Reborn to Save the Brother Who Hated Me

After the girl he loved fell to her death, my stepbrother hated me for ten years.
Even after I used the most despicable means to make him completely mine.
He never truly forgave me.
Not until I fled the country in a fit of pique, only to get caught in a riot.
And still, without a moment's hesitation, my brother shielded me. He took a bullet and died.
The last words he ever spoke, cradled in my arms, were:
“I’m the one who spoiled you.”
“I truly regret… ever becoming your brother.”
Everyone said I was a monster.
That I had ruined him—my brother, who had been so decent, so full of integrity his entire life.
So I knelt on the long stone steps of a temple for fifty years.
Begging for a chance to do it all over again.
This time, I would let him have his perfect life.
All I ask is that he lives a life of peace and happiness.

1

“Stella, look at this. Just look at the things you’ve written. Doesn’t it make you sick?”
“How could you… feel this way about your own brother?”

That voice. A voice I’d ached to hear for a lifetime.
My eyes fluttered open. I saw Asher holding my journal, his face flushed crimson with fury.
Inside that journal, I had poured out all of my—
Desire.
For him.
But in that moment, I felt none of the shame of being exposed.
Instead, a sob of pure relief broke from my lips.
I was really back.
I had been reborn into the moment of my first real fight with Asher, the day he discovered my forbidden feelings for him.
Seeing him there, so vibrant and alive, sent a tremor through my entire body.
Thank God.
He’s alive.
Asher must have noticed something was wrong.
The fire in his eyes died down, replaced by a flicker of confusion.
He pointed to the floor.
“Take all of this… and burn it.”
In my past life, those words had sent me into a hysterical frenzy. I had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and kissed him.
The shock on Asher’s face, the way he’d fled from me… that was the beginning of the distance that grew between us.
And for me, that desperate, defiant kiss shattered the last of my restraints.
It made me hate her—Lila Vance, the girl who stole my brother’s heart—even more.
It was the catalyst for every tragedy that followed.
So this time, I scrubbed the tears from my face with the back of my hand.
I gathered the box filled with my journals.
“Okay,” I said.
“I’ll burn them.”

2

Those journals held a decade of my life with Asher.
My mother and his were best friends, inseparable.
But my mom had a weakness for love, and she fell for the wrong man—a monster who used his fists to speak.
She died in a hospital bed when I was five.
My father, a lifelong alcoholic, stumbled into a ditch and died on his way to turn himself in.
Asher’s mom, my Aunt Clara, took me in.
She passed away from cancer when Asher and I were just starting middle school.
And just like that, in the sprawling, empty mansion, it was just us, and a handful of staff who were rarely seen.
Asher was only a few months older than me, but it felt like a lifetime.
I was a walking disaster, and he was the stoic little adult who followed behind me, cleaning up my messes.
Aunt Clara was always working. The housekeepers and nannies had days off.
When I had a stomach flu, Asher stayed up with me all night, holding my hand while the IV dripped into my arm.
When I got into fights at school, he was the one who stood up for me.
When thunderstorms terrified me, he would drag his pillow and blanket into my room and build a fort with me on my bed.
Even after Lila fell, a tragedy he blamed entirely on me.
Even when he hated me to his very core.
When the chaos of the riot erupted around us, he still threw himself in front of me without a second thought.
My brother was perfect in every way.
Except for one thing.
His love for me was the love of family.
My love for him was a crime of the heart.
In our last life, when our housekeeper, Maria, heard the news of Asher’s death, she collapsed, weeping.
Our driver, Sam, had pointed a trembling finger at my face.
“You’re a curse, Stella! A goddamn black hole. You won’t be happy until you’ve destroyed everyone around you, will you?”
I remembered Asher’s final words.
“I’m the one who spoiled you.”
“I truly regret… ever becoming your brother.”
He regretted it.
And so did I.
There was a monastery, north of the city, that was said to work miracles.
I went there to pray that in the next life, Asher would never have to meet me.
But my sins were too great.
The abbot refused to see me.
So I knelt. Year after year.
The worn stone steps are stained with my blood, each mark a prayer from a bowed head.
My hair turned from black to silver.
Finally, when I was frail and close to death, the abbot granted me an audience.
He said, “What has happened cannot be undone. But a new beginning may yet be possible.”
“You are the calamity in his fate. If you do not resolve it, your efforts will be in vain.”
He pressed a small, silk pouch into my wrinkled hand.
“This will guide you, when the time for rebirth comes.”
And when I woke up, the pouch was still clutched in my hand, proof that it wasn’t all a dream.
This life, I won’t make the same mistakes.
I will pay any price, as long as my brother can live in peace.

3

The next morning, on the way to school, neither of us mentioned what had happened.
The silence in the car was thick enough to choke on.
It wasn't until we pulled up to the school that Asher finally broke it.
“You need to apologize to Lila today for what you did a few days ago.”
His tone was clipped, formal.
He was clearly expecting a fight.
But I just gave a small, quiet nod.
“Okay.”
Asher shot me a look of surprise.
But in the end, he didn’t say another word.
During lunch, I went to find Lila, just as I’d promised.
It took me a while, but I finally found her. She was with Asher.
The afternoon sun cast a warm, hazy glow over the bustling quad.
Lila was laughing, playfully tapping her fist against Asher’s chest.
The next second, she saw me. The laughter died on her lips. She flinched and scurried behind Asher, clutching the bandage on her hand as if I’d just appeared with a knife.
Asher instinctively moved to shield her.
“What are you doing here?”
His words were laced with a cool distance.
He’d already forgotten he was the one who sent me.
I couldn't really blame him for being on edge.
I was, after all, a monster.
My possessiveness over Asher was a suffocating, all-consuming thing.
He was handsome, kind, and popular.
There was never a shortage of girls interested in him.
And I had driven every single one of them away.
I had always interpreted Asher’s silent permission as something more, a sign that deep down, he felt the same way.
That he wanted me.
It was the same delusion that led me, in my past life, to drug his drink.
To force him across a line that should never be crossed.
He had fought against my touch, but even through his broken, ragged breaths, I convinced myself I heard pleasure.
I ignored the fact that it was nothing more than an involuntary, physical reaction.
But Lila was different. She was special to him.
Even ten years after her death, Asher had never forgiven me.
I forced down the acid bile of jealousy rising in my throat and took a deep breath.
I walked over and gave Lila a deep, formal bow.
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you the other day, and I never should have humiliated you in front of everyone. It was cruel and unacceptable.”
I looked up, my voice trembling slightly. “Can you… can you forgive me?”
Lila glanced nervously at Asher. When he remained silent, she finally answered.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I forgive you.”
I straightened up, and my eyes met Asher’s.
They were swirling with an emotion I couldn’t decipher.

4

In my past life, there was another reason I despised Lila.
I’d seen her, more than once, getting a little too close to Ethan Carter, the school’s resident bad boy.
Ethan was Asher’s sworn enemy.
He was a malicious jerk who lived to make my brother’s life miserable.
I was convinced Lila was a plant, sent by Ethan to mess with Asher’s head. That’s why I went after her so relentlessly.
This time around, whatever the truth was, I had to find out.
I needed to get the two people who were supposed to be together back on track.
So, I started following Lila around, telling her how guilty I felt, how much I wanted to be her friend.
She was wary at first.
But when she saw I was being genuine, she slowly let her guard down.
I started probing, trying to be subtle. “So… what do you think of my brother?”
A blush crept up her neck.
“Asher… he’s helped me so much. And he’s amazing with animals. He’s always feeding the stray cats around campus, he even raised money to get them all spayed and neutered.”
She looked down, a soft smile on her face. “I think he’s a really kind person.”
Of course.
They were perfect for each other.
And Lila really was a great person.
She didn’t come from money, but she was smart and driven, attending our expensive private school on a full scholarship.
The classic beautiful, resilient girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
My brother was handsome, top of our class, and had a massive trust fund left to him by his mother.
Anyone could see they were a perfect match.
Even knowing this, my stomach churned with a bitter, acidic jealousy.
That night, for the first time in what felt like forever, Asher knocked on my bedroom door.
He didn't come in.
The last time he’d burst into my room without asking was when he’d found my journals.
I spoke first, to put him at ease. “I’m just looking at college applications. There’s nothing else in here…”
Ever since I’d been reborn, I could feel Asher pulling away, creating a careful distance between us.
Even without the kiss, he couldn’t stomach the idea of the little sister he raised being in love with him.
And even without the kiss, I couldn't let him go.
He cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Why haven’t you been coming home with me lately?”
I was surprised. I didn’t think he’d even noticed.
Because I have to learn how to live without you.
The thought was a silent scream in my mind.
Even now, I was looking at schools as far away from him as possible.
He and Lila were both brilliant; they’d end up at the same Ivy League school, I was sure of it.
Me? I just needed to be as far away as I could get.
I fabricated a quick excuse.
“Oh, Lila and I have been getting along really well. We decided to walk home together so we can hang out more.”
The lie felt flimsy even to my own ears.
Asher’s gaze was intense, drilling into me until my skin prickled.
I lifted my chin defiantly.
“Are we getting in your way?”
He frowned and flicked me on the forehead.
“What are you talking about? It’s not like that.”
He ran a hand through his hair, a flash of frustration in his eyes.
“Forget it. It’s… probably a good thing for you to make more friends.”

5

A few days later, I was walking home with Lila as planned.
She had started to open up to me, and I felt I was getting closer to understanding the real reason she had died in our past life.
Everyone thought I pushed her.
Even Asher.
After all, I had a history.
But I didn’t.
I never laid a finger on her.
She had just… jumped. Sobbing.
I wondered if something terrible was happening at home, something that would drive her to such desperation.
“Lila,” I said, my voice earnest. “If anything is wrong, you have to tell me. Whatever it is, I’ll help you. I promise.”
She froze, and then her eyes welled up with tears.
She knew. Something was definitely wrong.
She opened her mouth to speak.
But before she could, a group of guys materialized from a side alley.
They were trouble. They were carrying metal rods, the legs of disassembled school desks.
I’d taken some self-defense classes when I was younger, and I managed to hold my own for a minute.
But Lila wasn’t so lucky.
I saw a pipe swinging towards her head. I didn’t think. I just moved.
I shoved her out of the way and took the blow myself.
The world exploded into blackness.
When I came to, a searing pain shot from the back of my head down my spine.
I was covered in mud, but the scene in front of me was so horrifying I barely registered my own state.
Lila was lying on the ground next to me, naked.
“Lila? Hey, Lila, what happened?”
My voice was a raw, trembling whisper. I scrambled for my phone, my only thought to call Asher.
But the screen was shattered, dead.
Suddenly, a blinding light hit my face.
I squeezed my eyes shut, recoiling.
The sound of police sirens and Asher’s enraged voice blended into a chaotic roar.
A powerful force shoved me backwards, my head cracking against a concrete step.
“Stella! I actually thought you’d changed! Were you just waiting for the perfect moment to pull something like this?”
Asher’s eyes were bloodshot, blazing with a fury I’d never seen before.
It took me a second to understand.
He thought I did this.
“Ash, no… it wasn’t me.”
He scooped Lila into his arms, wrapping his jacket around her.
“You’re holding a phone, don’t tell me it wasn’t you! Delete those pictures right now. We’ll deal with this when we get home.”
I watched, stunned, as he walked away, his back a rigid line of condemnation. Tears blurred my vision.
“It really… wasn’t me…”
My strength gave out, every muscle in my body turning to water. The world faded to black once again.

6

I dreamed of the last life, of another time Asher had been this furious with me.
It was after Lila’s fall, when the police were questioning me.
Asher slapped me. The first and only time.
The sound of it echoed in the sterile interrogation room.
“How could you do something like this?”
“I am so… disappointed in you.”
“I wish you were never my sister.”
His eyes held a sorrow so deep it had become numb, a terrifying calm.
I couldn’t blame him.
On the rooftop that day, it had just been me and Lila.
No one would believe that a brilliant student with a bright future would just randomly jump off a building.
But even though Asher believed the worst of me, he still hired the best lawyers.
There were no cameras on the roof. No direct evidence that I had pushed her.
My fingerprints weren’t on her.
But the possibility that I had coerced her, bullied her into jumping, remained.
In the end, her death was ruled an accident.
Asher paid a huge settlement to Lila’s mother.
But she still showed up at school every day, screaming my name, calling me a murderer.
So, Asher pulled us both out of school.
I really did ruin his life.
If it hadn’t been for me, what a brilliant future he would have had.
It didn’t matter what the world thought.
For Asher, the simple, devastating truth was that his sister had killed the girl he loved.
From that day forward, nothing was ever the same.
I woke with a gasp, the dream clinging to me like a shroud.
I was in my own bedroom.
Asher was asleep in the chair beside my bed. He looked exhausted, with dark, bruised circles under his eyes.
As my eyes fluttered open, his shot open too, a flicker of light returning to their depths.
And then he was holding me, his arms wrapped around me in a crushing embrace.

7

It turned out Lila had woken up before me.
She told them everything.
That I had been knocked out trying to save her.
That the group of guys had taken pictures of her and run off.
Asher held me, his body trembling uncontrollably.
He kept murmuring the same words over and over again.
“I’m sorry, Stella. I’m so sorry.”
“It was my fault. I misjudged you.”
“I didn’t protect you, and then I accused you without even listening. You should hit me, you should scream at me…”
His shaking was so violent, so palpable, that a hot wave of tears started to burn my own eyes.
All the fear and hurt from the past few days came pouring out.
I buried my face in his shirt, my sobs and tears soaking the fabric.
“No, Ash! It’s all my fault!”
“If I hadn’t been such a monster before, you wouldn’t have had a reason not to trust me!”
I shook my head wildly, desperate for him to believe me.
“I was wrong, I was so wrong. I’ll never cause trouble for you again, I swear!”
“I won’t… I won’t think about you that way anymore. I just want to be your sister. Forever.”
I felt his body stiffen for a split second.
Then, his hand began to gently pat my back.
We stayed like that for a long, long time.
It felt as if the chasm that had opened between us might finally be closing.
Asher eventually pulled away and brought over a bowl of soup from my bedside table.
“Here. Eat something.”
He gently tied my hair back and draped a robe over my shoulders.
“I’m going to go out and get you those cream puffs you love, from the bakery downtown. To make it up to you.”
He paused at the door, his expression serious. “When I get back, there’s something important I need to tell you.”
I watched him go, a strange feeling settling over me. Something about him had shifted.
It was as if he’d finally made up his mind about something monumental.
But I waited for a long time, and he didn't come back.
Instead, a text message from Lila lit up my phone.
[Stella, please, I’m begging you. Meet me on the school rooftop.]
[You have to come alone.]
[Please…]

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