My past life wasn't peaceful.
Not even close.
I was an orphan. No family, no connections, just another kid dumped into an orphanage that barely functioned as a place for raising children and more as a warehouse for unwanted lives. They sent us to public school, though—because even warehouses needed upkeep, and an educated product was worth more than an uneducated one.
For me, studying wasn't just something to pass the time. It was hope.
Knowledge was power. And power was the only way out.
So I worked hard. Harder than anyone else. I got perfect grades, memorized textbooks until I could recite them in my sleep. The teachers thought I was a prodigy. The other kids thought I was an easy target.
I didn't care.
They bullied me, shoved me into lockers, stole my books, whispered words designed to cut deeper than any knife. But none of it mattered. Because studying was everything.
Then Emma came into my life. And suddenly, for the first time, I wasn't alone.
