Reborn to Destroy the Lie That Ruined Me

A poor girl in my class got pregnant out of wedlock, then knelt in front of me and begged to borrow three thousand dollars for an abortion.

Professor, if I start showing, the school will expel me.

I come from nothing. School is my only way out. Please, save me.

In my last life, I couldn't bear to watch her future get destroyed. I not only transferred her three thousand dollars on the spot, I also pulled strings to get a hospital to cover it up for her.

And how did she repay me? She took a screenshot of my transfer and spent the whole night building a sixty-six-page slideshow, spreading the lie that I had coerced her into sleeping with me and gotten her pregnant.

The whole internet cursed me as a disgrace to the profession, a monster in a suit.

A mob of self-righteous strangers dragged my daughter into an alley and violated her until she died.

My wife broke down and jumped to her death.

And Dora, riding her perfect victim story, sailed into a graduate spot and turned into a millionaire influencer, raking it in.

The day the officers took me away, she looked at the wreck of me and smiled, cold and indifferent.

"Professor, this world was never built to reward good hearts, was it?"

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day she knelt begging me. I dialed the academic affairs office right away.

"I'm reporting a currently enrolled student for being pregnant out of wedlock and for misconduct."

"Per school policy, I recommend immediate expulsion."

Dora Fox went rigid in an instant.

There was no way she'd imagined that I, the soft-hearted pushover who always gave in, would just pick up the phone and turn her in.

The next second she lunged at me like she'd lost her mind, clawing for my phone.

Right then, the voice of the Dean Whitaker came through the earpiece.

"Professor Joyce, is the report you just submitted, that the student Dora Fox is pregnant out of wedlock, accurate?"

"Dean, I have audio and video of the entire thing."

The voice on the other end went sharp at once.

"Good. I'll verify it immediately and hand Dora Fox an expulsion under the rules."

The second the call ended, Dora broke completely, glaring at me with red-rimmed eyes.

"Mr. Joyce, all I wanted was to borrow three thousand dollars. If you didn't want to lend it, fine, but why report me?"

"Do you know I have three younger brothers at home? If I get expelled, my parents will sell me off to some old man for a bride price. School is my only way out."

"I was just young and I got tricked! You could have helped me! Why are you doing this to me?"

Her out-of-control screaming carried straight through the office door, and a few colleagues who'd been teaching next door pushed it open at the sound.

"Professor Joyce, her family situation is that bad, and getting an education isn't easy for her. Isn't it a little heartless to do this?"

"Right, it's only three thousand dollars. It's not like you can't spare it."

Seeing people take her side, Dora cried even harder.

In my last life, this exact pitiful act was what fooled me.

A moment of weakness, and I paid the three thousand for her abortion out of my own pocket, then ran around pulling strings at the hospital.

And how did she repay me?

An all-night, sixty-six-page slideshow, using my transfer record to spread the lie that I'd forced her to get pregnant.

Overnight my name was destroyed, the whole internet calling me a disgrace to the profession.

My daughter was cornered by a mob waving the banner of justice, dragged into an alley, and abused until she died.

My wife couldn't take the blow and jumped from a building.

A good home, all of it destroyed because of one kind act of mine.

And she, riding her victim story, sailed into a graduate spot and became a millionaire influencer, raking it in.

I had nothing left. I laid down every scrap of dignity and knelt in front of her, begging her to tell the truth and clear my name.

She looked down at me from above.

"Professor, a good heart doesn't have to be rewarded in this world, does it?"

I turned to face my colleagues, my expression flat.

"Fine, don't be heartless. You two put up the money for her abortion and cover up her violation for her."

The colleague froze for a beat, then gave an awkward laugh.

"She was begging you, not me. Why would I help her?"

Exactly. Why would you?

I turned back to Dora, her face streaming with tears.

"Being young isn't an excuse for breaking the rules. You broke school policy, so why should I be the one to clean it up for you?"

"I'm a teacher, here to teach and to answer questions. I'm not your nanny. I'm under no obligation to fix your mess."

"You own the mistakes you make."

With that, I turned and walked out of the office without looking back.

By the time I got home, my wife was setting the last dish on the table.

"Why are you back so late?"

"Dad, there's a math problem I can't quite get. Can you help me with it in a bit?"

The quiet, ordinary warmth in front of me made my chest ache.

I fought hard to hold back the tears.

In my last life, playing the saint was what left me with a broken family, my wife and child gone.

This life, no one is getting near my family.

We'd barely finished a peaceful dinner when my phone suddenly rang. It was the Dean.

His voice on the other end was pitched very low.

"Professor Joyce, come to the academic affairs office right now."

"Dora Fox has filed a formal complaint against you, claiming you used your position to coerce her into sleeping with you and got her pregnant."

I got to the academic affairs office and shoved the door open to find the Dean's face black as thunder.

He grabbed a thick stack of printouts off the desk and hurled it at my feet.

"Joseph Joyce, you're the youngest associate professor this school has, a talent the department has invested everything in cultivating. And what have you done? Used your position to coerce a student! What happened to your integrity?"

I picked the pages up off the floor and turned through them one by one.

The so-called evidence was exactly like last time: transfers I'd supposedly made to Dora Fox, plus a string of explicit messages.

I set the pages back down on the desk.

"Dean, how are you so sure this is me? Couldn't Dora Fox have fabricated it herself?"

The question left him tongue-tied. He stared at me for two seconds, then flew into an even greater rage.

"Joseph Joyce, do you even hear yourself? She's a clean, decent girl. Why would she drag her own reputation through the mud to slander a professor?"

Dora lifted her red-rimmed eyes and looked around at the roomful of colleagues through a blur of tears.

"I never wanted to make this public..."

"Professor Joyce harassed me day after day. He said if I'd be with him, he could get me into the graduate program."

At that, her sobbing grew worse.

"All I wanted was money for the abortion so I could graduate quietly. But he turned right around and reported my pregnancy, trying to ruin my whole life..."

The tearful, broken speech had every eye in the room turning on me with contempt.

"No wonder he was cruel enough to report a student. Guilty conscience. He was scared it would come out, so he struck first."

"You really never know what's behind a face. How can an animal like this stay at a university? Isn't the school going to expel him?"

The Dean rubbed at his brow, pained.

"Three thousand dollars. If you'd just lent it to her back then, would we be sitting in this mess now?"

"Joseph Joyce, at this point you hand in your resignation, say publicly that you're leaving over a private dispute, and at least you keep some dignity."

Dora buried her face in her hands, her whole body shaking with sobs.

"So that's it, it all just gets waved away? I'm a girl with no one to lean on. I've lost my good name, and I'm carrying his child on top of it, and I can't even get one apology?"

I looked down at her and nearly laughed out loud.

So this was what they'd been waiting for.

Last time, I'd panicked. All I could think about was steadying the situation, so I bowed my head and apologized in front of everyone.

And she'd turned right around, taken the video of my apology, and spread it all over the internet. I became the hypocrite in a scholar's robes that everyone spat on.

While she became the internet's darling, the face of "standing up to patriarchy."

Ten million followers overnight, and money pouring in.

I walked over to her, unhurried, and stopped in front of her.

"Fine. Since you insist this child is mine."

"When did you get pregnant, and where?"

Dora's eyes swam with tears. She choked out the words.

"Professor Joyce, do you really have to force me like this? That day you used a conference as an excuse to take me out, lured me to a hotel, and I fought as hard as I could..."

"Which hotel."

"The Ritz... the Ritz-Carlton, room 4203."

It shot out of her.

"What time."

"Three months ago. Professor Joyce, stop pushing me. I'll drop the complaint, all right? I'm begging you, let me go."

And with that she dropped to her knees in front of me and started knocking her head against the floor, over and over.

The perfect picture of a victim backed into a corner.

The Dean was so furious he swung and slapped me across the face.

"Joseph Joyce! What is it you actually want? This could all be settled with one apology, and you insist on blowing it up?"

I worked my jaw, ignored the Dean, and kept my eyes on Dora.

"At three months along, a hospital can run a paternity test."

"And every administrator happens to be right here, witnesses all present. Let's go to the hospital right now, draw blood in front of everyone, and find out exactly whose child this is."

The Dean's face changed the instant he heard it.

"Joseph, are you never going to let this go? Do you have any idea what this will do to the university's reputation?"

The school's reputation couldn't take a hit, so of course I was the one who had to be thrown to the wolves.

It was a setup, plain and simple, and I was supposed to just sit there and take it?

I stepped back and clapped my hands toward the door.

The next second, reporters poured in and started livestreaming the whole room.

I faced the cameras and spoke without a trace of fear or apology.

"There has never been anything improper between me, Joseph Joyce, and Dora Fox. If the child she's carrying is mine, I'll go to prison willingly."

Dora looked frozen with shock, as if she'd been struck dumb. She even forgot to sob, just sat there blankly watching the comments scroll past on the livestream.

*Teachers with zero morals are this brazen now? Commits the crime and still stands there talking tough!*

*I'm dead. If he never touched her, why would a girl come demanding abortion money? People don't do favors for nothing.*

*I've heard of this Joseph Joyce before. He's got a teenage daughter at home and still pulls this filth while supposedly setting an example!*

*Hold on. If he'd actually done it, who'd volunteer for a paternity test? More likely the girl's the one making a false accusation.*

In the span of a few minutes, the hashtag shot straight to the top of the trending list.

The Dean broke into a cold sweat, bowing again and again toward the cameras.

"Please, everyone, rest assured. The university will absolutely not tolerate any breach of professional conduct!"

Then his head snapped toward me and he jabbed a finger at my face.

"Have you lost your mind? You had to blow this up until it's beyond fixing for everyone, didn't you?"

"Apologize in public, right now! Stop this!"

"Apologize? For what? I'm the one who offered to do a blood test in front of everyone. Whoever doesn't dare go is the one with something to hide."

The comments exploded.

*The animal's getting cocky now? Don't be scared, girl, we've got your back!*

*Sue an animal like this into the ground. What are you waiting for?*

*Right, go do the test with him. Make him lose knowing exactly why!*

Dora lifted her tear-streaked face to the cameras, her voice both wronged and defiant.

"I'm not afraid! I'll fight these campus predators to the end!"

"What happened today can't be fixed with a single apology. I'm going to get justice, no matter what!"

I gave a cold smile and nodded.

"Of course. I commit the crime, I go to prison."

"You make a false accusation, you go to prison."

The whole crowd swept over to the hospital, and the blood was drawn soon enough.

While we waited on the results, my wife and daughter hurried in too.

My daughter's eyes were rimmed red.

"Dad, are you okay? Everything those people online are saying is a lie, right..."

Seeing her cry like that, so helpless, felt like something had been carved straight out of me.

In my last life she died tragically on the street, and right up to her final moment she was crying, defending me.

Screaming again and again that her dad was a good man, that he hadn't done anything.

I leaned down and gently wiped the tears from her face.

"Don't be scared. Dad's fine. This will all come out clean."

The onlookers saw it and immediately started sneering.

"What a face on a beast. So devoted when it's his own daughter. He didn't spare a thought like that when he was preying on someone else's girl, did he?"

"His own daughter's a treasure, and everyone else's daughter deserves to be used, is that it? Disgusting!"

I kept my hands pressed over my daughter's ears and paid the insults no mind.

Half an hour later the nurse came striding over with the report and held it out to me.

I refused it outright.

"Please read the result aloud for everyone, so they can't say I tampered with the report."

"I trust the science. It's going to clear my name."

The nurse nodded and opened the report.

"According to the medical paternity test, Joseph Joyce and the fetus Dora Fox is carrying share a biological relationship."

I stood frozen where I was, a hum roaring in my ears.

"How is that possible?"

The words were barely out before the whole place erupted.

"How is it possible? The proof is right there and he's still playing dumb!"

"Two-faced to the bone. Won't own up to what he did!"

"Talked so tough about the DNA test, and now look at him! You animal in a suit!"

I ignored the curses raining down and snatched the report out of the nurse's hand.

Black ink on white paper. A biological relationship exists. The words seared into me.

My mind went blank.

I had never touched Dora Fox. How could she be carrying my child?

Before I could get a word of defense out, a hard slap cracked across my face.

My wife's eyes were full of disappointment, full of ruin.

"Joseph Joyce, how could you do something like this? You're lower than an animal! We're getting a divorce!"

Even my daughter, the child I loved most, stood there with red eyes.

"Dad did you really lie to us?"

I reached for her in a panic, and she shrank back half a step, timid.

That look on her face, the disbelief and the hurt, cut into my heart like a blunt knife.

Was I about to repeat everything from my last life?

At that exact moment, Dora Fox threw herself down in front of the cameras, fragile and hopeless, every word aimed to kill.

"Professor Joyce, I know you're respected by everyone, but the science is right in front of us. You can't keep denying it."

"All I ever wanted was an apology. I never wanted to send you to prison."

She paused, the picture of someone who had suffered every wrong.

"Just give me three thousand dollars and I'll get rid of the baby right away. I'll let the whole thing go and I won't press charges."

The onlookers exploded again, curses crashing down from every side.

"That girl is too kind!"

"Scum like him belongs in prison. Why should he get off!"

"His character is rotten. There's no saving a man like this!"

The Dean glared at me, his face full of fury.

"The proof couldn't be clearer. What is there left to argue?"

"The university is making it official now. Your teaching post is terminated, effective immediately. We're reporting you to the Department of Education for blacklisting and holding you accountable for all of it!"

I roared before I could stop myself.

"No, this is wrong, it has to be wrong! I never touched her!"

The words had barely left me before the crowd went past their limit. Several of them rushed in and drove their feet hard into my body.

Fists and feet came down one after another, ugly curses rising on every side.

Through the chaos, out of the corner of my eye I caught Dora Fox sneaking a glance up at me, then dropping her head again, playing frightened and innocent.

"Professor Joyce, when it comes down to it, this is still your fault. I had no choice either"

Both cheeks burned and went numb, and every bone in me throbbed with pain.

I stared her down and screamed with everything I had left:

"You're lying through your teeth! This is not my child, this is the mess your own filthy life dragged in!"

That line lit the crowd's fury all the way up.

More of them surged forward, fists and feet never stopping.

Someone pulled out a phone right then and dialed the police.

"Hello, is this 911? There's an animal here in human skin who's been abusing a female student!"

"Get him thrown in prison, fast!"

I curled up on the cold floor, in agony all over, as if every organ inside me had been knocked out of place.

Through my blurred vision, I saw the smug look all over Dora Fox's face.

And in that instant, everything suddenly came clear to me.

I tore myself free of the hands dragging at me and shouted with all my strength.

"I have proof!"