Chapter 3

What I saw made my heart skip a beat.

[Our precious daughter is home.]

It was a photo of them with Claire, all cozy on the couch, beaming.

Posted last night at 9 PM.

Claire was back?

The moment the system was cut, they got her back.

The whole thing felt fishy.

Right on cue, my mother called. "Are you blind? Didn't you see our post? Claire is back. The least you could do is come welcome her home. You owe her an apology for what happened three years ago. Get over here now."

I drove to their house without another word.

Perfect timing. I wanted to see Claire.

The moment I stepped inside, the place was a wreck. Takeout containers, beer bottles, junk food wrappers everywhere, all Claire's favorites, and the worst possible things for cancer patients.

Clearly, my father and my mother hadn't grasped they no longer had their healthy bodies.

My father, face unshaven and sallow, waved me over like usual. "Clean this mess up."

I'd always known they favored Claire.

They never let her lift a finger, always made me handle the dirty work.

But not this time. I stood my ground.

Seeing me unmoved, Claire, on the sofa, put on a wounded look. "Audrey... are you still mad at me?

"I know you never liked me. You used that system to push me out. But however you feel about me, don't take it out on Mom and Dad."

My father exploded, jabbing a finger at me. "Don't you dare disrespect Claire. Apologize to her, now."

I let out a cold laugh, meeting their gazes. "Whether I drove Claire away or she ran away, you know the truth better than I do."

I looked Claire up and down. Her clothes and her accessories were all high-end brands.

But how? She barely finished school and never lifted a finger. How did she afford this in three years?

I glanced at my mother and saw the guilt flash across her face. That confirmed it.

"Mom," I said, my voice steady. "I supported you for three years. Now that Claire's back, she can take over. You won't get another cent from me."

That got a reaction. Claire was the first to panic. "Audrey. How can you say that?"

Taking Claire's cue, my mother wailed, slapping her thigh. "You ungrateful girl. Give us ten thousand a month, not a penny less. Or I swear your father and I will skip our hospital treatments."

She knew I used to care about their health. She thought she could still use it against me.

Not anymore.

I shrugged, utterly indifferently. "Suit yourselves. What does that have to do with me?"

I turned to leave, kicking a takeout box out of my path. "A friendly warning: Keep eating and drinking like this, and you might not even make it to your check-up. The cancer could finish you off. I really can't be bothered to arrange your funerals."

I shut the door on their furious, sputtering screams.

"We'll eat what we want. You lasted three years. What's the big deal?"

"You're just jealous of Claire. Don't you dare come back."

In the following days, as if to spite me, my mother flooded her feed with photos of her and Claire eating out.

Pizza, fried chicken, barbecue, extreme spicy hot pot...

Captioned: [What's it like when your daughter is your foodie partner?]

Looking at my mother's face, puffy and tinged with purple, I just smiled coldly.

My father posted photos of himself playing cards late into the night, guzzling beer and liquor.

In just two days, his belly swelled, bloated and terrifying.

They knew the system was gone. But people used to indulging themselves can't change overnight.

I counted the days. On the third morning, when the System said symptoms would fully return, my phone started ringing nonstop.

It was my mother. "Audrey. Why is my nose bleeding? Why is there blood in my throat?"