Chapter 1

The camera flash was trained on my face. Olivia had the camera so close to me that it was almost touching me.

“Guys, look at how pale my sister is. It’s amazing! She couldn’t even say anything out of fear just now. She just kept moving back!”

Seth threw the plastic machete on the table and wiped away the tears he shed from laughing too hard. “Ninian, you’re such a coward. You couldn’t even tell that this is a prop? How could I really owe anyone four hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”

I stood frozen, my stomach feeling as if it had been stuffed with burning coal.

The pain spread up to my throat.

I opened my mouth to say something, but it felt as if my throat was filled with sandpaper. I could not say a proper word.

My mother got up from the floor and dusted her pants. She then glared at me. “Enough. Stop looking so glum. Olivia only needed a viral video to get advertisements playing on her channel. There’s no harm in us helping her stage this act.

“It’s Thanksgiving. Stop pulling such a long face.”

Clark threw an arm over my shoulder. “Are you actually angry, Ninian? I only pushed you out according to the . Olivia had said that this would create even more of a contrast compared to my usual image and make the netizens talk more.

“I’m your fiance. How could I possibly really send you out of the country?” He smiled gently and frankly, as if the man who told me not to be selfish just then had not been him.

I broke free from his grasp. My churning stomach made it so that I could not stand on steady feet.

I planted a hand on the door frame behind me, and my nails dug into the wood.

I had been a member of the family for twenty-five years, and I had been Clark’s girlfriend for seven.

But all of that was nothing compared to clout and that stupid bit.

I swallowed the blood in my mouth and forced myself to not tremble. “Are you done filming?”

My voice was incredibly hoarse, like a torn bellows.

Clark frowned. “What happened to your voice? Did you lose it from the fear just now?”

Olivia immediately trained her camera on my mouth. “She actually lost her voice! Guys, this is what we call an immersive prank! Ninian, say something else. This is great.”

I turned my head away to avoid the camera. “I’m tired. Let me sit down.”

My mother immediately pulled a long face. “Sit down? For what? We had to work hard for an entire day in order to keep this a secret from you. We didn’t even eat. There’s still a fish that hasn’t been cooked in the kitchen. Get it ready.

“Olivia has a weak heart and can’t stay up late. Once we’re done eating, we have to let her rest.”

Seth also started urging me to relax. “Stop being so melodramatic, Ninian. It’s just a joke. Why are you being so gloomy? You’re souring everyone’s mood.”

I stared at Seth and his self-righteous face.

In order to pay for his tuition, I dropped out of high school so that I could work in an electronics manufacturing plant.

The moment I got my salary every month, I only kept two hundred dollars for myself to pay for my meals.

But he was saying I was being gloomy?

The pain in my stomach threatened to tear apart my body.

I bent down and cradled my stomach.

The sweat on my forehead dropped on the tiles.

Clark grabbed my arm. “Ninian, what’s the point of pretending to have a stomach ache? I already said sorry. Why are you still kicking up a fuss?”

I looked at him with a pale face. “I’m not pretending.”

My mother scoffed and went to the dining table. “Let her be. She has always pretended to be sick to get attention since she was a kid. Let her pretend to be in pain. We’ll see how long she can keep that act up.”