A Lifetime Misplaced

When our teacher caught my desk mate, Avery Collins, and me stealing mock exam papers just before the college entrance exam, he shouted, "The college entrance exam is right around the corner! What was the point of stealing the mock exam papers? Tell me, who was the mastermind?"

In my previous life, I took the blame without hesitation. My father nearly beat me to death for it.

Avery and I attended the same university, got married after graduation, and raised a daughter, spending thirty years together.

I believed I had the perfect life.

Then, on the day of my daughter, Emma's wedding, I was thrown out of the venue.

Emma told me, "You have no right to be here. Caleb Morgan is my real father."

Avery looked at me coldly. "After you got drunk, you already signed the divorce papers. The company, the house, and all the assets belong to me now. You're leaving with nothing. From this day forward, we're strangers."

Lost in a daze, I wandered into the street and was crushed beneath a speeding truck.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day everything began.

This time, I told the teacher directly, "Avery was the one behind it. I gave her the papers, but I never looked at them. My score belongs to me."

Perhaps Avery Collins had always been certain I would take the fall for her. She'd probably rehearsed her lines in advance.

The moment Mr. Dorian Whitaker started questioning us, she blurted out instinctively, "Sir, please don't blame Logan Bennett—"

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at me. "What? You said I'm the mastermind?"

I answered firmly, "That's right. She was the one who asked me to steal the exam papers. My mom promised to pay for her college tuition if she finished in the top three this year."

Avery came from a rough background. Back when she still lived with her father, he'd come home drunk and beat both her and her mother.

Eventually, her parents divorced. Her mother brought her to Westbridge, which was why she'd transferred into our school during senior year.

On the very first day we became desk mates, she'd told me her entire story through tear-filled eyes.

At the time, I was deeply moved. Beneath that delicate, heart-wrenching face was a life filled with suffering. Every heroic fantasy in my teenage heart came rushing to the surface.

I swore I would protect her for the rest of my life. I brought her home for dinner regularly and spent nearly all my allowance on her.

After hearing about Avery's circumstances, my mother had felt sorry for her as well. That's what led to her making that promise.

The truth was, I knew my mother never intended it as a condition. She simply wanted to motivate Avery to work hard. Whether Avery finished first or last, my mother would have helped her attend college.

But Avery had taken the promise seriously. She was an