Chapter 3 Cutting Off Relations
Michael heard the news and immediately pulled his hand back.
He hurried downstairs and saw Sophie, her face flushed and clearly feverish. "I'll grab the car. We're heading to the hospital right now!"
Michael and Peter rushed Sophie to the hospital.
Upstairs in the second-floor bedroom, Lily lay in bed, her face also flushed and sweating profusely.
She had spent the entire night feeling weightless and tormented by nightmares.
The next morning, Lily's phone buzzed incessantly with notifications.
Groggy and annoyed, she opened her phone to find a barrage of hateful messages.
She wasn't surprised by the insults; someone had posted a video of her pushing Sophie into the water on the school forum.
Sophie was very popular at school, and now everyone was furious with her.
Lily's head throbbed as she began to argue back in the forum comments.
The forum quickly exploded with thousands of messages, and the moderator feared the site had been hacked.
After sending her replies, Lily tossed her phone aside and lay back down.
She didn't need to curry favor with the Roberts family anymore, nor did she care about her reputation.
She was done living like this.
A short while later, a servant knocked on her door. "Miss Roberts, you need to get up for school. You're going to be late."
What? Lily suddenly remembered she had school today!
She splashed her face with cold water to wake herself up.
If she wanted to leave the Roberts family, she had to finish school and get into college far away from here.
After changing into her school uniform, she grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs.
Michael and Peter were just coming in from outside.
Michael noticed the flush on Lily's face and instinctively reached out to check her temperature.
But Lily stepped back, avoiding his touch, and went straight to the dining room.
She needed to eat well to recover quickly and have the energy to study and apply to Quest University.
Michael's hand hung awkwardly in the air before he let it fall.
Peter scoffed, "I told you, she's ungrateful and tough as nails. Unlike Sophie, who's been frail since childhood and got a fever just from falling in the water last night. If anyone's gonna get sick, it won't be Lily."
Michael said nothing, knowing Peter was right. Lily had always been healthy.
He walked over to the dining table. "Sophie is sick. While she's recovering, you need to take good care of her at school. Got it?"
He felt Lily was growing more rebellious and couldn't be spoiled any longer.
If she didn't understand gratitude, he would force her to learn.
Peter added, "Lily, Paul saved your life, and you almost killed Sophie. You have to take care of her to make up for it."
Lily kept her head down, focusing on her breakfast. She had no appetite but forced herself to eat.
In just over three months, the SATs would be over, and she could leave the Roberts family for good.
Peter, annoyed by her lack of response, snatched her fork. "Did you hear me? Are you deaf?"
Lily looked up, her gaze steady and silent.
Peter's tone was commanding. "When Sophie takes her medicine, you get her water. At lunch, you run to the cafeteria and bring her food quickly so it doesn't get cold. If she needs to go to the bathroom, you go with her. Paul saved your life. This is your duty. Got it?"
Lily replied coldly, "I get it."
But she had no intention of complying.
Lily walked out of the mansion, looking up at the sky and forcing back her tears.
She thought she wouldn't feel sad in this new life, but hearing Peter's words still felt like a stab to the heart.
She remembered when she was little and sick, how Michael stayed by her side all night and Peter told her jokes to make her take her medicine.
But now, because Sophie was frail, her brothers always rushed to her first.
Even when she had a fever, she had to endure it alone.
Swallowing her bitterness, Lily got into the car and closed her eyes to rest.
Just a little longer, less than a hundred days to go.
At school, she went straight to her senior classroom.
As she entered, the previously noisy classroom fell silent.
Everyone had heard about her outburst on the school forum. They wondered if she had lost her mind.
"What's gotten into Lily? Has she gone crazy?"
"Maybe she's given up trying to clear her name and is just showing her true colors."
Lily ignored the whispers, dropped her backpack, and lay her head on the desk to sleep.
She slept through the entire morning.
At lunchtime, Sophie came into the classroom, still hooked up to an IV.
Her appearance immediately drew sympathy and concern from the other students.
Lily frowned and shifted her position to continue sleeping.
Soon, someone banged on her desk.
Annoyed, Lily looked up, her eyes filled with irritation.
She saw Sophie standing in front of her, flanked by her two sidekicks, Calista Day and Seraphine Lawson, both looking impatient.
Lily narrowed her eyes.
These two were Sophie's minions, always spreading rumors and bullying her, even making up stories to tattle to her brothers.
Sophie spoke weakly, "Lily, what do you want for lunch? I'll get it for you. Please don't be mad at me."
Lily replied coolly, "No need."
Seraphine snapped, "Lily, don't be so ungrateful! Sophie is sick!"
"Yeah, you should be the one taking care of Sophie at school. It's your fault she's sick!"
Sophie coughed weakly. "Don't say that. I can take care of myself. I've always been alone. Please stop, you'll make her angry."
"Sophie, you're too kind. That's why you get bullied!"
Lily, fed up, stood up to leave the classroom.
As she walked out, Sophie suddenly rushed forward, causing the IV stand to topple over.
Sophie fell onto the broken glass.
The classroom erupted into chaos, making Lily's headache worse.
She opened her mouth to say something, but everything went black, and she fainted.
When Lily woke up, the smell of disinfectant filled her nose.
Was she in the school infirmary?
"Temperature of 102.2°F. How long were you planning to hold out? Trying to experience what it's like to be cooked alive?"
Lily turned her head to see a tall, slender man in a white coat, wearing a mask, with cold, sharp eyes.
She remembered him—Dennis Gonzalez, the new school doctor. He was very handsome and had caught the attention of many girls, but he was also notoriously sharp-tongued.
Dennis didn't stay long and soon left.
Lily sat up, feeling much better, likely thanks to the medication.
She lowered her eyes. "Can I go now?"
"Wait for a guardian to pick you up. I don't want to be responsible if you drop dead on the way home," Dennis said lazily from his chair.
What a venomous school doctor.
She rasped, "I don't have any family."
Just then, she heard Peter's anxious voice outside. "Sophie, are you okay? How badly are you hurt?"
"Peter, it's just a scratch. Don't blame Lily. It was my fault for being clumsy and knocking over the IV stand."
Seraphine chimed in, "That's not true. Sophie offered to get Lily's lunch, but Lily refused and then tripped Sophie on purpose. We all saw it!"
Calista added, "Exactly. Sophie was sick but still worried about Lily not eating, and Lily repaid her by pushing her!"
Peter's anger flared. "Where's Lily? Get out of here! How dare you let Sophie get your lunch? Paul should have let you die in that car accident instead of saving you to torment his daughter."
Lily heard this and let out a bitter laugh.
Just like in her past life, whatever Sophie said was taken as the truth.
The next second, the curtain beside Lily was yanked open.
She looked up, her face pale, lips chapped, and her whole body weak.
"Lily," Peter's words caught in his throat when he saw her condition.