Chapter 2
My eating had earned me and Jaziel our house. Millie had bought her own place with her share of the money from my livestreams, and my parents had finally moved in with us.
But I kept eating. The food on the table kept piling up, and my parents kept fussing over me, urging me to eat more, too.
"You make so much money by eating? It's such an easy gig, way better than being farm laborers back in the countryside. How can you quit? Are you out of your mind?" my mom snapped at me.
"You're grown up now, so stop acting like a child," my dad said, his brows furrowed, looking at me like I was some clueless kid.
The whole family was banking on me to keep streaming so we could all enjoy the easy life. I could never say I didn't want to eat anymore.
"But I'm so fat now. I look hideous, I really don't want to eat anymore." I sobbed miserably.
Sure, I'd made money, but every time I looked in the mirror and saw all that flab, I felt awful and so insecure.
By then, I was pushing 330 pounds. Honestly, I felt like a giant ball rolling around.
"Who says you're hideous? You're perfect to me, not fat, not ugly at all," Jaziel said instantly. He took the chance to pull out a ring and propose, his eyes full of love, hitting me right in my vulnerable heart.
"But I still want to lose weight. Lately, I feel like I can't catch my breath, and my eyesight's getting worse. It's probably because I've gotten so big," I said.
"Really? Are you staying up late again?" Jaziel asked.
"Maybe you should see a doctor," Millie suggested.
With Millie and Jaziel by my side, I went for a full check-up. Jaziel went to pick up the results, and when he came back, he told me everything was perfectly fine.
"See? You're imagining things. You're super healthy. You're just being lazy. Tell you what. You'll keep eating this month, and next month, I'll give you a few days off to have some fun," Millie said, totally bossing me around.
By then, Millie had used the money I'd made to open several nail salons. She was a real boss now, driving her own car, owning her own place, decked out in designer brands, always looking flawless.
She did yoga and Pilates every week, living the high life and talking with real authority while I was a chubby mess.
As I kept gaining weight, even my once-pretty face began to distort. Fans started dropping off. To keep the money coming in, Jaziel and Millie pushed me to do shock-eating, massive chunks of pure fat, raw pork intestines, all sorts of gross stuff.
I gagged and puked every time, so eventually they gave up and let me stick to normal food again.
It wasn't until I got diabetic foot ulcers and my diabetes progressed to kidney failure that the truth finally hit me that Jaziel and Millie had been scheming together behind my back, faking my medical reports all along.
They were waiting for me to die so they could snatch up my assets.
Once I was hospitalized, they jumped right into livestreaming, milking my illness for sympathy, pretending to raise money for my treatment while hawking products on stream. They were raking in cash, more and more.
*****
"You know what, Millie, you're actually making sense. Maybe I should try livestreaming my eating," I said, shooting a sly smile at Millie and Jaziel, those two schemers right in front of me.
Millie's eyes sparkled. "Perfect. Let's do it together. You eat, and I'll handle all the editing and run the account. You won't have to lift a finger. All you have to do is focus on enjoying your favorite food."
"But doing a food stream means eating a ton, and I'll totally get fat. If you're willing to get fat for me, Millie, then maybe I'll think about it."
"Of course, I am. You eat, and I'll get fat for you," Millie replied without missing a beat.
Of course, she'd say so. To her, it wasn't like this kind of thing would ever actually happen.
Only a fool would say no. She must be thinking I was so naive that even after graduating from college, I was coming out with stuff like this.
I turned to Jaziel and asked, "Are you willing to get fat for me?"
Jaziel laughed and replied, "I'd pack on a few hundred pounds for you if that's what it takes, as long as you don't mind having a fat boyfriend around."