Chapter 3 Hello, Josephine.

Almost every day, since Josephine's reincarnation, she would stop by the location where Thane stabbed her. She would stand still for a few minutes in front of the alley, which now looked gloomy to her, even though it used to be ordinary.

Josephine seemed to be replaying every scene before her soul left her body, then smiled wryly as she touched her chest, feeling the pain of loving someone who had betrayed her-even discarded her from the world.

"What is marriage?"

"Becoming Luna's partner?"

"Winter wonderland cruise festival?"

She remembered Thane's various lies, the man was very good at talking, making Josephine impressed. Then, she would kneel on the ground, bow her head, and cry as if she had lost a precious puppy.

Instead of thinking about revenge, Josephine was more curious about why Thane killed her. "I never betrayed him, we rarely fought, so what? Thane betrayed me, huh?"

Josephine could be called a tsundere girl on campus, she rarely socialized with her classmates, usually they would go watch movies together, go on dates, sing karaoke, or go to bars to celebrate something.

Meanwhile, Josephine was only busy with her part-time job, she hardly had any friends and was too passive about her surroundings. She never knew any gossip, so when she thought that Thane might have another woman, her mind began to open.

"Should I try to make friends with anyone?"

Adjusting her memories before the murder, Thane should appear at the beginning of next year as a young lecturer from the teacher exchange program he attended.

"Am I really naive? I got caught up in a man's charm?" She tried to blame herself, instead of cornering Thane, but for someone who had never been involved in deep feelings with the opposite sex, the possibility was small.

"Why was it hard to realize it sooner?" Josephine would end it after she was satisfied with her monologue, stopping her tears, and walking away like the new days that had passed.

***

Professor Dawn's class had ended, and Josephine became the last student to leave her seat, while the sixty-year-old professor was still tidying up behind her 'lectern' while adjusting the position of her glasses. Josephine was about to reach the door when Professor Dawn called out her last name.

"Miss Adeline."

"Yes ...." She turned around and approached. "Do you need my help?"

"No." He stacked dozens of papers containing research journals on various topics of human mentality that his students had completed over more than two seasons.

At that time, Josephine took the research theme 'The effect of past trauma on adult mental health', after successfully getting several respondents.

"You're not the one who needs my help."

"Then-"

"Aren't you often spending time in the library? I heard you're also doing a part-time job."

"That's right, Professor."

The man adjusted his glasses again, he had to replace the lens this month. "I heard Miss Mellisa needs an assistant there, I think you could try it."

"Assistant?"

"Yes, it only applies until the final class is finished. Aren't you going to start working after you graduate from here?"

"That's right."

"Then try it. I think you'll like it."

"Ah, thank you for giving me this information, Professor."

"Of course, you're an enthusiastic person."

He lifted the stack of papers and made Josephine feel a bit uncomfortable. "I can help you carry it to your room."

"Okay, I'll give you half." He put back half of his printed journals for Josephine, then left the classroom.

"Yes, I remember working as a library assistant even though my initial reason was different. I held three jobs until next year." She smiled again, hugging the stack of journals to her chest. "This isn't bad, I have a lot of free time."

She walked out, tracing the corridor towards Professor Dawn's room located on the second floor, while Josephine was still on the third floor.

As she was about to reach the stairs, she managed to hear the sound of excitement from below, the voices of several enthusiastic students, and Josephine's phone vibrated in her pants pocket.

She let one hand control the journals, shifting her focus for a moment as she bowed down to take out her phone and answer the call.

However, one of the four students who managed to reach the top of the stairs was actually being reckless, he accidentally bumped into Josephine and ended up dropping all the journals and her phone to the floor due to shock.

"Shit!"

"You did it, Max."

"Isn't she focused, huh?"

"How about this time. Should we help?"

The voices surrounded Josephine, who quickly squatted down to gather the journals again, even her phone ended up like that without getting an answer, she was reluctant to look at anyone who had bumped into her.

"You guys go first, I'll help her," someone said.

"Okay, we'll wait for you." Then several footsteps were heard moving away, leaving a pair of shoes in front of Josephine.

"Are you okay? Sorry about that." He knelt down and helped Josephine.

"It's okay, I just wasn't paying attention to the situation."

All the journals were neatly stacked again, then-

"Your phone."

Josephine looked at the floating hand in front of her face, she took the object when their skin touched. The slight friction there provoked another stimulation within Josephine, making her freeze as if electrocuted, and heat spread throughout her body.

She knew there were several creatures like her in the city, but now Josephine was facing something slightly different, his energy and aura were stronger, and the forest scent dominated around him, as if his presence had shifted to a vast wilderness with towering trees, and not a university corridor.

Josephine's hand moved slowly to put the phone in her bag, then looked at him. His eyes were gray and shiny like silver that glowed deeply, although not an ocean, but very powerful in making Josephine want to keep looking at him, trapping her like a net in the sea, binding her like tendrils that crawled on a willow tree.

Josephine was even more stunned, the owner's energy surrounded the girl like a strong shield, disguising the surrounding atmosphere as if only the two of them were there. Josephine sank.

The man tilted his head, smiled warmly, their gazes intertwined in one straight orbit. His large palm with fine veins visible on the back of his hand opened, he was bold enough to gently stroke Josephine's smooth cheek, showing off his great energy that the girl had to trust.

Then, he greeted her kindly and affectionately. "Hello, Josephine. Nice to meet you."

***

The situation ended in the toilet, after hastily placing a stack of journals on Professor Dawn's table, Josephine escaped to the toilet, she vomited the contents of her stomach while kneeling in front of the closet.

This was too crazy! Her heart was about to explode, sparks of anxiety made her nauseous, she couldn't deny her condition.

Since childhood, Josephine had been like this, when she experienced excessive anxiety due to others, the feeling of nausea rose to her throat, so she decided to be alone, or drown in situations that made her feel comfortable.

"He's not even Thane, but why does he make me like this."

Her body slumped to the floor, she gently patted her chest, which was pounding until she felt calm.

"Even though it's not time for Thane to come yet, I'm still very sure that my past memories-that person-are not even there."

If because she was too often locking herself up with her world in the library, Josephine could believe that she didn't know many people on campus, but still, 'that man' was never one of her pre-reincarnation memories.

"And how could he touch my face that easily? Why is he so confident?" Her whole body shivered, she again felt the heat tracing her spine as if gripping strongly, her face and ears turned red because she was too crazy.

Josephine stood up, she opened the door, just peeking through the gap that was intentionally opened, making sure the gray-eyed man was not there.

"I don't want to go out, I won't see him again, right?" She laughed strangely. "I'm already crazy now."

***