Chapter 3

Everyone panicked.

Jacob cried out, "What are you doing, Summer?!"

I smiled at him. "If I die again, will you finally believe that I want to leave?"

My mother clung to my legs and pleaded at me. "Summer, you're an adult. Stop making me worry, will you?"

Asking me not to make her worry was what my mother said most frequently to me.

When I set up shop for her during winter, she had said, "You worry me the most among the three of you."

But she would warm up my frozen hands bit by bit.

When the school semester started, she sent me to high school. "You don't have to worry about the school. Just make me worry less, and you'd be helping me."

But when I was in a coma, she said, "If you really want to die, die alone. Don't make me worry every day about you waking up to hurt Ella."

In the end, Jacob relented. He got a car for me.

But Ella stood in the way of the car and sounded really sad when she said, "Summer, once I give birth to the baby, you'll be an aunt. Don't go, please. I'll die after giving birth. Just wait a little longer. I'll give Jacob and the baby back to you."

"Move!" I pressed down on the horn.

Ella spread her arms and insisted that I get down.

In the past, I was the most loyal one out of us all. As long as they did not suffer, I would even risk my life.

The engine roared, and I floored the gas pedal.

Under the strong glare of the headlights, Ella's fair face overlapped with the timid expression she had when she first came to my house.

I turned the steering wheel, bypassed her, and tried to rush out.

Ella screeched, and Jacob held her tightly.

But the original wide-open gate suddenly closed, and the car crashed into the gate.

Jacob stormed over and dragged me out. "You're too unstable. If we let you leave, you'll be a ticking time bomb to Ella."

I was sent to a mental asylum, and the psychiatrist gave me pills for bipolar disorder.

Then, Jacob locked me in my room and had servants keep watch over me.

Whenever Ella was free, she would come in to talk to me. While she held a bowl of chicken soup, she would slurp at it while watching me.

"Summer, don't you think I've gained weight? The baby is getting older. Mom and Jacob are feeding me like they're fattening a pig. They even said that if I can't eat anymore, they'll force me to eat."

The pills made my thinking slow. I grabbed her ear lobe. "That's my earring."

Jacob and I had filled a bag of stones from the river. He had picked two of them to polish them. Then, he put silver rings into them as our ten-year anniversary gift.

Ella turned her face away and looked around. "Jacob said that I can take everything in this room."

Then, she took out a silver necklace and stuffed it into my hands. "By the way, I got your dog euthanized yesterday."

It took a long time before I registered what she said. I looked at her in confusion. "My dog is only ten. He was very healthy."

"But he doesn't like strangers. If he can't warm up to a new owner, there's no need for me to keep him around."

She smiled faintly, like she was throwing away a piece of furniture.

Jacob and Ethan came in to see me choking Ella.

Ethan kicked me in the chest, and my recently healed ribs were broken again.

Jacob then picked Ella up and said to Ethan, "Send Summer to the mental asylum again. Tell the psychiatrist to increase her dosage."

Right before he stepped out of the room, I laughed. "Jacob, I've been in a coma for three years, and my muscles have atrophied. If you increase the dosage any further, I'm going to end up paralyzed for the rest of my life.

"I'm sorry. I'll go now, okay?"

He stiffened up. But when he saw the bruises on Ella's neck, his voice turned cold. "If you're going to be paralyzed for life, I'll take care of you."

At that moment, my heart died.

When he saw Jacob leave, Ethan threw his motorbike's keys at me. "You want to leave, don't you? With you around, Ella would be wrought with paranoia every day."

I clambered off the bed and stared at him despite still bleeding from the head.

Feeling annoyed from the staring, he made it seem like he was going to kick me. "Get lost, you jinx. You always made Mom worry since you were young, and I suffered because of you too."

Three years ago, after I jumped off the building, wedding negotiations with Ethan's girlfriend fell through, and he had always blamed me for his breakup.

I rode on the motorbike. When I reached the highway, I turned around. The entire city was gray, as if trapped in a nightmare.

I sent a message to Jacob. [I don't love you anymore. Trust me.]