Second Life Payback Letting Her Taste the AIDS-Stricken 'Soulmate'

Chapter 9

The workday ended as dusk settled over the city. I walked toward the parking lot, my fingers barely grazing the car door handle when a glint of silver stung my eyes—a slender needle embedded in the handle, its tip smeared with dark red residue.

My heart lurched. I pulled out my phone to call the police, but the crunch of dress shoes on gravel sounded behind me.

Evan Sutherland stood three meters away, his white shirt splattered with bloodstains. He tilted the syringe in his hand, the murky liquid sloshing inside the glass tube. "Clever move, Director Hodgson," he sneered. "Using Mia as your weapon? Letting her destroy me?"

The syringe flew toward my face. I sidestepped just as a shadow lunged from the side, slamming into Evan and sending him staggering back.

Mia Jefferson pressed her butterfly knife against his throat, the blade glinting coldly in the fading light. "Move again," her voice was sharper than steel, "and I'll make sure you never speak another word."

"You bitch!" Evan's veins bulged in his neck. "You ruined everything for me!" He suddenly twisted violently, but Mia flicked her wrist—the blade sank into his left arm. Blood dripped down the silver groove, blooming into dark stains on the concrete.

I retreated behind a police car and dialed emergency services. Mia's voice cut through Evan's screams: "Did you ever think about this when you gave me HIV?"

"You asked for it!" Evan clutched his bleeding arm. "Playing the victim now? You think Ryan would want a diseased slut like you?"

The butterfly knife flashed. Three crimson gashes split Evan's face before a final backhand sent him crashing into the guardrail. Mia planted her foot on his chest, the blade hovering over his carotid. "Say one more word—"

Sirens wailed in the distance. Then, with a sudden thrust, she drove the knife deep into his neck. Blood sprayed across her pale face, ghastly under the pulsing red-and-blue lights.

"Watch out for HIV-contaminated blood!" I warned the approaching officers. As handcuffs clamped around Mia's wrists, she turned to me, blood still clinging to her lashes. "Ryan… do I disgust you now?"

The rustle of police tape drowned out my silence. Night swallowed the last remnants of twilight, leaving only the ambulance lights flickering over the pool of blood.

The sunlight was unusually harsh on the day the court's verdict was delivered. Mia Jefferson was sentenced to death for intentional homicide, with execution scheduled in three days. The news sent shockwaves across the internet.

Her parents issued a statement on social media, disowning the "murderer." In the comments section, netizens hurled the most vicious curses at her. Once the glamorous heiress of the Jefferson family, she had now become a despised outcast.

I stood by the glass window of the prison visitation room, watching as the guards escorted her in. In just a few days, she had become gaunt and hollow-cheeked, her once-delicate face now sunken, her eye sockets frighteningly deep. The guards said she spent her days curled up in a corner, like a soulless shell.

"Ryan!" Her eyes suddenly lit up, her chapped lips trembling. "I knew you'd come..."

"Don't flatter yourself," I cut her off coldly. "I just wanted to see your downfall with my own eyes."

Her expression froze instantly, tears welling in her eyes. "Do you hate me that much?"

"In another life, you burned me to death with your own hands," I said slowly, staring straight into her eyes.

Her eyes widened in shock, her nails digging into her palms. "You... you also remember?"

We spoke the words simultaneously. The air between us seemed to solidify.

"During my second detention..." Her voice broke. "I suddenly woke up in the past. But it was too late... There was no time left..."

Her tears hit the metal table with a soft sound. "In that life, after I killed you, I found out... Evan really did have HIV. He beat me, gambled away everything... In the end, I dragged him to death with me."

"So in this life, I wanted to make it up to you right away..." She clutched the bars, shaking. "Ryan, I killed Evan, and now I'm going to die too... Can you forgive me?"

"No." My voice was icy. "Some wounds can never be healed."

She broke down, sobbing violently, her forehead slamming against the bars. "I'm sorry... If I could do it all over again—"

"Enough!" I snapped. "If I had HIV, would you have stayed?"

She froze, tears still streaking her face. "That... that's different..."

"See? That's who you are," I said, standing up. "You only ever loved yourself."

When I left the prison, the sunlight was still glaring. Three days later, news of Mia's execution trended online. Netizens cheered, calling it just deserts.

That same day, in the dean's office, I accepted the gilded director's appointment letter. Outside the window, the sunlight was perfect.

That night, I had a dream. In the underworld's grand hall, Mia and Evan knelt before King Yama, bound in chains.

"Have mercy!" Evan kowtowed desperately. "I never killed anyone!"

Mia trembled. "I've already atoned..."

King Yama sneered. "A life for a life—that is justice!" He slammed his gavel. "Cast them into the eighteenth hell, never to be reborn!"

Amid their piercing screams, I woke up laughing.

Morning light filtered through the curtains as I opened my long-dusty study abroad application. This time, I would live for myself.