Chapter 1

The day Grandma died, my parents, both of whom had remarried, began arguing over who would have to take me.

In the original timeline, I had been concerned about Dad working himself so hard and chose to live with him so that I could be there for him.

I even picked the numbers on the lottery ticket that won him a multimillion-dollar jackpot.

After he became rich, he bought a nice place and luxury cars for my stepmother and their children.

Yet he would not spend a cent on my pain medication.

By the time doctors found the tumor in my brain, I could only lie in bed and endure the pain until it killed me.

In the new timeline, Dad frowned and sighed again and again. “Your mom married a wealthy businessman. You’ll have a much better life with her.

“I already have too many children at home. There just isn’t room for you.”

Mom fiddled with her freshly manicured nails and replied indifferently, “That’s not fair. More children just make a home livelier.

“My husband runs a very strict household, and the twins from his first marriage are impossible to deal with.

“She has always done whatever she wants. They’ll eat her alive if she comes home with me.”

Their attempts to push me toward each other no longer stirred any feelings in me.

When they finally lost patience and demanded that I choose, I quietly picked up my suitcase and walked over to Mom.

Her face immediately darkened.

Dad, meanwhile, breathed a sigh of relief. He was unable to suppress a pleased little smile.

However, he did not know that without me there to intervene, my stepmother would toss the winning lottery ticket into the washing machine and reduce it to a pile of soggy scraps.

Having traveled back in time, I only wanted to live comfortably during whatever time I had left.

Chapter 1

Outside the family law office, my father, Richard Wyler, shoved my duffel bag into my arms.

He pulled out his phone and checked the lottery drawing date yet again before waving me away.

“Don’t call unless it’s important. I have a big family to take care of. I’m busy enough as it is.”

His mind was entirely on the lottery ticket that could soon make him a multimillionaire. He could not wait to rid himself of the burden I represented.

Without saying anything, I walked toward the Maybach parked at the curb with my bags.

My mother, Mona Brown, frowned when she saw my worn, shabby clothes.

The rear window rolled down.

My stepsister, Audrey Brown, covered her nose in disgust and said, “Mona, is this your daughter from the bad part of town? Why do her clothes stink?”

My stepbrother, Derek Brown, turned from the front passenger seat and gave me a cool, appraising glance.

He said nothing, but the contempt in his eyes was plain.

Mom stood awkwardly beside the car, visibly embarrassed.

She wanted to offer to buy me some new clothes, but she was afraid of upsetting her new family.

Sensing her discomfort, my stepfather, Fred Brown, closed the folder in his hands.

“Let’s stop by the mall and get her some new outfits.”

I lowered my eyes and nodded.

I followed them into the upscale mall, where the lighting was so bright it stung my eyes.

Fred asked a sales associate to bring over several pieces from the latest collection.

Mom pulled me behind a clothing rack.

She whispered, “Choose something cheap. Don’t make yourself look greedy.

“Fred may be rich, but his money has nothing to do with you. Know your place. Don’t make things hard for me.”

I watched her perfectly painted lips move while feeling strangely detached.

I could not remember the last time she had shown so much concern over me.

Unfortunately, her concern had nothing to do with love.

I turned away and browsed through the rack in front of me without much interest.

Audrey came over and noticed the white dress I had been looking at.

She immediately snatched it away and gave me a challenging look.

“This one’s mine. You don’t deserve to wear anything this nice.”

Mom immediately turned to her with an eager smile.

“It would look much better on you anyway, Audrey. She can choose something else.”

I looked at Mom’s ingratiating smile and quietly stepped aside.

Then, I pointed at a discounted T-shirt at random.

Fred walked over and glanced at the shirt.

His brow furrowed slightly before he turned to the sales associate.

“Get her that white dress from earlier, along with these new outfits, all in her size.”

Audrey stamped her foot in displeasure.

“Dad, why are you buying her such expensive clothes?”

Chapter 2

Fred looked at her.

“We can easily afford a few outfits. Don’t make a scene and embarrass us.”

Mom hurried to agree. “Exactly. You’re so thoughtful, Fred.”

Then, she turned and glared at me. “Well? Aren’t you going to thank him?”

I took the shopping bags from the sales associate. “Thank you, Fred.”

Half an hour later, I stepped inside Fred’s sprawling mansion.

A grand spiral staircase and glittering crystal chandelier greeted me.

In the original timeline, Dad had bought a luxury penthouse after winning the lottery, but it would have looked modest next to this place.

None of that mattered to me, though.

Carrying my new clothes, I followed Mom’s directions and quietly retreated to the room that had been prepared for me.

The room was spacious. The bed was soft.

I lay down and closed my eyes.

A faint, dull ache throbbed inside my head.

At dinner, Mom carefully coached me on table manners.

“This is how you hold your knife and fork. Try not to slurp your soup.”

She was terrified that I might embarrass her in front of her new family.

Across the table, a mischievous gleam appeared in Audrey’s eyes.

She picked up a bowl of hot soup and held it out to me.

“Here, bumpkin. Have some soup.”

I reached for it, but she deliberately let go before I had a firm grip.

Scalding soup spilled all over the back of my hand.

Before I could even react, Mom cried out.

“You’re so clumsy! Look what you’ve done to the carpet! Go clean yourself up in the bathroom!”

She cared about the carpet and the embarrassment I had caused her, while my hand, which was already red and beginning to blister, meant nothing to her.

I wiped it with a napkin, rose from my seat, and apologized. “I’m sorry.”

Fred set down his fork with a hardened expression.

“Audrey, apologize.”

Audrey pouted. “I didn’t do it on purpose. It’s not my fault she dropped it.”

Fred’s voice turned cold. “I won’t ask again. Apologize.”

Audrey reluctantly muttered an apology.

Mom hurried to smooth things over.

“The children are just playing around. She’s tough.

“She’ll be fine. Please don’t be angry with Audrey.”

Fred ignored her and handed me a tube of burn cream.

“Apply this.”

I took it from him.

“Thank you.”

Back in my room, I sat on the edge of the bed and applied the burn cream.

My phone rang. It was Dad.

Loud conversation and the clink of glasses filled the background.

I heard the flick of his lighter before he spoke. His voice was brimming with smug excitement.

“Listen, kid, I’m about to strike it rich! I know those numbers are going to win. But since you chose to go with your mother this time—and I know you've been reborn just like me—don’t come expecting a share as you did before.

“I’ve got plans for that money. You just stay put at your mother’s place!”

I dabbed the cream over the blisters on my hand. My voice was flat.

“Okay. I hope you win big.”

After I ended the call, I heard soft footsteps outside my room.

Mom was standing in the doorway, though I had no idea how long she had been there.

She pushed the door open and regarded me warily.

“Stop talking to that broke father of yours. I don’t want his low-class ways brought into this house. It took me long enough to find my place in this family, so keep your head down and don’t ruin things for me.”

I studied her carefully made-up face.

“Okay. I will.”

Apparently satisfied with my answer, she turned and closed the door behind her.

In the middle of the night, I woke up with a blinding headache.

The pain was so intense that my body broke out in a cold sweat.

I opened the drawer, only to find my bottle of painkillers empty.

Using the wall for support, I slowly made my way downstairs to look for more.

The living room was dark.

When I passed by the terrace, I found Fred there. He could not sleep either.

He held a glass of red wine and gazed into the distant night.

At the sound of my footsteps, he turned around.

In the moonlight, he studied my dull, exhausted eyes and said in a measured voice, “Audrey lost her mother when she was young. Ever since then, she has tended to bristle whenever someone new joins the family.”

Chapter 3

“Don’t take it personally.”

He poured me a glass of water. Then, he found some painkillers in the medicine cabinet and handed them to me.

I took two tablets.

“Thank you.”

He studied my pale face.

“I used to spend entire nights awake when I was sick. The doctors gave me less than six months to live.

“The pain was unbearable. Even breathing hurt. Everyone around me was waiting for me to die so they could divide up my estate.

“No one believed I would make it. But I didn’t want to die. I went through the chemotherapy and the surgery, and here I am, still alive.”

He turned his gaze back to the night sky.

“No matter how other people treat you, this is your life. Don’t give up on it easily.”

For the first time since I had traveled back in time, someone had shown me genuine kindness.

I wrapped my hands around the warm glass.

“I understand.”

The next few days passed relatively peacefully.

After Fred’s warning, Audrey stopped giving me trouble openly.

However, her animosity toward me had not faded.

Whenever we passed each other in the hallway, she would deliberately shoulder-check me.

At meals, she would make sure the food I disliked was placed directly in front of me.

Derek always watched with cold indifference, neither joining in nor stopping her.

I did not care.

That afternoon, I returned from a follow-up appointment at the hospital.

The doctor said my tumor was spreading faster than expected. I had no more than two months left.

When I opened my bedroom door, I found Audrey rummaging through my duffel bag.

Derek was leaning against the doorframe, frowning as he watched her search through it.

“What are you looking for? Come on, get out of there. Dad will be furious if he catches you.”

Audrey refused to budge.

“Stay out of it. I want to see what she’s hiding in here.”

She turned the bag upside down. Out tumbled several empty bottles of prescription painkillers.

Along with them fell a photograph of Grandma, its edges worn from years of handling.

When Audrey saw me come in, she froze with one of the pill bottles in her hand.

Whatever mocking remark she had prepared died on her lips.

“Why... Why have you been taking so many of these?” she stammered.

I walked over and calmly retrieved Grandma’s photograph.

Carefully, I wiped Audrey’s fingerprints from it with the cuff of my sleeve.

Then, I swept the empty bottles into a drawer.

“Are you done looking?”

My voice was barely above a whisper.

“If you are, please zip up my bag.”

Derek looked from the pill bottles to Grandma’s photograph. His expression turned troubled.

He straightened and tugged Audrey by the arm.

Then, in a stiff but sincere voice, he apologized on her behalf.

“I’m sorry. She shouldn’t have gone through your things.”

I gazed at Grandma’s blurred face in the photograph.

“There is no need to apologize. Nothing stays, anyway.”

My answer left Derek visibly unsettled.

After studying my empty gaze for a moment, he took Audrey by the arm and led her away with an unreadable expression.

The room fell silent again.

A short while later, my phone began vibrating incessantly.

Dad had sent more than a dozen messages.

[That witch put the lottery ticket in the washing machine and ruined it!]

[It’s completely ruined! Everything is gone!]

[You knew this would happen, didn’t you? Why didn’t you warn me before you left?]

[We’re practically getting divorced over this!]

[Get out here and talk to me!]

As I read his furious messages, I could easily imagine the rage on his face.

In the original timeline, I had desperately salvaged that ticket from the washing machine.

What had I received in return? When Dad became rich, he cast me aside.

I coldly typed a brief reply: I didn’t know.

Then, I blocked his number, silenced my phone, and tossed it onto the bed.

Another stab of pain shot through my head. I took out the painkillers I had recently bought and swallowed a dose.

That evening, I went for a walk along the tree-lined road just outside the gated neighborhood.

The fresh air helped ease my headache a little.

As soon as I rounded a corner, Dad stepped into my path.

Chapter 4

His eyes were bloodshot, and his hair was disheveled. He reeked of alcohol.

In a crushing grip, he grabbed my arm.

“The ticket is gone! My marriage is over! I’ve lost everything!”

He glared at me viciously and shouting so close that flecks of spit struck my face.

“Weren’t you diagnosed with some illness in the last timeline? You must still have it now. Go tell your stepfather about it!

“He’s loaded. Get some money out of him for me!

“Otherwise, I’ll keep hounding you. Nobody will ever have peace!”

I frowned and tried to pull my arm free.

“Let go of me.”

Enraged by my defiance, Dad raised his hand to strike me.

“You ungrateful brat, how dare you speak to me like that?!”

Before the blow could land, someone caught his wrist in midair.

Fred had appeared behind us. He shoved Dad’s hand away and stepped in front of me.

Derek came up from behind him and pushed Dad back.

“Get lost.”

Dad stumbled back and nearly fell.

Staring at Fred and Derek, all his bravado vanished.

He did not dare challenge Fred, so he could only point at me and shout, “Just you wait!”

Fred fixed him with a steely glare.

“If you ever come near this house again, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life penniless.”

Dad flinched, then staggered away as fast as he could.

Fred turned to me. Then, to my surprise, he took my hand.

“Let’s go home.”

Derek continued staring coldly in the direction my biological father had gone.

Once he was certain Dad would not come back, he turned and followed us.

Back in the living room, Fred was clearly irritated by the scene Dad had caused.

His face was grim. He went upstairs without a word to finish some work in his study.

Derek took Audrey by the arm and led her into the home theater.

Once Mom was sure they were out of earshot, everything she had been holding back came pouring out.

To her, having Fred deal with the trouble was so humiliating that she would never be able to hold her head up in this house again.

She rushed at me and grabbed me by the collar. Then, she broke down in tears.

“Why couldn’t you just stay quiet and make yourself invisible? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to earn a place in this family? You had to come along and ruin everything!

“I can’t believe that broke loser actually showed up here and caused a scene! What if Fred decides I’m more trouble than I’m worth?

“Why did you choose to stay with me? Couldn’t you stand to see me happy for once?”

She grew more agitated as she continued. Her nails dug deep into her palms.

Eventually, she fell silent.

She pulled a folded check from her pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table.

“Take the money and leave. Find a boarding school or rent yourself a room. Just don’t come back.”

I looked at the woman who had given birth to me, only to regard me with such revulsion.

I had long since grown accustomed to her selfishness and indifference.

A faint, weary smile touched my lips.

“Don’t worry. I won’t be around to bother you much longer.”

Mom frowned and stepped back in disgust.

“Are you playing the victim now? Who are you trying to fool with that pathetic act…”

Before she could finish, a sudden warmth flooded my nose.

A drop of blood fell onto the carpet, vivid against the pale fabric.

Fred and the twins walked in just in time to witness the scene.

Audrey covered her mouth with a gasp.

My vision began to blur.

A familiar burst of excruciating pain surged through my head.

As everyone watched in horror, I collapsed to the floor.

Chapter 5

When I opened my eyes again, my vision was filled with a blinding, cold white.

Fred sat on the sofa beside the hospital bed. There was a stack of medical reports in his hands.

He read each page carefully with his brow slightly furrowed.

The door opened. The attending physician walked into the room.

Fred closed the folder and handed it to his assistant, who stood behind him.

“Use every pain-management option available. Cost is not an issue.”

The doctor nodded.

“Rest assured, Mr. Brown. We’ll do everything we can to ease her pain.”

Fred turned and looked at me.

“Since you’re awake, have some water.”

He picked up the water pitcher from the bedside table, poured some into a cup, and held the straw to my lips.

I closed my lips around it and took a small sip.

The water offered some relief to my parched throat.

“Thank you, Fred.”

He set the cup back on the table and handed me a tissue.

“The doctor says you need plenty of rest, so I’ve arranged a medical leave of absence from school.”

I took the tissue and dabbed the corner of my mouth.

“Thank you for taking care of that.”

He did not ask why I had hidden my illness.

Having once survived a terminal illness himself, perhaps he understood better than anyone what it was like to wait for death.

Fred rose and adjusted his cuffs.

“Get some rest. Press the call button if you need anything.”

He left the room and closed the door behind him.

Staring at the closed door, I felt strangely at ease.

Soft footsteps came from the hallway.

Then, the door opened a crack.

Audrey peered inside. She was holding an elegantly wrapped fruit basket.

She shuffled over to the bed and set the basket down on the nightstand with a thud.

“Um... The doctor said you shouldn’t eat anything too hard, so I only picked soft fruit.”

The tips of her ears had turned bright red. My expression remained calm.

“Thank you.”

Audrey pulled up the chair beside my bed and sat down. She nervously twisted the hem of her dress between her fingers.

“I didn’t know you were sick. I’m sorry for deliberately shoulder-checking you before.”

I turned my gaze toward the window.

“It’s okay. I didn’t take it to heart.”

Audrey bit her lower lip with a deep frown.

“What’s wrong with you? Don’t you ever get angry when someone treats you badly?”

The truth was, I genuinely did not care.

When death was so close, I had no energy to waste dwelling on such petty grievances.

I looked away from the window and stared at the ceiling.

“Being angry takes too much energy.”

Audrey froze for a moment. Her eyes grew misty.

“I won’t pick on you anymore. If there’s anything you feel like eating, I’ll get it for you.”

I gave a slight nod.

“Okay.”

Audrey stood up and awkwardly smoothed her skirt.

“I should go. Get some rest.”

She hurried out of the room, almost as though she were fleeing.

The click of high heels came from the hallway.

Mom stopped outside my room and peered through the window in the door.

She was clutching a stack of hospital bills tightly in one hand.

Derek approached from the other end of the hallway with a thermos in his hand.

“Aren’t you going in to see her?”

Mom hurriedly stuffed the bills into her purse.

“She only just woke up and needs her rest. I don’t want to disturb her.”

Derek studied her evasive expression.

“She’s awake.”

Mom took a step back, unable to meet his eyes.

“I... I should go home and make her some more soup.”

She turned and hurried away. Her steps were unsteady.

Derek opened the door and came in. He set the thermos on the table.

“Your mother made you some soup. Have some while it’s still warm.”

I stared at the thermos in silence.

Derek pulled up a chair and sat down.

“She was standing outside for quite a while.”

I lowered my gaze.

“I know.”

A few days later, I returned to the mansion to recover.

Mom came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of freshly made soup. She flinched when the hot pot burned her fingers.

Audrey happened to be coming downstairs and saw it.