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I was ordered to stop teaching. Every day, I could only hide at home. Occasionally, strangers would knock on my door. They would say they were young too, that they could satisfy me, telling me to open the door. Harassing phone calls came flooding in, forcing me to turn off my phone. The curtains were drawn tight, making it impossible to tell day from night. Just like my life. So dark, not a single ray of light could penetrate.
On the third day, the world fell into an unexpected quiet. No harassing knocks at the door, no lewd male voices. I longed to breathe
the fresh air outside. But I still didn’t dare to open the door.
Until I heard the voice of a familiar colleague outside my door. She told me the situation had been resolved. The police had investi- gated everything. Only Ashley’s husband had died that year; he had left a sum of money for Ashley and her daughter, ensuring they would be financially secure for the rest of their lives. Ashley had returned to the States with her daughter, raising her alone. But fate was cruel. Sarah Thompson and Liam Vance ended up attending the same university. They even became boyfriend and girlfri- end. Through Sarah, Ashley discovered that I, who had faked my death, was still alive and now a university professor.
All of Ashley’s hatred, like spring shoots, began to sprout. Until Sarah and Liam’s arguments intensified because of me. Ashley continuously fed Sarah the idea that my relationship with Liam was inappropriate, planting the seeds of jealousy. This seed finally erupted when Sarah discovered Liam had secretly taken photos of me. Her jealousy flared, and while Liam was asleep, she unloc- ked his phone and completely deleted my photos. When Liam woke up, he broke up with her. Sarah returned home in tears, and
Ashley saw her opportunity for revenge.
I opened my phone and reread the official announcement several times before I could finally believe that the storm had passed. “D-
id Liam provide any evidence?”
My colleague shook her head. “Doesn’t seem like it. They say it was a prominent figure who knew the inside story.”
Besides Julian, I couldn’t imagine who else it could be. But I had no desire to thank him. Every bit of suffering in my life had been brought to me by him. Whether it was the torturous intimacy and marriage of the past, or this recent public scandal. At its root, it was all because of Julian. He was the instigator of my misfortune. I owed him no thanks.
