Chapter 3
Everyone was praising Susie, and she was getting lost in all the compliments, starting to believe she truly deserved every word.
I just watched her coldly, then turned and walked away.
"Amelia," she called out. When she saw I was really leaving, she ran after me all the way to where the support team member was waiting.
"Which one of you is leaving?" the team member asked, looking at us with a stern face.
I was just about to speak when Susie suddenly pulled me back by the arm.
I turned around and saw her staring at me, anxious and uneasy, biting her lip, her eyes rimmed red with tears; she looked so pitiful and lost.
Susie didn't say a word and just kept her eyes fixed on the ticket in my hand, looking more and more wronged by the second.
Keeping my face blank, I handed over the ticket and said, "Me."
"Amelia," she called out, her voice trembling with disbelief.
In an instant, her eyes filled with tears, as if she'd just been deeply wounded. Her lips quivered, and after a long moment, she finally forced out, "Amelia, are you really going to abandon me?"
I was so mad that I actually laughed.
"I already gave you the ticket. You just turned around and handed it to that woman. How could you say that I abandoned you? You want me to give you my ticket? You play the saint, then just pat yourself on the back and leave me behind?" I asked on purpose, my tone full of mockery.
As expected, she was left completely speechless, her tears falling in big, fat drops, looking so ashamed she couldn't even get a word out.
She always seemed so calm and detached, never fighting or competing for anything. I was always the one charging ahead for her, going along with whatever she wanted, and cleaning up all her messes.
But now fate would decide for each of us.
I turned to the young man and asked, "Can I go now?"
He'd seen scenes like this a million times before; he just moved aside and let me through.
Seeing that I was really about to leave, Susie totally lost it. She clung to my hand even tighter, dropping her usual calm-girl act, and begged me, her voice trembling with fear,
"Amelia, don't leave me here all by myself. I'm really scared," she sobbed.
"When you handed your ticket to that woman, did you ever stop to think about how scared you'd be left here all alone? I told you when I gave you that ticket. This was your choice, and you only get one shot to leave. I don't owe you anything." There was a chill in my voice, laced with a fury I couldn't even begin to describe.
No matter if it was in my previous life or right now, I never owed her a thing. In fact, she owed me.
I yanked my hand free from hers and strode out of the gate. Turning back, I looked at Susie, her face lost and broken, and said coldly, "You made your choice. Now deal with the consequences."
With that, I walked away without looking back.
As I walked away, I could hear Susie wailing her heart out behind me, like she'd just suffered the greatest injustice in the world.
I didn't get it. What was she even crying for?
Was she upset that I didn't throw myself under the bus for her again, like I did in my previous life, just so she could have all the glory and rewards?
I still caught sight of Susie in the convoy as it was leaving.
According to the people who came up later, Susie had been crying in front of the pickup team for a long time. Eventually, one of the junior leaders in charge of the shelter noticed her and casually asked what was going on.
Choking back sobs, Susie tearfully told him everything that had happened.
When the man heard that Susie had given up her life-saving seat in the convoy to someone else, he was genuinely moved by her kindness. Upon seeing her looking so pitiful, with her pretty face streaked with tears, his heart softened, and he gave her a spot.