Chapter 2

Feeling bad for us and wanting to help, the system decided to grant our wish to leave this world. It even allowed us to choose a way to die.

We just wanted to end it fast and get back home.

The system agreed and arranged a car accident for us.

However, something glitched out. We were supposed to get hit by a car, but instead, both of us just fainted.

Before we knew it, we were being rushed to the hospital. The doctors ran a battery of tests, and to our shock, we both had cancer.

Wracked with pain from her pancreatic cancer, Sophie was sweating profusely. She shouted, "Hey, system, what's going on? You said we'd be in a car crash!"

I'd been diagnosed with liver cancer. The pain was unbearable.

The system shrieked like a panicked ground, "Sorry, you two. Mission botched. The world is bugging out. I'm activating pain filters for you right now. You poor things, I'll put in a request for a mental payout. It's one-thousandth of your mission reward."

If we nailed the mission, we would get 300 million. Even one-thousandth of that would still be 300 thousand.

Sophie instantly stopped ranting at the mention of all that cash.

But the system only blocked Sophie's pain. Meanwhile, I was still suffering like hell.

When I called out to the system again, it was as if it had dropped dead, totally offline.

All I could do was grit my teeth and keep myself alive with painkiller injections.

Sophie stayed by my side at the hospital, taking care of me and piling up comfort food and snacks.

We stayed in the hospital for three days, and one could see we were both withering away.

Neither of us went home, but we never received a single call or message.

Sophie clenched her jaw, her eyes full of pain and frustration.

"Forget about me, but you're pregnant. He hasn't even bothered to check on you? I swear I'll beat Matthew to death before we get back to the real world."

I was too weak from the pain to even sit up straight. "I haven't told him yet. It's fine. Don't let him bother you."

I'd planned to tell Matthew about the baby on my birthday.

I'd even left the ultrasound report on my nightstand.

But that night, he was busy setting off fireworks for his first love, Kadence.

He still hadn't called me. Maybe he hadn't seen the report, or perhaps, he hadn't even come home.

Sophie bit back her temper to look after me.

*****

We only needed to wait for the system to come back online and fix the bug so we could finally go back.

But their beloved Kadence just had to show up, itching to provoke us.

That day, I was really craving some watermelon, so Sophie ran out to buy it for me. But just as she got back to the hospital, I suddenly heard her furious scream coming from downstairs.

"Kadence, you bitch, I'm gonna kill you!" she yelled.

We were counting down the days to leave and didn't want any drama. If Sophie were raging this much, something bad would've happened.

I barely managed to haul myself out of bed. Not even bothering to change out of my hospital gown, I rushed straight downstairs.

Sophie had just run out to grab me some watermelon, all cheerful and carefree. By the time I made it downstairs, her palm was covered in blood.

Her left hand trembled uncontrollably. That fire all those years ago hadn't just scarred her flawless skin. It had also stripped her of the ability to keep herself composed.

She looked unhinged, her eyes burning with rage, and she lunged at Kadence.

"You bitch, I swear I'll rip you apart!" she roared.

But before she could lay a finger on Kadence, Justin grabbed Sophie's wrist and forcefully flung her aside.

"Sophie, not coming home for three days is bad enough, but now you're ready to kill Kadence over a watermelon and some pills. Seriously, you've gone off the deep end."

Kadence was wrapped tightly in Justin's arms, looking all anxious and pitiful.

She said sadly, "Justin, this is all my fault. I thought the pills Sophie had were a gift from Matthew, so I grabbed them to check. Turns out that it's some new meds.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't expect Sophie to flip out like that. I apologize.

"I can pay you back for the watermelon, and as for the pills, I only dropped them by accident. You can get another bottle, right? It's just some medicine. No need to make a huge deal out of it."

I glanced down and saw watermelon pieces scattered on the floor, with a familiar brown pill bottle smashed in the middle of the mess.

That was the pain medication I'd gotten to help Matthew.

Sophie must've managed to reach the system and scored those pills for me.

She exploded with rage. "You know nothing. Those were Carly's life-saving meds!

"You didn't just fumble. You smashed them on purpose, bitch! You seriously deserve to burn."