Chapter 8 — Reborn: This Hell Is Mine

Rumors with no origin

The first rumor appeared in the form of an anonymous post on a closed forum for office workers in the downtown area, where thousands of people often share scandalous stories and anonymous accusations about colleagues, bosses, or anyone in the office world. The post is titled: "Does anyone know about the interior designer who is following the young CEO of a large corporation?"

The content of the post is vaguely described but detailed enough for readers to easily think of Ý Vy and Bách Nguyên: a girl from a poor background, who worked on many small projects, somehow managed to sneak into large projects of a family corporation, regularly created opportunities to meet privately with the young CEO, and showed signs of using her pitiful background story to gain sympathy.

The post quickly attracted hundreds of comments, most of which were speculations, adding salt and pepper in a negative direction. That afternoon, a few colleagues in Ý Vy's company began whispering, although no one dared to say it directly to her face.

Ý Vy discovered this post through Bích Ngọc, who accidentally saw it on the forum and hurriedly ran to her desk. "Yy Vy, look at this, I think someone is talking about you."

Ý Vy skimmed through the post, keeping a calm expression even though a painfully familiar feeling arose in her heart. In her previous life, she clearly remembered, similar rumors had also appeared, but at that time she had absolutely no idea who was behind it, simply thinking it was jealousy from outsiders who were jealous of her happiness. She spent many sleepless nights, even crying in the comforting arms of Tuệ Nghi, who at that time appeared extremely indignant on behalf of her sister, and even helped her report the post to the forum administrator to have it taken down.

Now, when re-reading every word in the post with the sober eyes of someone who has clearly understood the nature of the situation, Ý Vy realized a detail that she had never noticed in her previous life: the post mentioned a very specific detail - the fact that she "regularly creates opportunities for private meetings outside of work hours" - a piece of information that only very few people know, because the private meetings between her and Bách Nguyên outside of work hours only started recently, and the number of people who know about this can only be counted on Fingertips: private secretaries of Bách Nguyên, Bích Ngọc, and Tuệ Nghi.

"Thank you Ngoc for showing me," Ý Vy said, her voice still calm. "I think this will pass, no need to stress too much."

But when Bích Ngọc left, Ý Vy immediately opened her notebook and wrote down this important detail. She didn't rush to conclude that Tuệ Nghi was the person behind the post — that would require more concrete evidence — but she began to pay close attention to her foster sister's reaction in the following days.

That night, just like in her previous life, Tuệ Nghi called her, his voice full of worry. "Sister, I just heard my friends mention an online post, is it about you? People are so mean, don't pay attention, let me report for you."

"Yes, I know, thank you," Ý Vy replied, her voice still warm as usual. "It's probably just some free time, I don't care."

"But Ms. Ý Vy," Tuệ Nghi continued, her voice seemed hesitant," I saw in the post that it reminded you to meet Mr. Bách Nguyên privately outside of work hours, this... please be careful, what if someone intentionally follows you?"

Ý Vy was silent for a moment, clearly feeling the way Tuệ Nghi skillfully integrated that detail into the conversation, as if it was sowing insecurity in her heart, a fear that someone was secretly watching her, when in fact, that detail could only come from the person talking to her right now.

"Yes, I will be more careful," Ý Vy replied, not revealing any signs of doubt in her voice.

After the call, she sat silently in front of her desk for a long time, feeling a dull pain creeping into her heart — not because of anger, but because of a deep disappointment when faced with increasingly clearer evidence that the sister she loved and trusted for more than twenty years, was trying to destroy her happiness step by step.

But she also realized that in this life, she had an advantage that she did not have in her previous life: she knew in advance that the rumors would not stop here. In her previous life, after the first post, just a few weeks later, a more serious rumor appeared - edited photos showed that Ý Vy was intimate with another man, along with rumors that she had a lover before coming to Bách Nguyên, deliberately deceiving him for profit. That rumor almost completely broke the relationship between the two, if not for Bách Nguyên, at the last minute, choosing to trust her instead of believing in fake images.

This time, Ý Vy decided to prepare in advance for the next attack.

She proactively contacted a former classmate who was working in cybersecurity, asking for advice on how to protect personal images on social-media platforms and identify photos that had been edited or cropped. She also became more careful about sharing personal photos, limiting posts that could be exploited, and quietly saving her travel schedule for important days, along with invoices and confirmation messages, as proof of transparency if necessary later.

Most importantly, she decided that instead of waiting for the next rumor to appear before responding, she would proactively talk frankly with Bách Nguyên about this issue first, to build a solid foundation of trust before any attack could break it.

A few days later, during a private evening where the two of them had dinner together, Ý Vy proactively mentioned the anonymous post. "Did you hear about the online post about me?"

Bách Nguyên nodded, his eyes were a bit searching but not suspicious. "I heard the secretary mention it. You don't need to explain anything to me, I don't believe such baseless anonymous things."

"I still want to make it clear to you," Ý Vy replied, her voice sincere. "Not because I'm afraid you'll misunderstand, but because I think, if we're really serious about each other, transparency should come from both sides, even if no one asks for it."

She recounted, honestly, all the meetings between the two of them, without hiding anything, and shared frankly about her background and how she was sometimes afraid that others would look at her with suspicion because of her orphanage background.

Bách Nguyên listened without interrupting, and when she finished speaking, he held her hand, his voice firm. "I don't care where you come from. I only care about who you really are, and what I've seen all this time is enough for me to believe."

That solid trust, built from Ý Vy's transparent initiative, became a solid shield that she never had in her previous life. She understood that Tuệ Nghi's next attack, no matter how sophisticated, would be difficult to break this foundation of trust as easily as before.

A few days later, when the anonymous post gradually sank among hundreds of other topics on the forum, Bích Ngọc pulled Ý Vy out to a coffee shop near the company, whispering that she had quietly asked a few friends working in the technology industry, trying to find out if there was a way to track down the anonymous account owner, but with no specific results. "I just hate the way people hide in the shadows and sabotage others without daring to show their faces," Bích Ngọc said, her voice frustrated. "If you know who did this, let me know and I'll come out and help you right away."

Ý Vy just smiled slightly, thanking her friend for her enthusiasm but did not reveal her doubts. She understands that if Bích Ngọc - who has a straightforward personality and is easily angered - learns the truth too early, things can be pushed in a spontaneous, uncontrolled direction, ruining the careful evidence collection plan that she is gradually building. "I think this will pass, thank you Ngoc for taking care of me," she replied, gently squeezing her friend's hand.

That night, before going to bed, Ý Vy reopened all the conversations she had with Tuệ Nghi during the day, rereading each word slowly. She realized that having to constantly be wary of the sister she once trusted absolutely was a huge psychological burden, a silent loneliness that no one around her, not even Bách Nguyên or Bích Ngọc, could truly understand. But she told herself, that burden was still much lighter than the price she had to pay in her previous life, when her naivety prevented her from realizing the danger until it was too late.

But she also knows that once gentle tricks don't work, people will often turn to more drastic measures. And you need to be prepared for that.