Chapter 4

That evening, complaints about me flooded the principal's inbox---dozens of them.

The contents were varied: homosexuality, flaunting wealth, unfit to be a teacher, cold violence toward students.

The next morning, the department chair called me in for a talk.

He sat behind his desk, the computer screen in front of him showing the forum posts.

In the photos, I was on my cousin's back, smiling quite sweetly.

He pointed at the screen. "Lincoln Reed, is this you?"

"Yes."

"Who is he?"

"A friend."

The department chair waited a moment, then rephrased his question. "Are you gay?"

"That's personal and unrelated to work."

The chair's expression darkened. "Lincoln, I'm asking you a question. Answer properly."

"I did answer. It's unrelated to work."

At that moment, the door opened.

The principal walked in.

My roommate followed behind, bowing and scraping like a eunuch, looking at me with gloating eyes. If I was removed, he could be promoted.

Sometimes, the world is just a damn circus, and in my previous life, I'd been destroyed by these people.

How tragic.

Let it all burn.

The principal looked down at me. "Lincoln Reed, I'll ask you one more time. Are you gay?"

"No comment."

"Then explain the photos."

"I have no obligation to explain."

The principal laughed---a cold laugh. "Who do you think you are? You haven't even finished your probation period and you dare take this attitude?"

I snorted coldly.

He stared at me. "I'll ask you one last time. Are you or are you not gay?"

"Are you discriminating against gay people?"

"Enough. Doesn't his roommate know whether he's gay or not? Don't corrupt the students."

He declared, "You're fired!"

Like some feudal emperor.

But his eyes betrayed his greed, staring directly at the huge logo on my bag.

I turned and walked out.

Minutes later, HR sent notice that my employment had been terminated.

According to the internship agreement, termination without cause should come with one month's compensation. But HR said there was nothing---they wouldn't even pay my wages.

One month's intern salary was only two thousand dollars. Whether they paid it or not shouldn't matter---but it did. Withholding a worker's wages deserves divine punishment. I'd make them beg me to take the money!

From this moment on, I was finally free.

Before leaving, I went to the activity room and dismantled and destroyed the water dispenser, water jugs, and power strips I'd bought, throwing them in the trash.

"Mr. Reed, if you remove the water dispenser, what will we use?" a student complained.

I stomped on a water jug, breaking it. "I bought this for myself. You've been freeloading off it for so long. What if some psycho poisons it and then blames me? Better to destroy it."

After throwing away the last jug, I turned around to see Lily standing a few steps away, biting her lip, looking at me tearfully.

Every hair on my body stood on end.

It was as if she wasn't a young girl in her prime, but a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

I instinctively stepped back.

It wasn't that I was weak---the trauma from my previous life was just too heavy. I couldn't adjust immediately.

She stepped closer, her eyes showing a hint of obsession and an indescribable ambiguity.

That wasn't how a student should look at a teacher.

Nor was it simply how a woman looks at a man.

It was how a spider looks at plump prey!

"Mr. Reed," she called me, soft and weak.

I felt nauseous and turned to run.

She shouted, "Don't leave!"

I stopped and turned to look at her, hatred burning in my heart like wildfire, making my bones ache.

I wanted to rush over and strangle her.

But I couldn't.

I'd finally been reborn. A bright future awaited me.

She'd already walked up to me. Tears fell one by one. Under the lights, she looked especially pitiful and touching.

"I'll go beg Emma to withdraw the complaint. Nothing will happen. Don't leave."

"If you stay, I'll do whatever you say."

She spoke lightly but enunciated each word heavily, as if making some incredible promise.

I remembered my previous life.

In the second year of caring for her, one night she'd pulled my hand and placed it on her body. "Mr. Reed, marry me. I'll be so good."

At the time, I'd thought it was gratitude, dependence, the desperate grasping at the only lifeline after being tormented by illness for too long.

Or perhaps she'd gone mad from prolonged sickness.

It turned out she'd harbored such unspeakable thoughts so early on.

But I'd been oblivious, falling into the trap she'd laid.

"Lily Mitchell," I couldn't out-act her, so I spoke plainly. "You disgust me!"

She froze, tears still on her face. Her expression shifted from innocent and pure to determined, then she smiled slightly. It made you wonder if she had mastered the art of switching personas.

"Mr. Reed, you'll come back."

"You will definitely come back."

I smiled too. "I will come back---to attend your funeral!"

I ignored her, went back to pack my things, and left without staying a second longer, taking a bus away from the hell that had trapped me for half my previous life.