My project audio skips when previewing

My project audio keeps skipping/fast-forwarding when I hit preview. 

I tried bunch of videos and posts about audio lagging and stuff but nothing is working right now. I'm using the latest 2024 version.

I closed and opened the project several times. It didn't work.

I tried switching audio hardware device class from MME to ASIO like one post did, and it didn't work.

I changed preview settings and composition settings (frame rates, viewer quality, mute audio when preview is not real time, etc). Didn't work.

I tried clearing cache, whatever that is, and it didn't work....

I'm really new to this software and would wholeheartedly appreciate any solution to this problem. Thank you in advance!!