Chapter 2

In the testing room, Lily kept her head down, her shoulders trembling slightly, as if she'd suffered a terrible injustice.

We were arranged in adjacent cubicles for sample collection. I could hear intermittent sobbing coming from her side.

Harrison and several officials were waiting right outside.

I quickly completed my sample collection and handed it to the staff.

When I came out, Lily was also just coming out. Her eyes were red and swollen, and she looked at me like I was her mortal enemy.

"Sophia, are you satisfied?" she said in a voice only the two of us could hear. "You want to destroy me, don't you?"

"You were the one who tried to destroy me first."

"I was just worried about you!" She was still being stubborn.

"Really? So you secretly taking those sleeping pills every night was also for my benefit?"

Lily looked at me in horror, her lips trembling.

She'd done this extremely secretively. Even her parents didn't know.

This was something from my past life—after she'd achieved fame and success, during a drunken slip of the tongue, she'd proudly bragged to others about it.

She'd talked about how she used drugs to maintain peak performance while using another drug to gradually destroy me.

"How... how do you know?" Her voice shook.

"I know a lot more than that."

I stopped paying attention to her and turned to leave.

The test results would take some time. We were led to a temporary lounge.

As soon as Harrison came in, he pointed at my nose and started yelling.

"Sophia! You've disappointed me so much! Even if Lily said something wrong, you can't destroy her like this! You're teammates!"

"When she publicly accused me of using banned drugs, why didn't you tell her we were teammates?"

"She just spoke without thinking!"

"Coach Harrison, you're being way too obviously biased. Is it because her dad paid you off?"

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Harrison flew into a rage and raised his hand to hit me.

A figure blocked in front of me. It was Dr. Smith, the team doctor.

"Coach Harrison, talk nicely. Don't use violence."

Harrison's hand froze in mid-air and reluctantly lowered.

Dr. Smith pulled me aside and asked quietly: "Sophia, what's really going on? I believe you're not that kind of person."

In my past life, only Dr. Smith came to see me after my incident. She didn't believe I would use drugs, but had no evidence.

Looking at her concerned eyes, I felt warmth in my heart.

"Dr. Smith, don't worry. I definitely haven't."

"Then Lily..."

"Whether she has or not, we'll know the results soon."

Dr. Smith nodded and patted the back of my hand.

"Okay, I believe you."

Just then, the lounge door was pushed open.

Director Morgan from the national team walked in. As soon as he entered, he cheerfully tried to smooth things over.

"Oh, what's the big deal? Two girls having a little spat."

He walked up to me with a paternalistic expression.

"Sophia, I know you're upset. How about this—I'll have Lily apologize to you, and we'll consider this matter closed, okay? Don't let it affect the rest of the competition or damage our country's image."

Lily immediately got the hint, walked up to me, and squeezed out a few tears.

"Sophia, I'm sorry. It's my fault. I shouldn't have said those things to the reporters. I was just too worried about you. I apologize."

She was about to bow to me.

If I accepted her apology, this would really become just a small misunderstanding between friends.

She'd get away scot-free, while I, even if I hadn't used drugs, would still be saddled with a reputation for making a big deal out of nothing and forcing my teammate.

Nice try.

I stepped aside to avoid her bow.

"I don't need your apology. I just want the truth."