Chapter 3

On the day of my surgery, Mom anxiously waited outside the operating room.

But she wasn't waiting for me; she was looking out for Sean, who was holding the scalpel for the very first time in his life.

He'd always been timid. The moment my skull was opened, he began trembling.

The supervising surgeon urged him to stop, but he insisted on continuing, saying he wanted to prove himself. Not long into the operation, one of the mistakes caused my heart rate to plummet.

The other surgeon quickly snatched the scalpel from his hands and took over.

Shaken, Sean ran out of the operating room in a panic and went straight to Mom. She didn't even show the slightest concern for me, even as I hovered on the brink of death. Her only focus was calming Sean down.

She even took time off from work just to stay at home and keep him company.

After I died, the hospital staff and the police kept calling her, but she rejected every call.

A few days later, Sean said he was too traumatized to perform surgery again and proposed a vacation. Mom immediately complied and bought two tickets to Meldives.

When I was alive, I had invited her to go on a family trip multiple times. I thought it might be a chance to spend some real time with her. But every time, she turned me down coldly. "I'm swamped every day. How could I possibly find time to travel with you?"

It wasn't until later that I realized she just didn't want to leave Sean, who had just started his internship. She wanted to stay close to him.

All these years, Mom poured all her time and energy into Sean. Even when I won multiple academic awards, she never once made time for me. To her, I was just a nuisance—someone who got in the way and wasted her time.

But now, the same person who once claimed she was far too busy had taken a whole month off to go relax with Sean.

As soon as they touched down, Sean stretched and said, "Wow, just being somewhere else really clears the mind. But Mom, do you think Zachary would be mad if he knew? Didn't he always want to go on a trip like this?"

Mom's expression instantly soured. "Why bring him up now, of all times? He has no right to be angry. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be traumatized. If you end up never being able to perform surgery again, I'll break his hands myself!"

Sean lowered his head, looking slightly guilty and wronged.

"Sorry, Mom," he mumbled. "It's all my fault. I'm just not as good as Zachary. He's already a star surgeon at such a young age."

Stroking his head lovingly, Mom crooned, "Silly, he was never better than you. He just got into the industry a few years earlier than you, that's all. People only respected him for my sake."

I scoffed.

Before she became the hospital director, she was one of the country's top cardiac surgeons. Growing up, she'd always been my role model, and I dreamed of becoming just as brilliant as she was.

But from the moment I started medical school, she never helped me—not even once. Instead, she constantly tore me down, saying I simply wasn't cut out for it.

She even publicly doubted my eligibility for the awards I won, humiliating me in front of others.

Sean, on the other hand, had always been lazy. He only studied medicine because he wanted to take over Mom's position someday.

The only reason he chose neurosurgery instead of cardiac surgery like me was to avoid being directly compared to me, so that he wouldn't be seen as inferior.

However, Mom went out of her way to hire top experts to personally tutor him in neurosurgery.

She'd spoiled him so much that he couldn't even handle the slightest obstacle, yet he was always desperate to prove himself.

And in the end, I became the perfect sacrifice for them.