Reborn, I Let Him Burn

The night before my SATs, Hugh Reed's parents died in a house fire.

To help him recover, I begged my parents to fund his four years of college.

After graduation, we naturally married and had a child, living a life envied by everyone around us.

But he secretly bought insurance, orchestrated a fire that killed our entire family.

And immediately married another woman. At my funeral, he cursed me with venom in his voice:

"You swallowed my family's fortune and kept me from being Tiffany's first boyfriend. You deserved to die!"

It turned out he had never been grateful to me. He had always hated me.

I was reborn, back to the day I first heard about the fire at Hugh Reed's house.

This time, I wouldn't help him.

Hugh's family lived right above ours, and after less than a year of renovation, our apartment was also completely gutted.

Just like in my previous life, Hugh looked at me, his eyes wide with panic.

"Alice, my parents are gone. What am I going to do?"

A cold, visceral shudder ran through me. I clutched my chest, my breath catching in my throat.

I couldn't believe I had helped such a monster in my last life.

I even suffered through a difficult pregnancy for him.

"Alice"

Hugh tugged at my arm again.

I snapped back to reality, looking into his bottomless eyes.

I fought back the words that were desperate to escape my throat:

"It's okay, you still have me, and my parents."

Then, I slowly pulled my hand away.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing. My home is gone too, and my dad's still in the hospital. What am *I* supposed to do?"

Hugh froze, his gaze filled with confusion.

But before he could pry, he was immediately surrounded by other neighbors, all victims of the fire, demanding answers.

"Your parents' mess, you have to answer for it. You just turned eighteen, Hugh. You're responsible for what they did. The entire building is a wreck. Either pay for the damages, or go to jail for him!"

Hugh, terrified, dropped to his knees.

"I'm so incredibly sorry, everyone. But my parents are gone. Can you please let me handle their funeral first before we address your issues? Please"

Other voices chimed in:

"Let's respect the dead. Hugh is still just a kid. His SATs are coming up. This fire wasn't his fault. Can't we let him go to the funeral home first?"

Hugh looked at the speaker, his eyes overflowing with gratitude.

But in my last life, those were *my* words.

I had stepped forward, presenting myself as a fellow victim, condemning the neighbors for their selfishness and lack of empathy.

I wouldn't even let them deny Hugh the time to send his parents off. I had even begged my parents to help him arrange his parents' funeral.

While helping him claim insurance for his damaged home, I also insisted they fund his four years of college.

My dad initially disagreed, so I threatened to skip my SATs and go on a hunger strike.

At the same time, I gave up my spot at an Ivy League university for him, enrolling in a culinary arts program instead.

"Hugh has no parents, he needs this opportunity more than I do."

"All I want is to be a good wife to him, a supportive woman behind his success."

My parents were furious, grounding me for days.

I had Hugh call the police for me.

After the police mediation, Hugh and I went on a trip for a few days, only returning home when our acceptance letters arrived.

When I got back, I even showed them my pregnancy test results.

What's done is done. My parents looked resigned.

They agreed to fund Hugh's college education, on the condition that we got married first.

Hugh cried tears of gratitude, promising my parents he would repay them someday and treat me well.

"Alice, are you okay? Does Hugh need any help?"

My mom was finally back.

As soon as I heard her voice, I launched myself into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

I kept repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

My mom's still-dark bangs fell forward as she bent down to comfort me.

"Silly child, the fire wasn't your fault. It's just a shame about the apartment we just renovated. Luckily, I bought home insurance last year, and thankfully, your dad is okay. What a blessing"

"It's just heartbreaking for Hugh. You both have your SATs coming up, and with this happening, I don't know how he'll cope. You two grew up together, we should help him as much as we can."

I shrieked, "Don't help him! Please, *never* help him!"

My mom looked at me, startled by my extreme reaction.

She quickly felt my forehead for a fever, muttering that I must have been scared senseless.

She was right.

Ever since I was little, my world revolved around Hugh. I always gave him the best of everything first.

Saying something like this now, my mom would never accept it.

I quickly explained,

"Mom, I'm so worried about Dad. Let's go see him at the hospital first. Hugh is already eighteen, and he just said he wants to go to the funeral home to send off his parents alone. Let's respect his wishes."

My mom and I arrived at my dad's hospital room.

He had moderate carbon monoxide poisoning, his lips still cherry red.

Seeing me crying and sniffling, a snot bubble occasionally popping from my nose, he joked weakly,

"Now you know to feel bad for your old man, huh? You weren't this upset when I broke my leg dancing."

Before my exams, I was so stressed I broke out in acne and gained weight. My dad, worried, consulted a colleague in psychology who suggested I get more exercise.

But I refused to go for walks, runs, or swims with him and Mom.

He got tough and paid two thousand dollars for a dance class, thinking I'd be interested if there were lots of young women dancing there.

But I still wouldn't go.

The money was non-refundable, and the membership was about to expire when I was a sophomore.

My dad originally wanted my mom to go, but she was always traveling for work, so he had to bite the bullet and go himself.

But one day, he was having too much fun and ended up breaking his leg.

Back then, I just thought he was embarrassing.

I rolled my eyes and cursed him, saying he was a grown man gyrating among young women, making classmates laugh at me. He deserved that fall.

Now, overwhelmed with guilt, I could only repeatedly apologize to him, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

My parents both thought I was acting strangely and began to shift their thoughts back to our burnt-out home. The atmosphere grew heavy.

My mom was usually a worrier, but she was also optimistic and kind.

"It's okay, Robert. Just think of it as a few days off. You're always rushing around the emergency room. Now you can guilt-free sleep in at the hospital."

"Don't worry about the house either. Even though it burned down, I bought home insurance the year before last, so we can file a claim. The most important thing is that our family is safe and sound. And I hope our precious daughter, Alice, isn't too affected by this for her SATs. It's less than twenty days away, I really don't want to see her repeat a year."

"As for Hugh, we'll help him as much as we can. Regardless of whether it was his parents' fault, they're gone. The boy shouldn't have to bear all this, and it shouldn't affect his SATs either."

"He and Alice are childhood friends. If they can go to the same university, we'll grit our teeth and help them out."

After my mom finished speaking, my dad looked troubled.

"Honey, let's not go too far. At most, we can help Hugh arrange his parents' funeral so he can focus on his SATs."

"Anything more is a bottomless pit. Besides, his family is responsible for the fire, we're victims too. If we don't seek compensation and instead help them so much, what will the other affected neighbors think? We'll be ostracized in the neighborhood. We can't do that."

"And, after working in the emergency room for so many years, I've seen too many cases where good intentions backfire, making the helper liable. Like recently, a girl got sick while hiking. Another stranger in the group kindly gave her some cold medicine, but after they got down the mountain, the girl died less than an hour after being admitted to the ER. Later, the deceased girl's parents sued the girl who gave her the medicine, and I heard she had to pay a hefty sum"

In my last life, when my dad said this, my mom hesitated.

"But Hugh and Alice are childhood friends, Robert. Let me think."

But then, I had loudly demanded that my parents see their "good deed" through, threatening a hunger strike and refusing to take my SATs otherwise.

Now, I picked up where my mom left off:

"Mom, only good friends are called childhood sweethearts. If the relationship is just okay, they're just regular classmates."

"I used to cling to Hugh a lot when I was little, but now he's just a regular classmate. The most important thing for me right now is my SATs."

"Besides, Hugh already has someone else he likes at school, and it's not me."

Hearing me say that, my parents exchanged surprised glances for a few seconds.

But realizing my focus was on my SATs, they didn't ask any more questions.

My mom started making arrangements to take me to the hospital cafeteria for dinner.

After eating with my dad, my mom drove me back to school.

Then, she assessed the damages with the home insurance company and rented an apartment in the next neighborhood for our family to stay in temporarily.

Back at school, my teachers and classmates offered their condolences about the fire, then quickly dispersed.

After all, it was a critical time right before the SATs. Every minute counted.

I calmed myself down and went to the office to pick up a practice test I'd missed that morning. I started working on it.

Reborn, I wasn't going to a culinary arts program to spend every day cooking for Hugh.

I wanted to go to an Ivy League university, to study subjects I was truly passionate about, to read more books, and to see a wider world.

I should have done that, and I could have.

Hugh returned to school a week later.

With only twelve days left until the SATs, most students in the study hall were too focused to even glance at him and Tiffany Blackwood, who was sitting next to him.

Tiffany was the beauty from the next class, and Hugh's "white moonlight" C his unattainable crush.

I heard she had been by his side all these days.

Good, just as Hugh wished. He would soon become Tiffany's first boyfriend.

Tiffany carried a donation box to the front of the classroom, rallying everyone to donate to Hugh:

"With the SATs so close, I didn't want to bother everyone, but anyone can face hardship. Please, donate your spare change to help Hugh through this difficult time. Our Class Four has already donated. I thank Class Three on his behalf"

After Tiffany finished speaking, she pulled Hugh into a deep bow.

The students looked helpless, sympathetic, or just annoyed and wanting to be left alone.

They quickly pulled out cash or scanned the QR code to donate.

I remained rooted to my seat, not even looking up, continuing to work on my problems.

But Tiffany called me out directly:

"Alice Hayes, why haven't you donated? Aren't you and Hugh childhood neighbors? That's really heartless, isn't it?"

A bitter laugh escaped me, laced with pure disbelief.

I looked up at Tiffany and Hugh.

Hugh was staring at me with a resentful expression.