Ripping off Her Mask

To maintain her persona as a beautiful saint, my senior, Kate Horton, tried to comfort a suicidal patient who stood at the edge of a building.

"Your mother is waiting for you," she had said. With just one sentence, she made the patient jump off the building to his death.

Terrified, Kate buried herself in my boyfriend's arms, sobbing, "I'm sorry! I just thought of his poor mother, and…"

The patient had been showing signs of improvement, but because of her, he died.

My mentor, Luke Spencer, and my boyfriend, Brandon Payne, only focused on comforting her.

"It's not your fault. You're too soft-hearted and kind. He's been tormented by his family for years. You just helped him find his peace," they said.

I was furious. "He was showing signs of improvement! Just because you didn't attempt to understand the patient's condition and spoke recklessly, you pushed him to suicide!"

Kate was ashamed. Unable to defend herself, she staged a dramatic act of self-harm.

Luke and Brandon felt sorry for her and pushed me into the public eye to take the blame.

Luke even falsified the medical reports, saying that I had mistreated the patient and caused his sudden breakdown.

Brandon leaked my personal information online, leading the patient's family and angered Internet justice warriors to corner me on the hospital's rooftop.

During the altercation, one of the patient's family members accidentally pushed me off the roof, and I fell to my death.

After dying, I returned to the day when Kate insisted on comforting the suicidal patient.

…

"Oh, my god! I'm so scared!" Kate screamed as the patient, who had calmed down for a while, suddenly roared in anger, waving his arms around.

She panicked and ran away from the patient, hiding behind Brandon, sobbing, "I… I just mentioned his mother…"

The patient heard her. Upon hearing the word "mother", he quieted, as if he had lost all will to live. He rushed toward the edge of the rooftop.

I snapped back to my senses suddenly. Instinctively, I lunged forward. Just as the patient's feet were about to clear the edge, I managed to grab onto his ankle with one hand. Most of my body was hanging off the edge as I grabbed the railing with my other hand.

Gravity threatened to pull me down. My hand scraped against the rough material of the railing, drawing blood.

The patient kept struggling, clearly disturbed. I tried to smile reassuringly at him. "It's okay. No one can dictate your life now."

The patient quieted down, stunned. Taking the chance, I put all my weight on the hand that was holding on to the railing. My arms were in so much pain that they were numb. Finally, I dragged him back to the rooftop.

Everyone at the scene gasped. It took them a while before they got over the shock and rushed over to secure the dazed patient.

Even Kate had stopped crying.

I wiped the blood off my hands and strode toward her.

With my blood-stained hand, I slapped her hard across the face.

I poured all of my anger and hatred for killing me in my last life into the slap. The force sent her staggering backward, nearly falling to the ground.

Her meticulously styled hair was disheveled. The blood-stained slap mark on her face began swelling.

Stunned, she looked at me in disbelief, her eyes wide.

"You brainless idiot! How could you try to comfort a patient without first understanding their case? He's suicidal. You can't mention his parents in front of him! You almost killed him with your reckless words!"

Kate trembled. She wiped her tears and whimpered, "I didn't mean to… I'm sorry. I just felt sorry for his mother. She must love him so much."

Ever since she joined our department under Luke's mentorship, I'd noticed her patterns.

Under the guise of compassion, she would flaunt what people thought was kindness everywhere, often at the expense of others. When something went wrong, she would act like an innocent victim, garnering everyone's sympathy.

"Amanda, you're going a little too far…"

"Shut up!" I glared at Brandon. In my past life, he had played a significant role in my death, too.

Now, he was so eager to jump in and defend her.

"I am the deputy head of the psychology department," I berated him. "You're not even part of our department. Why are you interfering? I managed to save the patient today, almost dying in the process. If she does this again and causes another death, are you going to take responsibility for her?"

"Amanda." Luke had approached us at some point. He looked displeased. "Kate's new. She doesn't have much experience…"

"Oh, shut up!" I interrupted impatiently. "Are you going to take responsibility for her mistakes?"

Luke was my mentor. He had mentored me throughout my academic career, all the way up to my doctorate degree. I'd always respected him. This was the first time I had retorted so bluntly.

He was taken aback for a moment before anger took over. "Amanda Seville, how dare you speak to me that way? How disrespectful!"

"Disrespectful?" I scoffed. "Do you think your authority is more important than a patient's life, Dr. Spencer?

"Kate Horton has a PhD in psychology as well. She doesn't even know the basics of dealing with mentally unstable patients. What was the point of her education?"

Kate's head was lowered as she sobbed hysterically.

Luke tried to defend her, but I stopped him. "You're her mentor, Dr. Spencer. You share the blame for such a grave mistake! If the patient had died today, our entire department would be in hot water!"

I raised my bloodied palm. "If you dare to stop me from punishing Kate, don't blame me for being brutal!"