Chapter 49 Past Events
I looked at James from a distance, wary and distant. "We have nothing to talk about."
I turned to leave. James raised his voice to stop me. "Catherine, even if you don't acknowledge me, I'm still your brother."
I laughed derisively and kept walking. Just when I thought James would give up, he came after me again. Irritation started building inside me.
"What more do you want?"
James looked wounded. He lowered his voice, adding a note of pleading. "Can I see where you're living? Cate, we didn't used to be like this."
Used to be? I laughed coldly, looking at him like he was a stranger. "No. James, you played your part in making things this way."
Seeing I was about to leave again, James hurried to speak. "Cate, I just want to tell you something. After I say it, I'll go. If you still don't want to see me after that, I promise I won't bother you again."
I raised an eyebrow, considering how trustworthy that promise might be. The Rosewood family wasn't exactly reliable. But their constant harassment was definitely affecting my life. If James kept his word, that would be one less annoying person to deal with.
For that slim possibility, I agreed. Seeing me nod, James exhaled in relief.
We moved to a different spot to talk, under a streetlight with a security camera nearby. Watching me be so cautious, a bitter smile crossed James's face.
He didn't waste words but went straight for the emotional appeal. "Cate, do you remember when you were little?"
Of course I remembered. Young James had been gentle and refined. As a child, I'd been slow—it took me forever to learn things. James had patiently taught me over and over without complaint.
After the accident, when Sabrina came to live with us, James took on the responsibility of looking after both of us. I still remembered, in both lifetimes, James had stood up for me. When Sabrina falsely accused me, he'd question every detail until she slipped up. James would firmly demand Sabrina apologize to me. He protected me.
So I'd always felt a special gratitude toward James. Because he'd been kind to me in childhood, in my past life when Sabrina fell seriously ill and James personally came to ask for my help, saying he hoped I could save Sabrina—I'd agreed.
Gradually, though, I realized James truly only saw me as a lab rat to cure Sabrina. Back then I saw him often. He'd draw my blood himself, feed me medication, react to the experimental data with either wild joy or deep worry. I only hated that I couldn't help him more.
Until... Sabrina recovered. The whole family went on vacation, and when they returned, they said I had an incurable disease. The day they kicked me out of the Rosewood family, James stood beside Sabrina, his expression blank and indifferent. He didn't speak up for me. Even the diagnosis declaring me beyond saving came from him.
The James I'd cherished had become the one who hurt me most deeply.
Living this second life, waking in the dead of night, I'd wonder what went wrong. Watching James in front of me now, rambling on about the past, I suddenly felt the urge to know the truth.
I cut him off. "James, don't waste time with all that. I know you're here for Sabrina. Just tell me what's going on with her."
James was still lost in his memories. I couldn't tell if his nostalgia was genuine or just an act. Hearing my voice, he finally stopped. That face, somewhat similar to mine, showed the awkwardness of being seen through. But he quickly masked it.
I waited quietly. James let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry, Catherine. The Rosewood family is in a really bad situation right now. Because of what happened before, Andrew's at the office every day dealing with the board giving him hell. I'm not blaming you."
He glanced at me cautiously. I made a noncommittal sound, completely unbothered. Even if he did blame me, it wouldn't hurt. From the Rosewood family's perspective, I'd done wrong—my actions had cost them. But from my angle, I'd saved someone, public opinion naturally followed, and I'd just given it a little push. What was wrong with that?
Seeing me unmoved, anxiety crept into James's expression. "Catherine, I know you don't like Sabby. Consider the drug testing you did for her as repaying Uncle Herman's life-saving debt. Her condition's getting worse every day. I'm begging you—test the medication for her one last time. Please?"
I scoffed lightly, my gaze turning ice-cold. One last time? How generous of him!
If there was a first and second time, how could there not be a third? If I agreed every time one of them came begging, I'd essentially be sacrificing myself four more times. All to cure Sabrina. Where did they get the confidence to think I'd honor old feelings?
Besides, James was playing a clever game. If I didn't know their specialty medications came from overseas, without my past life's memories, I wouldn't know those drugs had severe side effects. Once I agreed and took the medication, all the damage would be irreversible. Who would compensate me for my losses then? They'd just turn it around and say I agreed to everything myself.
James waited anxiously for my answer. Instead, I said, "Before I answer your question, James, you answer one of mine."
"Go ahead." He sounded eager.
I watched his expression, that look of confident expectation. James couldn't possibly be naive enough to think I'd ask something stupid like whether I could come back to the Rosewood family, could he?
"After you went to college, why did you come back a different person?" My tone carried an edge of melancholy I couldn't quite control.
James thought he'd found his opening. He sank into memory, thinking of something that made his expression suddenly shift. His ears turned bright red.
An absurd thought popped into my head. "Does it really take this long to remember?"
I spoke abruptly. James seemed reluctant to leave his thoughts, but he answered me. "Sabby came to visit me multiple times in the city where I went to school."
The truth that had puzzled me for years finally surfaced. Turns out, Sabrina had been dissatisfied with James from the start. After all, she'd wrapped all my other brothers around her finger, but James still spoke up for me.
She took advantage of weekends to visit James at his university multiple times, trying to use their alone time to grow closer. But James had always been distant with her. Sabrina wouldn't give up—at first, she'd cry to James about my supposed misdeeds.
Until one time, by chance, Sabrina got drunk and threw herself into James's arms.
"James, you fell for her?"