2
My mom was so angry she slapped me right then and there.
My brother threw the cake he had bought for me into the trash.
Lucas said, “You’re disgusting.”
From then on, they all thought I was a lying bitch.
I tried to explain, but they wouldn’t believe me.
“We’re going out to eat,” Lucas suddenly came back in and said.
He saw the blood on the floor and frowned deeply.
“Ruby, can you stop pretending? It’s only going to make us hate you more.”
I looked up at his chiseled face.
We had grown up together, been childhood sweethearts.
We went to college together, started working together.
He used to say, “I want to be with Ruby for the rest of my life.”
But not long ago, he had hooked up with Tiffany.
In my own room, the two of them were tangled up together.
I was so disgusted I kept throwing up, but his explanation was that it was just a drunken mistake, he didn’t mean to cheat.
“Lucas, let’s break up,” I said calmly as I wiped the blood from my mouth.
His pupils constricted
as honed over and gripped my shoulders.
ex
wys
“Is it because I interrupted your stream today?”
“Ruby, can’t you be more kind? You’re so fortunate – you have a brother, you have me, and your family is well–off.”
“But Tiffany has nothing. She even has a sick mother.”
I laughed bitterly.
Me, fortunate?
My brother hates me, my boyfriend betrayed me, and even if I told my mom I was sick, she wouldn’t give me money for treatment.
Is that what you call fortunate?
“I still want to break up with you,” I continued. The pain in my stomach was getting worse.
Last week, the doctor had told me I couldn’t keep binge eating like this.
Otherwise, I’d be dead within a month.
But I still needed money. Before I died, I just wanted to use this body to earn a bit more.
I wanted to hold a grand funeral for myself.
I never had a good life, so I wanted to leave this world in style.
3:22 PM M
It would be my final gift to myself.
“Fine. If that’s what you want, we’re done,” Lucas said as he stormed out.
A moment later, I received a Snapchat message from Tiffany.
[How did it feel today?]
[Haha, the people you love most all turned against you.]
I didn’t reply. I just took a screenshot of our chat history.
My photo album was already full of our chat logs.
I hoped that one day, everyone would see the truth.
I cleaned myself up and went to a house.
Whenever I felt down, I would come here.
This is where my adopted 10–year–old sister, Chloe, lived.
Her name had “pearl” in it, just like mine.
She was pitiful, abandoned by her family at an amusement park.
I felt we were similar, so I adopted her as my sister.
“Big sis, you’re here! I got my final exam results. I got perfect scores!” she exclaimed, throwing herself into my arms as soon as I opened the
door.
I patted her head.
“Chloe is so smart. Do you want big sis to take you out for a nice meal?”
She didn’t know I had stomach cancer.
It for a
I didn’t want her to know either. Telling people about these things only makes everyone unhappy.
“Yes! Let’s go to KFC!”
“Okay”
Whenever I rewarded her, we always went to KFC.
But I would never take her to McDonald’s.
Because I couldn’t eat there. I would never be able to eat there again.
After we arrived, I placed our order.
Not long after ordering, my brother and Tiffany suddenly walked in.
Tiffany saw me and covered her mouth in surprise.
“Oh my god, Ruby, you have a child?”
I really wanted to sew her mouth shut. It was so foul.
My brother walked over and angrily demanded, “Whose child is this?”
“Hello I’m big sister’s little sister. Chloe. She adopted me,” Chloe answered politely.
3:22 PM M
<
Hearing this, they fell silent.
C
But my brother quickly started mocking me again: “You’re always saying you’re sick, but here you are eat lying bitch.”
uby, you really are just a
With that, he left with Tiffany.
Halfway through the meal, my stomach suddenly started hurting badly again, and I coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.
“Ah! Big sis, what’s wrong?” Chloe cried out, quickly hugging me.
I was in so much pain, I felt disoriented.
“I… I’m fine,” I managed to say.
Just then, I saw my brother rush over to check on me.
How ridiculous. Didn’t he think I was faking it? Why would he come to check on me now?
The next time I woke up, I was in the hospital.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I was slapped hard across the face again.
