Chapter 3

3

Jade has been back for half a month. At first, my parents mentioned me, but now they act as if I never existed.

Early one morning, they took Jade for a check-up.

When the doctor confirmed everything looked good, they were about to leave when they saw a group of nurses huddled around a phone, watching a video.

"How can this woman be so heartless? Suing her own daughter?"

"And she's a lawyer! An educated person, acting like this, basically driving her daughter to her death."

Hearing a familiar voice, my mother froze.

In the video, it was my mother, grandstanding and listing all my alleged crimes, detailing why I had to donate my platelets.

I stood there in silence, only saying one thing at the end:

"Mom, if you knew that donating these platelets would kill me, would you still insist on it?"

Compared to my mother's high-strung, emotional outburst, I was chillingly calm.

My voice was quickly drowned out by my mother's piercing screams.

"How did I raise such a cold-blooded monster? It's a life-or-death situation for your sister, and you're still lying? Are you trying to kill me?"

I didn't argue back in the end.

I knew my mother wouldn't believe me. She was desperate to save Jade.

My pleas were just a final, pathetic grasping at hope.

I took a deep breath, biting my thumb until it bled to steady my breaking nerves.

"Fine. I'll do it."

I knew even if I refused, she would use her silver tongue to win the case. She had thrown away all dignity to save Jade.

If she wanted my life, she could have it.

"What kind of trash are you talking about? Driving my daughter to death?"

My mother lunged forward to grab the phone. On the screen, her face was twisted in rage. She looked at me in the video with such pure loathing.

The nurse was shocked, but looked between my mother and the phone, then let out a cold laugh.

"So you're that lawyer mother who forced her daughter to court for her sister? No wonder your daughter died. You have no class. You deserve the karma."

My mother froze. The phone slipped from her fingers. She mumbled, "My daughter... died?"

The nurse ran to pick it up, but the screen was shattered.

"You're paying for this!"

My mother couldn't hear the noise around her. Everything felt like a silent movie.

She walked down the hospital hallway like a ghost. No matter how much the nurse shouted, she couldn't hear a thing.

My father, who had chased after her, was grabbed by the nurse and told what had happened. When he heard the truth about how I died, he went pale.