Chapter 10

“Wanning, congratulations on getting into grad school.”

Her voice was calm.

She no longer sounded fake or calculating.

“Thank you,” I replied indifferently.

Song Kehan hesitated.

“I know it's too late to say this now.”

“But I still want to apologize.”

“I've spent the past year thinking about a lot of things.”

“I finally understand that there are no shortcuts in life.”

“If you want something, you have to work for it yourself.”

“You can't scheme against other people and live off them.”

“I'm starting over now. I'm a year behind, but I don't regret it.”

“At least I'm finally taking steady steps forward.”

When she finished, she bowed deeply.

Then she turned and walked away.

I watched her go without saying a word.

Was she genuinely remorseful, or was this another act?

I didn't know, and I didn't care to know.

That was her business now.

It had nothing to do with me.

I turned around.

My parents were waiting not far away.

Sunlight fell on them, warm and lovely.

I walked over and put an arm around each of them.

“Mom, Dad, let's go home.”

“All right,” they said with a smile.

The three of us walked out through the school gate, toward a new life.

The past was behind me.

The future lay ahead.

And at last, I could set down my burdens and move on.

**Epilogue**

My first year of graduate school was busier than I'd expected.

I spent every day in the lab, working on projects, writing papers, and attending academic conferences.

It was tiring, but deeply rewarding.

I never saw Song Kehan again.

I heard she was working hard and that her grades were gradually improving.

She also took outside jobs to pay off her debts.

It couldn't have been easy.

But those were her choices.

They had nothing to do with me.

In my second year of graduate school, I published two papers in SCI-indexed journals.

I won a national scholarship.

My advisor even recommended me for an academic exchange program abroad.

Everything was moving along the path I'd set for myself.

Every now and then, I wondered what my life would look like if I hadn't been given another chance.

Maybe I'd still be cleaning up the mess from my previous life.

Maybe I'd still be surrounded by Song Kehan's malicious rumors.

Maybe I'd have lost the chance to go to graduate school and missed out on so many possibilities.

Fortunately, fate had given me a second chance.

A chance to choose again.

To start over.

I wouldn't waste such a precious gift.

I would live with my eyes open.

I would live freely.

I would live a bright and beautiful life.

As for the people who had once tried to drain me—

I'd leave them in the past.

My future would be for the people who deserved it.

And it would belong to me alone.

—The End—

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