Chapter 4

I opened my eyes.

A white ceiling stretched above me.

Was I dead? Had I moved to another world?

I blinked. When I saw the man beside me, I nearly choked.

"See? Someone like her would never willingly die."

"She has a system to save her no matter what."

Shane leaned against the doorway and pushed his hair back in irritation. "She ruined my engagement day.

"Peyton, lower your affection score."

Peyton sat beside my bed and gave me a mocking glance.

"If it goes any lower, it'll be negative. How about this? Beg me, and I might be generous enough to raise it a little."

I gave a faint, humorless smile and ignored him.

Gavin waved a hand, and someone immediately stepped forward to feed me.

"Enough. Since we can't seem to kill her, she might as well stick around and keep us entertained."

"Eat your food, Shannon. You still have to witness Shane's big day."

I closed my eyes in despair.

On the way to the engagement party, I rode in the same car as Shane and his fiancée.

Yvonne nestled against him as if she couldn't hold herself up.

The slightest movement tugged at the wound on her forearm, and she looked up at him through tears until he comforted her.

I curled my lip.

[Shane, you and Yvonne could be as affectionate as you liked. Did you have to keep glancing at me?]

His looks were full of resentment and anger.

Yvonne blinked at me pitifully, though she let her smugness show now and then.

I watched them for a moment, then spoke.

"The diamond in your engagement ring is tiny."

"Compared to the one I got back then, it hardly looks worth wearing."

Shane's face darkened.

Yvonne looked at him with tears in her wide eyes, and his jaw tightened.

"Open your eyes, Shannon. We had this ring custom-made in Valoria. Yvonne and I designed it ourselves. It cost $600,000."

"People get the things they deserve. Didn't you know yours was just a cheap imitation diamond?"

"Shane, I understand why she feels that way. You two have a past..."

Yvonne wiped away her tears, slipped off the ring, and closed her hand around it. "I'll put it back on later. I don't want her to feel bad when she sees it."

"Shannon!"

Shane's face hardened, and he fixed his eyes on me.

I looked back at him eagerly.

What would he try this time? Could he finally do something that killed me?

Instead, Shane opened the window and threw the diamond ring out.

"The engagement party starts in an hour. Get out and find it. If you can't, you can forget about succeeding at this quest."

He smiled as he left me by the road.

Peyton's car pulled up right behind us.

"Poor thing. I'll raise my affection score by two points."

Peyton rolled down his window and smiled at me. "Shane put real feeling into this pair of rings, unlike the cheap ones he gave you."

I stood stunned amid the traffic.

Cars sped past, barely missing me. One furious driver leaned out and shouted:

"Are you crazy? Trying to get yourself killed?"

I waved excitedly. "Yes! That's exactly what I'm trying to do! Can someone help me?"

"Shannon! What is wrong with you?"

Gavin crossed through the traffic and pulled me to the side of the road.

"Shane threw the ring into the grass. Are you blind? Why did you run into the road?"

He rubbed his brow hard, exhaustion in his voice.

"Shannon, the romance game is over. Stop pulling these pathetic stunts. I'm tired of watching them."

"Drop the tricks. If you come and beg me nicely, I might take pity on you and let you stay by my side."

I didn't listen.

I nodded just to appease him, my heart racing.

The system spoke inside my head.

[I'm out of patience, so I called in a cheat! A runaway truck is 200 yards away, Host. Get ready. This one is guaranteed to kill you!]

I used the last of my patience to wait until Gavin turned to look for the ring. Then I lifted my skirt and ran into traffic.

The truck grew larger before my eyes.

Then it hit me.

It felt as though my whole body shattered. Pain swallowed everything.

Yet my heart surged with excitement.

[Preparing to leave this body...]

A countdown sounded in my ears.

Finally! It was finally going to end!