Chapter 4

After the stomach-pumping procedure, the doctor had me wheeled out of the theater. However, he'd only just left before Mom immediately pounced on me like a vulture.

"Viv… I know that you're in pain," she said. Tears were plopping down her face like they were coming from a leaky water faucet. They looked very real. "It's all our fault… As your mom and dad, we should have taken better care of you…"

Dad stood next to her, and his face was ashen.

Mom suddenly turned to him and shakily said, "Richard, Viv was mumbling incoherently in her sleep just now…"

I felt my heart clench at her words. I didn't know what she was up to again this time.

The next second, she suddenly gripped my hand and said in an aggrieved tone, "She said… She said that she's had enough of this family… She begged me to divorce you!"

Dad immediately glared daggers at me.

Mom continued fanning the fire. "She said that you were a useless, good-for-nothing person, and she would rather die than admit that you're her father!"

"That's nonsense!"

I fought to sit up, but my throat was literally burning in pain like it was being licked by fire.

Mom pinned me back onto the bed and began sobbing uncontrollably.

"Richard! Look at how our daughter turned out! Would I still be lying to you about everything? I heard her say it herself!"

Dad's chest began to heave as his eyes turned redder and redder with each second.

"You insolent brat!"

Dad shoved Mom aside and lunged toward me.

"No, Dad! She's lying!"

Mom hugged Dad's waist from behind him as she screamed at me, "Run, Vivian! Run! Your Dad's going to kill you!"

She looked like she was trying to stop Dad from hurting me. However, she was actually pushing him closer and closer toward me.

Her words triggered Dad so much that he had completely lost control of himself. He grabbed the glass on the table and flung it at my head.

I flipped over in bed, and the glass missed me and smashed into pieces on the floor.

"You ingrate! You damn brat!"

Dad shook Mom off of him and pounced on me like an angry tiger.

I rushed out of the ward and ran straight for the stairs instead.

"Stop her! Don't let her do anything stupid!" Mom screamed at the top of her lungs from behind me. Her voice was tinged with excitement.

Dad was right on my heels.

I was still weak after having just had my stomach pumped, and Dad easily caught up to me a short while later.

He then dragged me into the car and brought me home. No matter how much I begged and pleaded with him, he only coldly said to me, "I'm going to deal with you once we're home."

The door was kicked open, and Dad then flung me onto the floor once we were home.

"I'm going to beat you to death if that's the last thing I do today!" Dad roared, pouncing on me and grabbing a handful of my hair. He dragged me out toward the balcony.

"You were trying to push your mom to the brink of death, weren't you? Well, you can go and die in her place!"

Mom lunged at him and grabbed Dad by the arm. She screamed, "No, Richard! You can't do it! She's your daughter!"

However, she placed herself right in what would be my path to safety, so I couldn't retreat to the living room.

Dad then shoved me out toward the open balcony.

My back was thrown smack against the railing, and it began making a creaky, metallic sound.

Dad then started storming toward me. His fists were clenched tightly beside him.

"Dad! Look at Mom! Look at what she's doing!" I screamed in my hoarse voice.

However, Dad's eyes were bloodshot, and he refused to listen to a single word I said.

Mom was crouching over on Dad's right. She looked like she was helplessly grabbing onto the railing while crying and pleading for him to reconsider.

"Please, Richard, don't do this to our daughter…"

Yet, her right hand was in Dad's blind spot, and she cleverly shielded her movements as she began removing the loose screws at the bottom of the railing at top speed. The screws were already loosened from the very beginning, and Mom was unscrewing them silently with much practised ease.

In my past life, that very screw had also popped loose in this way.

Why was Mom so desperate to kill me? Was I still going to have to suffer the same fate in this life too?

That was just too unfair!

I glared at Mom's face as I watched her performance. Then, I suddenly understood something.

So, that was the reason why!

It had all finally dawned on me!

That had to be why Mom was so desperate to kill me!