Chapter 2

By law, hospitals were prohibited from revealing the identity of bone marrow donors.

But Courtney, desperate to save her own life, had bribed the hospital director and gotten her hands on all of my personal information. That was why she had shown up at my doorstep.

Since we had already crossed paths in my past life, I didn't need to resort to such underhanded tactics. Instead, I went straight to the Smith residence and knocked on the door.

When they laid eyes on me, the entire family froze. It was as if a mortal enemy had appeared before them.

Courtney, in particular, stared at me nervously. It was as though I were a demon who had come to claim her life.

Before I could get a word in, her father, Gerald Smith, spoke first. "Isabella, Courtney already told us that you have leukemia. Getting a disease like that simply means bad luck.

"You can't blame anyone else for it. Since you still have some time left, you should enjoy what remains of your life and start making funeral arrangements."

Yet, I barely reacted to his words. Wearing a desperate expression, I pleaded, "The doctor said that as long as someone is willing to donate their bone marrow, I can survive. Three years ago, I donated mine to Courtney. I'm here today to ask her to save me."

All at once, the living room fell silent.

The next moment, Gerald slammed his hand on the table and bellowed, "Do you think donating bone marrow is some trivial matter? Do you have any idea how much damage it does to the body? Are you trying to get Courtney killed?"

At that, Courtney's mother, Elizabeth Moore, finally exploded. Her features contorted with fury as she pointed at me.

"We don't owe you anything! Why should Courtney donate her bone marrow to you?" she screamed. "If you're going to die, then just die already! Don't bring your disease in here and make our house filthy!"

I couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.

Gerald and Elizabeth could turn on me in a heartbeat. Yet, back then, they had been on their knees, begging me to donate my bone marrow to save Courtney. Funny how they hadn't mentioned how damaging it was supposedly to the body.

And now that the person who had once helped them had fallen ill and came asking for help, they showed no gratitude.

With her parents backing her up, Courtney was no longer as frightened as she had been at first.

"No one forced you to donate your bone marrow back then," she said, a trace of cruel amusement flickering in her eyes. "I survived because I was lucky. That has nothing to do with you.

"Besides, you brought this on yourself. You should just accept your fate. Wouldn't it be better if you just died? There's no point in you staying alive."

Even though I had braced myself, hearing those words from Courtney still made my blood boil. The Smiths were the very definition of burning bridges.

Before I could respond, they shoved me out the door, hurling insults and mocking me for my wishful thinking.

What they didn't know was that my phone had been recording everything all along.