- 9.
A week later, I had recovered and was ready to return to school. Chloe stood at the top of the stairs, watching me without a word, her arm wrapped in gauze. Ever since she’d been released from confinement, she seemed different. She no longer bristled or spouted threats about kicking me out, nor did she badger my brothers to investigate the cause of the fire. Her quietness sent an inexplicable bad feeling creeping into my heart.
At the school gate, Stella was still waiting for me. Her eyes were red, and she said through gritted teeth, “Blair Sterling, I’m never talking to you again! We’re through!”
It seemed Chloe finally couldn’t hold back.
837 PM
<
Ignoring Stella’s struggles, I pulled her into a quiet corner of the hallway, looking her straight in the eye as I sincerely apologized. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lied to you.”
The young girl’s emotions completely broke. Tears streamed down her face, one after another.
“But if I had another chance, I’d still do the same thing.”
Her sobbing hitched, and she looked up, stunned, probably not expecting someone who had just been so earnest to suddenly be so brazen.
I explained, “That guy was just a lowlife, a total scumbag. He was hitting on Chloe, then he came after you. You’re too innocent, believing whatever anyone tells you. If it weren’t for such a harsh lesson, would you still be believing his lies that he only liked you?”
After school that evening, Chloe was sitting on the living room sofa, humming to herself while reading a book. When she saw Stella walking in behind me, chatting and laughing, her expression subtly changed. She snorted and turned, heading upstairs.
The atmosphere at home had been quite gloomy lately. Julian was busy trying to save stock prices, Ryder had been out of the country for a week, and Sebastian hadn’t been seen in a long time. Taking advantage of my brothers being too preoccupied to bother with me, I often went to
Stella’s house after school and had tea with her cousin a few times.
One night, in the middle of the night, I went to the kitchen for water and found Sebastian passed out drunk in a chair. His face was covered in stubble, his hair a mess like straw. He was far from his usual elegant and handsome self. He kept mumbling something.
“He wasn’t going to live long anyway with his condition. I… it’s just bad luck that he died on my operating table, *hiccup*… Just a tiny bit of alcohol, only a little bit. Who am I? It wouldn’t affect the surgery at all! And he dared to threaten me? He deserved to die young!”
I slowly sat next to Sebastian and asked softly, “You performed surgery while drunk and caused someone to lose their life. Don’t you feel any
remorse?”
“It’s alright,” I chuckled softly. “The dead will personally claim justice from you.”
I lowered my head, fiddling with my phone. A moment later, Sebastian’s phone chimed. I was eager to see his expression tomorrow morning when he discovered his ‘surprise’
The next day, I picked up my laptop and went downstairs early. Sebastian was on the phone with Ryder, his face pale with panic. When he saw me, he didn’t pay much attention and continued. “That person is already dead. Someone must be playing games, trying to threaten me. But how did they get hold of the real medical records from back then? I clearly handled everything.”
I vaguely heard Ryder say that the person was a skilled hacker, hiding their real IP address for both calls and messages. Sebastian hung up the phone in frustration. Before leaving, he repeatedly warned me, “Blair, don’t spend so much time on the computer. Use that time to memorize more vocabulary words.”
I nodded obediently.
