He looked at me then, and smiled. “She’s a
lot like you,” he said. “Looks like you, acts
like you. Watching her grow up, it was almost
like watching you grow up again. But…
وو
His eyes got red again.
He didn’t cry, though. He took a deep breath.
“It’s good you’re back,” he said.
Without thinking, I reached out, like I used to,
to pull his head down to my shoulder, ruffle
his hair. But the second his head touched my
shoulder, a loud, angry roar erupted behind
- us.
I turned around. My dad had grabbed both of
us, one in each hand, and yanked us apart.
66 99
:
Dad glared at Ethan, eyes practically bulging
out of his head. But I was the one who’d
initiated contact, so he couldn’t really yell at
<
Ethan. He turned his fury on me. “Mia
Thompson!” he bellowed. “Didn’t I tell you to
stay away from boys?!”
I whistled innocently.
“Don’t you whistle at me, young lady! You
know exactly what I’m talking about!”
After that, Dad kept me under constant
surveillance. Anytime Ethan came near me,
Dad was there, a human wall between us,
making it impossible to talk.
Ethan started showing up when Dad wasn’t
around, but Dad was one step ahead. He
started picking me up from school himself,
and keeping me glued to his side on
weekends.
く
Our families lived far apart, and we were too
young to go anywhere without a grown–up
driving. Plus, I didn’t want to alert Olivia, so I
didn’t see Ethan much.
That first time, when Dad interrupted us, I
only got a general idea of what happened to
my family after I died. Knowing they were
okay was a huge relief.
The second time we met, Ethan told me what
happened to Olivia and her parents. Olivia got
the death penalty for murder. Her dad already
had a son with another woman. After Olivia
died, he divorced Linda quickly.
Linda… well, she lost it. Ethan had her
committed. Their family business went under
in a couple of years. Olivia’s dad didn’t
his feet either صم لمصحل بالحصص
く
Olivia’s husband, Josh, immediately
disavowed her and testified against her, so he
just had to pay a fine and lost his job at
Ethan’s company. He couldn’t stay in the city
after that, so he moved back home.
I could have guessed Olivia’s fate. What she
did was horrific. An eye for an eye. But I
didn’t want her life. She threw away her own
happiness and destroyed my family’s.
I wasn’t going to let her off that easy. This
time, I’d make her pay.
Ethan asked what I wanted to do.
“She always wanted to be better than me,” I
said. “I’ll let her climb as high as she can,
then watch her fall.”
く
He took my hand, his voice firm. “Okay,” he
said. “Whatever you want to do, I’ll help. This
time, I’ll protect you.”
I gave him the copies I’d secretly made of the
music I’d written in my past life.
“Post these online,” I said. “But don’t
promote them. Keep it quiet.”
He understood immediately.
He nodded and took the papers.
My music had been really popular in my last
life. Every time Olivia saw me during that
time, she practically gritted her teeth. I
figured if there was a single part of her that
suspected I was reborn, she wouldn’t be able
to resist using my music.
く
She’d done similar things before. She’d seen
my handwritten music, thought I hadn’t
published it yet, and stolen it, claiming it as
her own. I had security camera footage of me
playing it, though, so she got exposed.
I knew she wouldn’t be able to resist this
time.
I’d been trying to figure out how to do it myself; I’m not exactly a tech wiz. But Ethan
being reborn too… it was perfect. He majored
in computer science. He was always brilliant
with that stuff.
He looked at the music for a moment, then
asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to play
piano this time?”
Lesised on svebrow “What you only like mo
I raised an eyebrow. “What, you only like me
when I play piano?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s it. I hate you
otherwise.”
I laughed and jumped on his back. “Just
kidding!”
He snorted, pretending to be annoyed.
Just then, we heard a cough.
وو
“Ahem.”
I turned around and saw Dad staring daggers
at Ethan. I gulped and slowly climbed off
Ethan’s back, then scurried over to Dad.
“Daddy, up!” I chirped, holding my arms up to
<
him.
He glared at Ethan one last time, then picked
me up. I gave him a big kiss on the cheek. He
finally relaxed.
Back to Olivia.
Even after that blow–up at preschool, her
mom kept filling her head with competitive
nonsense. Plus, she wanted to be sure
whether I was really reborn. So she kept
trying to get close to me.
I’d asked Dad to let me take martial arts
classes, so every time she came near, I’d beat
her up.
Linda was right about one thing: I was getting
addicted to punching Olivia.
L
Eventually, Olivia learned her lesson and
stayed away from me. I almost missed it.
Almost.
I kept up with the martial arts, though. I’d
discovered the practical benefits of being
able to defend myself.
Olivia found out I was taking martial arts and
tried it for a while, too, but that meant she
had less time for piano. It didn’t really matter
for her, since she’d lived through it all once
already, but her piano teacher wasn’t
impressed.
