Chapter 134: Meeting the Original Owner
Chloe York had stayed up too late on her phone the night before, so it was already past 11:00 AM when she came downstairs for breakfast. It was the perfect time for brunch.
She just hadn’t expected to run into Ethan Prescott as soon as she came down. Nor had Ethan expected to see Chloe York the moment he turned around.
He had been here since just after 8:00 AM, but he hadn’t been able to work up the courage to go upstairs and find her.
He’d just been standing there, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. In truth, what he most wanted to know was which university Chloe York planned to attend.
Sophia Quinn and Miss Prescott weren’t going to help him ask, so he had to do it himself.
But once he got downstairs, his resolve wavered. He had said as much last time, but Chloe York was still guarded against him.
"Chloe, what a coincidence!" Ethan Prescott said, raising his hand in a wave to greet her.
That "what a coincidence" left Chloe York speechless. ’He was clearly here waiting for me, looking for me, and he has the nerve to call it a coincidence.’
"What do you want?" Chloe York asked directly.
Ethan Prescott looked a little awkward but asked anyway. "Chloe, have you decided which university you’re going to?"
After he asked, Ethan Prescott felt a little nervous. He already knew that Chloe York was the top scorer on the college entrance exam with a score of 746. It was safe to say she could get into any university she wanted.
He, too, had scored a 746, which also gave him his pick of schools. That’s why he wanted to know where Chloe York was going; he planned to follow her.
"Where I go isn’t important to you. You just need to figure out where you want to go."
Chloe York had no intention of telling Ethan Prescott. She was mainly afraid he’d keep pestering her. She could tell that Ethan had latched onto her and probably didn’t want to alter their engagement contract anymore.
But that didn’t matter. She could just bring up canceling or changing the contract with Sophia Quinn and Miss Prescott.
"Chloe, I know you don’t want to be with me. I know I did a lot of things wrong in the past. I didn’t respect you and was very impatient with you. I just want to make up for it now. Please, give me a chance, okay?"
Ethan Prescott’s tone was sincere and earnest.
"If you really want to make up for it, then stay away from me. Don’t bother me. Because when you bother me, I get annoyed, and that’s not a good thing for me. Understand?"
Ethan Prescott said nothing. Chloe York turned and walked away.
’I’m not the original owner of this body,’ she thought. ’But I’m sure the original owner wouldn’t forgive him either. Besides, I’m the one in this body now, and I’ll be the one here in the future. I don’t like Ethan Prescott, so why should I have anything to do with him?’
However, Chloe York never expected that the body’s original owner, the other "Chloe York," would come looking for her.
That night, Chloe York entered a dark, empty space where she met the body’s original owner.
"Hello, Chloe. I’m Chloe, too." The other "Chloe York," who looked identical to her but was wearing a white dress, said with a smile.
"You’ve been here this whole time?" Chloe York wondered. ’If the original owner has always been here, why hasn’t she appeared before? Or is it because of me that she couldn’t?’
If that was the case, and there was a way for her to leave, she would gladly do so and return the body to its rightful owner.
"Yes, I’ve been here all along. I also know that my life takes place inside a book, that I’m the villainous supporting female character, and I know what my ending is supposed to be. That’s why I’m so grateful you came. You can change my life." The other "Chloe York" spoke gently, a constant smile on her lips.
"You..." Chloe York started, but then stopped. She said no more, simply watching the other "Chloe York."
But it was as if the other "Chloe York" knew what she was going to ask.
"Are you about to ask if you came here to take my place because of me? The answer is yes. We look the same, and our names are the same. This is our destiny."
Hearing this, Chloe York finally understood why she had come here. It was because of the original "Chloe York."
"But I knew I was living in a novel, that I was just the villainous supporting character, and I knew how my story would end. I never imagined that systems actually existed in this world, so I asked a system for help. I asked them to help me. The ’you’ from that other world had just passed on, so they sent you here."
"Because of you, my life has truly changed. I’m so grateful to you. No, you’re the owner of this body now. I should say, this is your life too. Your life has changed as well."
"But now that I’m here, you’re stuck like this. You can’t go back to your body, can you?"
"That’s right."
"But why?"
Chloe York didn’t understand. It was her own body, and life in this world was already a hard-won gift. Why would she let someone else take over and live in her place?
So what if she was a supporting character? Even if someone else called her that, she was still the protagonist of her own life.
"Chloe, you don’t understand. It’s exhausting. It’s just so, so exhausting. Being a person is just too tiring!" All the light had vanished from the other "Chloe York’s" eyes, leaving only a gray stillness.
Chloe York remained silent. It was true. According to the original "Chloe York’s" life in the book, her existence was indeed meaningless.
Without the system, she would have been completely unable to study. Her mind’s inherent Wisdom wasn’t enough to let her grasp the knowledge in her textbooks.
"No, you can change your life! Come back, and I’ll give you your body back. You have a system now! You can live the life you’ve always wanted." Chloe York’s voice grew urgent. ’That’s right, now there’s a system. If I can change things, the original "Chloe York" can too. I just need to give her body back, right?’
"It’s no use." The other "Chloe York" shook her head. "The price for summoning the system was that I could never return to my body. Now, only you can change my fate, and you’ve already done it. This body belongs completely to you now. Chloe, you have to live well in my stead. Don’t let our life be as pitiful and tragic as it was in the story."
As she spoke, the other "Chloe York’s" body began to turn transparent, as if she were about to fade away and disappear.
Watching the other "Chloe York" become more and more transparent, Chloe York said, "Chloe, don’t worry. I will carry both your hopes and my own, and I will live a good life. I promise it won’t be like it was in the book."
"Mm, I believe in you, top scorer Chloe York." As her voice faded, the other "Chloe York" vanished completely. The last impression she left was the relieved and peaceful smile on her face.
Chloe York suddenly shot up in bed, jolted awake.
The room was pitch-black and silent. Chloe York glanced out the window. It felt like she had just had a dream, but she was certain it hadn’t been a dream at all.
Because she now felt a sense of belonging. It was as if, all of a sudden, she had become intimately familiar with this body.
’From now on,’ she thought, ’I am Chloe York. This is my body, my name, my self.’