Chapter 5

I took a deep breath and lifted my head to look at Emily. She was sitting there, silent the whole time.

"Emily."

I called her name.

She looked up, challenge gleaming in her eyes.

"Yeah, Helen? What do you want?"

"If I really had leukemia and needed you to donate bone marrow, would you do it?"

I asked it bluntly.

Emily froze for a second, then laughed.

"Helen, aren't you putting me in a tough spot?"

"I'm only twenty-three. I'm not married, and I haven't had kids."

"Bone marrow donation is so risky. What if something happens to me?"

She tilted her head and looked at me innocently.

"Besides, Helen, you're a doctor. You should know a bone marrow transplant doesn't even guarantee a cure."

"What if we spend all that money and the person still dies? Wouldn't that be losing everything for nothing?"

"Some illnesses are just fate, you know? Better to accept it."

She said it like it was nothing.

I looked at her and suddenly laughed.

"Good. Very good."

I nodded.

"Then what if the one who got sick wasn't me, but you?"

"If I were the one who matched, what would all of you say then?"

The second those words came out, all of them glared at me.

Mom's face changed.

"What do you mean by that?"

I took the matching report out of my bag.

"I mean, what if Emily were the one with leukemia, and I were the one who matched?"

"Would you make me donate?"

Mom shot to her feet.

"Of course you should donate!"

"You're sisters. An older sister saving her younger sister is only natural!"

"And donating bone marrow isn't going to kill you. How can you just stand there and let her die?"

Dad nodded too.

"Exactly. How could you watch your sister die right in front of you?"

James sounded even more self-righteous.

"Helen, if you really refused, that would make you unbelievably selfish."

"Emily's still so young. Her life is only just beginning."

"How could you be so heartless?"

Listening to them, all I felt was that it was ridiculous.

A second ago, Emily refusing to donate was just "human nature."

But if I refused, then suddenly I was the one leaving her to die.

Their double standard was beyond disgusting.

"So if Emily is the one taking the risk, you can't bear it."

I said it one word at a time.

"But if I'm the one taking the risk, then suddenly it's my duty."

"In your eyes, her life counts, but mine doesn't?"

Mom's face turned livid.

"What kind of thing is that to say? We're doing this for your own good!"

"You're the one who's sick. Why should your sister get dragged into it?"

"If that's not selfish, what is?"

Dad looked even colder.

"Helen, I finally see you for what you are."

"You're jealous of your sister, so you're saying all this on purpose just to upset us."

"You really are rotten inside."

As he spoke, his tone suddenly shifted.

"By the way, don't you have a condo and a car in your name right now?"

I froze.

"While you can still move around, transfer them to Emily," Dad said like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"That way if something really happens to you, it won't be a hassle to deal with later."

"You don't have kids anyway, so there's no point keeping that property. Better to give it to your sister."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

"You want me to transfer my house and my car to Emily?"

"Of course."

Mom joined in too.

"You're already married. Think of it as the family assets we gave you when you got married."

"Now that you're sick, you might as well hand them to your sister early. It can count as your gesture to her as an older sister."

"After you're gone, at least we'll remember you kindly."

She made it sound so touching, like she was really thinking of me.

But what was the truth?

They just wanted to move all my property into Emily's name while I was still alive.

My heart went completely cold.

"What if I say no?"

Dad's face darkened at once.

"Then you're selfish and completely heartless toward your own sister."

Mom let out a cold laugh too.

"How did we end up raising such an ungrateful daughter?"

"We raised you all these years, and this is how you repay us?"

James was even worse.

"Helen, don't blame me for being blunt."

"Back when Mom was pregnant with you, she didn't even want to keep you."

"If you hadn't come before Emily, you would've been gone before you were even born."

"The fact that you got to live at all was already mercy from this family."

"So what's wrong with asking you to put in a little money and effort now?"

When he finished, all of them were staring at me.