She walked over, feigning surprise as she covered her mouth.
“Oh my, Rachel, you look so pale. Are you sick?”
I was too weak to play along with her act.
Just then, Jason walked in from outside.
The moment he saw Emily, his cold face softened instantly.
“It’s freezing out. Why are you dressed so lightly?” he said, slipping off his suit jacket and draping it over her shoulders.
The sight pierced my eyes like a blade.
At the dinner table, Margaret kept piling food onto Emily’s plate, showering her with praise.
“Emily, you’re too kind. If you hadn’t stepped aside back then, it would be you sitting beside Jason now instead of her.”
Emily lowered her head shyly.
“Auntie, don’t say that. It’s all in the past.”
As she spoke, she “accidentally” spilled a bowl of scalding soup across my hand.
“Ah!”
I cried out in pain. The number “3” on my wrist seared as if burned, the agony wracking my whole body.
Everyone froze.
Jason’s first reaction wasn’t to check on me, but to rush to Emily’s side.
“Are you hurt?”
Emily’s eyes watered as she shook her head.
“I’m fine, but… Rachel’s hand…”
Only then did Jason glance at me, his brows furrowed, his tone filled with blame.
“Rachel, can’t you be more careful? Emily is our guest!”
In that moment, my heart sank into the abyss.
I looked at him, at the way he fussed over Emily, at the complete absence of concern in his eyes for me.
The number “3” on my wrist flickered wildly.
Then, it dropped to “2.”
The world spun around me.
I began preparing for my own death.
I contacted a lawyer and drafted a will.
All the assets under my name—my dowry from my parents—I left entirely to them.
As for Jason, I left him nothing.
A man who was about to kill me didn’t deserve a single thing from me.
After finishing these arrangements, I felt as though every ounce of strength had been drained from me.
The number “2” on my wrist loomed like a death warrant, reminding me constantly of my dwindling time.
Emily wasted no chance to torment me.
Every day, she sent me photos of herself with Jason.
Sometimes they were dining in an upscale restaurant, with Jason tenderly cutting her steak.
Sometimes they were at an amusement park, leaning their heads together like starry-eyed lovers.
The latest one was taken at the Miller family estate.
In the photo, Emily sat beside Jason, beaming with joy. The caption read: “Jason said he’ll throw me the grand birthday party I never had.”