She Stole My Pain, So I Took Her to Antarctica Chapter 01
The moment I woke up in my second life, I signed up for a polar expedition to Antarctica.
In my last life, Vivian Reed, the girl my boyfriend Logan Reed’s family had adopted, used a system to force us to swap physical sensations.
She deliberately went out during a 108-degree Fahrenheit heat wave to hand out water to outdoor workers at a charity event. Because I was inside an air-conditioned room, all she felt was cool air and comfort.
I was the one who suffered.
My room was set to sixty degrees Fahrenheit, yet I overheated until I passed out.
I begged her to stop.
Vivian only blinked at me with that innocent face of hers.
“Erin, if you’re going to lie, at least come up with something better.”
Logan’s voice was full of contempt.
“You’re so selfish. You get to hide in an air-conditioned room all day, and now you can’t stand that Vivian is out there doing charity in this heat?”
For an entire month, Vivian stood in front of cameras, handing out water in the heat. Her videos blew up online. Countless people praised her like she was some kind of saint.
Meanwhile, I died of heatstroke in a room with the AC running.
No one even found my body.
Fine.
This time, she could enjoy the “cool comfort” of Antarctica at minus 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
……
When the confirmation email and text for the Antarctic expedition popped up on my phone, I finally let out a breath.
I would leave in three days.
This time, both of them would pay.
Right then, I felt like I was burning alive from the inside out. Sweat poured down my body, soaking my pajamas until the fabric clung to my skin.
So I turned off the air conditioning, grabbed my phone, and walked outside.
The sun hit me like a wall of fire.
I stood under it and smiled.
Vivian, did you think you were the only one who could stand under the sun?
“Babe, why are you standing out here?”
Logan rushed toward me with an iced drink and a fruit cup in his hands. He looked so worried, so perfect, so much like the considerate boyfriend everyone thought he was.
Today was the first day Vivian had forced our sensations to swap.
In my last life, on this exact day, I had not gone to the hospital yet. I had not realized Vivian was behind everything. The moment I said I felt hot, Logan ran to the corner store and bought me cold drinks and fruit.
He played the part beautifully.
Only later did I learn he had been acting the whole time.
I didn’t even want to look at him. I turned away and stayed under the sun.
If heat was all I could feel, then Vivian was going to feel every bit of it with me.
Logan kept trying to coax me.
“Babe, come back inside with me. What if you pass out here?”
“You hate the heat. What’s gotten into you today?”
So he knew I hated the heat.
Then why, in my last life, when I threw away every bit of pride I had and begged him and Vivian to stop, had they only laughed at me?
Vivian had even secretly recorded me and posted the video online. Because my story sounded too strange, no one believed me. To the internet, I became a spoiled rich girl who loved drama.
I looked at Logan and smiled.
“Didn’t you say Vivian thinks I’m dramatic? That she thinks I’m rich enough not to work and all I do is sit at home with the AC on?”
“Well, I listened. I came out to get some sun.”
Ever since Vivian met me, she had never really been kind. She had complained about me to Logan in private messages more than once.
My words shut him up. All he could do was stammer, “You… you…”
The noise drew a few residents out of the apartment lobby, where they had been hiding from the heat.
“Young women these days really know how to make a scene.”
“Young man, don’t spoil her too much. Rich girls are the hardest to please.”
“Her boyfriend is already being so patient, and she’s still acting like this. What a handful.”
Several nosy residents looked me up and down, already judging me. They did not know a thing about me, but they had already taken Logan’s side.
I rolled my eyes.
Then, under the 108-degree Fahrenheit sun, I started running.
Vivian, let’s see how long you can last.
Logan’s face flushed with anger. He pointed at me with a trembling finger.
“Fine. I see you’ve lost your mind today.”
Then he turned and left.
My gaze went cold.
He did not seem to know that Vivian had swapped our sensations yet.
I forced that thought aside and ran faster. Normally, whenever I ran too hard, a dull ache would start in my lower abdomen.
Now, I felt nothing there at all.
My phone rang.
I laughed under my breath and answered the video call.
“Erin Hall! Why are you outside?”
Vivian’s terrified face filled the screen as she screamed.