【Watching Emily be so sensible… I regret ever taking you back from the foster home.】
A sharp pain stabbed through my chest, as if a piece of my heart had been ripped away, the cold wind flooding in.
I coughed violently, the taste of iron filling my throat.
With a splatter, blood gushed from my mouth.
Dr. Wilson had warned me my symptoms would worsen—coughing would turn into bleeding, chest pains would become common.
But I didn’t expect it so soon.
Tears burned my eyes as I pulled out my phone and messaged Linda:
【Can I really come back?】
【But Robert and Daniel don’t want me there.】
Her reply came quickly.
【Come back first. We’re family. What grudges can’t be let go overnight?】
I closed my eyes and replied:
【Okay.】
She gave birth to me—surely she must still love me.
If she knew I was really sick, she would hold me and ask if I was hurting.
If Robert and Daniel knew, they’d forgive me too, wouldn’t they?
They’d care for me, stop being angry.
Emily’s lies would no longer work.
Maybe, just maybe, I could follow Dr. Wilson’s advice and fight to live.
With treatment, I could live for many more years.
I was still young. I had never really felt my family’s love.
I didn’t want to die.
So, I went home.