on it. I took the umbrella, said thanks, and stepped out into the rain.
After I'd walked a dozen steps, I couldn't help but glance back.
Jason was still standing under the porch, watching me go. The rain hung in the air like a curtain, and under the dim streetlight, his silhouette looked almost unreal.
A weird mix of emotions hit me all at once.
It wasn't about falling for him, and it wasn't some touching moment.
It was this strange uneasiness I couldn't really explain.
Because Jason from my previous life was nothing like this.
Back then, he was cold, selfish, and indifferent.
He wouldn't have cared if some random girl was freezing, wouldn't have offered his jacket to anyone, and he sure wouldn't have waited around for someone on a rainy night.
Had he changed? Or maybe did I never really know him? No way. I shook my head, forcing the thought out of my mind.
I told myself not to get fooled by him.
Was I seriously letting one nice thing make me go soft? Did I forget all the pain he put me through last time?
Did I remember that knife, all that blood, and that line "the carpet's new"?
I should never forget.
*****
The next day, I washed and neatly folded the jacket and umbrella, getting ready to return them to Jason.
I had no clue which class he was in or which dorm building he lived in.
Back in my previous life, Sophie was the one who told me all this. Everything I knew about Jason came from her.
He liked coffee, hated sweets; he preferred dark clothes, couldn't stand anything flashy; he liked quiet, couldn't stand noise.
Back then, I treated all that info like it was gospel, using it to try to win Jason over.
This time, I couldn't tell how much of it was real and how much Sophie made up to make me look like a fool.
Finally, I found out which class Jason was in by checking the information on the school website.
He was a freshman in Finance, Class Three, and stayed in Dorm 7 in the dorm complex.
I took advantage of the lunch break after class to wait for him outside their classroom building.
About ten minutes later, I spotted Jason coming out, with two guys tagging along, probably his roommates.
I walked over and handed him the bag with the jacket and umbrella inside. "Thanks for your coat and umbrella."
He took the bag, glanced down at the neatly folded clothes inside, then looked up at me. "You washed them?"
"Yeah."
"You didn't have to wash them."
"It's nothing."
After I finished, I turned to leave, but one of his roommates suddenly called out, "Hey, which department are you from? You're pretty cute."
I ignored him and kept walking.
The other roommate started teasing, "Jason, when did you meet such a cute girl? Come on, you gotta introduce us."
"Shut up," Jason said from behind, his voice cool. "Don't freak her out."
I didn't look back. I hurried off.
But that wasn't the end of it.
After that, Jason started popping up everywhere in my life.
He'd show up at the cafeteria I always went to, sitting somewhere nearby.
He started studying on the same floor of the library as me, sometimes right across from me, sometimes a little off to the side.
He started showing up at the track when I was running, wearing workout clothes and jogging lazily behind me.
Every time I glanced up and spotted him, he'd look totally casual, like nothing was going on, just acting as if it was all some random coincidence.
I knew it wasn't.
Because back in my previous life, I'd done the exact same thing.
To get close to Jason, I'd memorized his schedule inside out, knew exactly where he'd be at any given time, and engineered all sorts of "accidental" run-ins.
How did he react back then?
He saw right through my act, and during one of those "accidental" run-ins, he said coldly, "Emily, you don't have to do this. It won't make me like you."
That line hit me like a bucket of ice water, leaving me totally cold inside.
But this time, the tables had turned.
Jason was the one making those "accidental" encounters happen.
Was he actually after me?
The second that idea crossed my mind, I almost laughed at how crazy it sounded.
I spent three years chasing him in my previous life, and he never budged. This time, I was the one avoiding him, and was he suddenly all over me?
God, were you kidding me?