Chapter 6

"Emma, you're back. Come on in, I brought you a present," Charles called out.

He hurried out of the villa, his eyes meeting mine with a gentle smile.

But if one looked closely, one could see a hint of excitement flickering in his eyes.

Charles said, "If it weren't for your warning, Emma, I would've rushed ahead and probably gone over the cliff just like those others."

Someone else came out of the villa and added, "Seriously. The reason we're here is to thank you, Emma."

I was still totally confused as they welcomed me inside.

That was when I noticed two unfamiliar boys standing in the living room.

Including the one by the door, all three of them were classmates who'd joined Charles on his study trip.

They all listened to Charles and waited a couple more days, which ended up saving their lives.

Once they heard I'd given Charles a heads-up about what was going on, they made a point of coming back to thank me.

After Sophia heard the whole story, she grabbed my hand, still a bit shaken but smiling warmly. She said, "Emma, you truly are our lucky star."

That night, when Charles heard how I'd helped Max and Blake, he looked at me with newfound admiration in his eyes.

He said, "Emma, you're so young but already have such a sense of responsibility. As your big brother, I should back you up. That boy's Max, right? From now on, I'll take care of his tuition and living expenses."

Andrew and Sophia shared a glance.

That night, the two of them talked it over.

Early the next morning, Sophia said to me, "Emma, Andrew and I decided to sponsor three more kids from your orphanage. You know the kids best, so we'll leave the choices up to you."

I nodded and said, "Okay."

After breakfast, I gave Sophia the three names I'd picked out.

By noon, Andrew and Sophia headed over to the orphanage to let everyone know about the sponsorship.

Two hours later, Emily barged into school, shooting me a poisonous glare.

She barked, "Emma, you seriously left me off the Shaw family's sponsorship list? What's that supposed to mean?"

I almost laughed at how out of nowhere the whole interrogation was.

I shot back, "Lost your memory already, Emily? Wasn't it you who twisted the story and accused me of hooking up with Blake?"

Emily's face fell—guilt written all over her.

But she just acted all entitled. She said, "I only said that because someone told me, alright? It was a mistake. I'm sorry. Now go tell Andrew and Sophia to put my name on the list."

I fired back, "And why should I do what you say? Not happening. What are you gonna do about it?"

Emily froze—I had never talked back to her before.

Her face twisted in anger.

She snapped, "Emma, have you really forgotten how I used to take care of you at the orphanage? How can you be so ungrateful?"

I couldn't help laughing at her nerve—she really dared to say she took care of me.

If being a spoiled princess who piled chores on me, tossed me her cast-offs, and fobbed off the fatty scraps counts as care, then Emily could've won a caregiver of the year award.

I shot back, "You know deep down whether you were actually looking out for me or just treating me like your personal maid. The list isn't changing. If you've got a problem with it, go deal with it yourself."

With that, I turned to leave.

But Emily suddenly yanked my hand and said, "Even if you won't put me on the list, you should at least add Ryan, right?"

I snapped back, "Why should Ryan matter to me at all?"

I said it flat out, no hesitation. Honestly, in this lifetime or the last, Ryan and I weren't friends—never were.

To be real, we'd hardly ever talked. Maybe five times, tops—if that.

I used to think he was just naturally distant, like that was who he was.

But right before Emily shoved me off that rooftop in my previous life, I finally realized—Ryan wasn't aloof at all. He was just a total fraud, always acting so righteous and noble on the outside.

He never planned to marry me. I was nothing but a pawn to him from the start.

Now that I saw Emily blindly heading down the same road I was once on, I had zero plans to clue her in.

She picked this path all by herself, didn't she?