Chapter 4

"Lily Vance, this is a hospital, not a place for your antics!"

"I have many more appointments scheduled later. Can't you be more sensible? How long are you going to keep faking death?!"

Eleanor crouched down, yanked my hair, and pulled me up.

But she saw dark blood mixed with my saliva flowing from my mouth.

It dripped onto her clean hand.

During the car accident, I was thrown out of the window, my body caught under the vehicle and actually run over by the wheels.

My internal organs were severely damaged. I had been spitting blood the entire way to the hospital.

Eleanor had germophobia, and I was afraid she would say I was dirty if she saw it, so I caught it all with my hands.

Even though I was dead now, after such a huge impact, the blood accumulated in my chest still slowly flowed out of my mouth.

"Ah—so gross, Lily Vance is so big, how is she still drooling? So shameful!"

"She looks so ugly, so scary, like a monster!"

Many children who saw me like this ran away in fright.

Some family members passing by outside the door squeezed in to take a look.

"Oh my God, what happened to this kid? She looks like she's dying. What are these doctors even doing..."

"What kind of shady hospital is this? Who just stands there and abuses someone who's spitting blood instead of rushing to save them?"

"I heard that woman is the director of this hospital. I can't believe how she got the job."

"Shut up, all of you, shut up!"

"She's clearly faking it! Don't spread rumors before you know the facts!"

Eleanor listened to those voices, so angry she shoved me again.

She didn't notice at all that I had no breath left.

"Lily Vance, are you happy now? You've ruined my reputation, are you satisfied?!"

"Don't think I don't know you had a blood packet in your mouth!"

"Besides, there were 18 people in that car, all of you riding together. Everyone else is fine, so why are you the only one looking half-dead?!"

"Eleanor, I didn't..."

"Look at me carefully again, Eleanor, I'm dead! I'm really dead!"

I never wanted to affect your work.

These past few years, I've quietly persevered, even when my throat hurt so much I couldn't speak, even when I was so dizzy I couldn't walk.

I never complained to you once.

But this time, I really couldn't hold on anymore.

I was in so much pain.

Even though I'm dead now, I still clearly remember.

How much it hurt when those big wheels ran over me.

"Lily Vance, you're truly disgusting."

Eleanor pulled a few tissues from the desk and wiped her hands.

"Why didn't you just get run over and die like your animal of a father?"

"Why do you have to keep tormenting me?"

Eleanor was talking about my father, whom I had never met.

He died in a car accident before I was born.

Eleanor hated him so much because he had an affair with another woman while she was pregnant.

Afterward, whenever she mentioned Dad, she would say it was his just deserts.

But Eleanor, I really did die in this car accident.

Only, unlike Dad, I never called another woman "Mom." I didn't betray you.