Chapter 1

Lorelei Judson's POV:

"Lori, I heard that your parents won the bid for the wonder drug. I won't issue the official diagnosis of this critical illness, then. I wish you the best of health in the future," said Martin Snow.

The critical illness diagnosis showed that I only had seven days left to live.

I curled my lips into a slight smile as I lowered my head and signed the cadaver donation consent form.

Martin, the doctor, was unaware of the fact that my parents had given the wonder drug to my infertile older cousin, Annie Harper, right after they won the bid.

When I arrived back home, Annie put on a remorseful look.

"Lorelei, you're finally willing to come back home. Please don't blame Aunt Jenny and Uncle Mike. I'll throw the medicine back up and return it to you."

While she said that, she reached her fingers into her throat.

My mother, Jennifer Goodwin, sided with Annie by admonishing me. "I'm still not through with you for faking your illness at the auction to get your hands on the medication. And now, you're trying to mess with Ann?"

My father, Michael Judson, had a grim look on his face. "Annie is about to get married. Don't you know how important this medication is to her? How could you say that you'll die without that medication? It sure looks to me that you're completely fine right now!"

As Annie leaned into my mother's arms, she shot me a taunting smile.

When I collapsed from my illness at the auction this morning, they assumed that I was putting on an act in order to get my hands on the medication and simply stepped over my convulsing body as they walked away.

If not for the staff members who sent me to the hospital, I would have already died.

While I spent a long time at the hospital being resuscitated, they assumed that I was simply throwing a tantrum and refusing to return home.

Just as everyone waited for me to argue and retaliate, I retrieved two boxes of supplements from my bag and handed them to Annie.

"Annie, I heard that the wonder drug comes with side effects, so I bought these supplements specially for you."

Annie was stunned. Even though Mom was a little shocked, she soon broke into a smile.

"You've finally matured, Lorelei. You now know to care for your cousin."

Dad looked deeply satisfied. "Annie will be married soon, so she has to ensure that her infertility is treated. Don't worry, just wait till I attend the medical symposium for rare diseases. Once I find the cause of your disease through the dissection of a patient's cadaver, I will be able to develop a cure for you."

Outwardly, I nodded meekly. But on the inside, I was laughing at him.

That medical symposium for rare diseases would only happen seven days later. I couldn't afford to wait until then.

Though I was really curious about whether Mom and Dad would feel even a sliver of regret if Dad realized that the dissection he was about to perform was on me.

In the evening, my fiance, Oliver Mosley, brought me out for a candlelight dinner.

Oliver and I were collegemates. He fell in love with me at first sight and pursued me fiercely. He was extremely doting toward me at first, but we later often fought because of Annie.

When I pleaded with my parents to give the medication to me during the auction, he sided with Annie and reprimanded me loudly. "Lorelei, can't you just be more understanding? Don't fight with Annie over everything!"

It was only at that moment that I realized that Oliver had only proposed to me previously so that he could be by Annie's side openly as a family member.

It was no wonder that he always sided with Annie whenever I argued with her.

So, his sudden favor left me rather bewildered. "What's the special occasion today?" I asked.

The smile on his face stiffened up as he licked his lip somewhat unnaturally. "Lorelei, Annie is getting married soon, right?"

My hand jerked involuntarily, and the piece of vegetable I was picking up fell off my fork. Nonetheless, Oliver did not notice anything amiss about me.

"Your parents have been fretting about Annie's wedding gift lately, so I offered to give your wedding gifts to Annie as her wedding gifts instead," he said.

I lowered my head and started gobbling up my food.

Because Oliver had the impression that I was in disagreement, he continued persuading me. "Lorelei, as an orphan, Annie has had it tough. As her family member, you would want her to get married off splendidly, wouldn't you?"