Chapter 1

While our parents, I and Alex Walker, were away on a business trip, my younger brother and I played a game of "I Have It, You Don't."

Smiling, I held out my hand. "Linda once baked me a birthday cake herself."

Evan casually folded down one finger. "My name is on the deeds to our houses."

I froze.

Looking smug, he went on. "And I'm listed as the beneficiary on every one of Linda and Alex's insurance policies."

My fingers went rigid in midair, and my mind went blank.

The words I had been about to say died in my throat.

I had wanted to tell him I had cancer.

I probably didn't have much time left.

"What? You don't believe me?" Evan scoffed, strolled over to the safe, and pulled out two property deeds along with several printed contracts. He laid them neatly in front of me.

"Take a look, dummy," he said.

My hands trembled, but I opened them anyway.

The deeds to our three-bedroom apartment and the old house outside town, along with more than a dozen insurance policies, all bore Evan Walker's name.

As for me, Tessa Walker, I wasn't mentioned once in that thick stack of documents.

"Well? You lost this round, didn't you?" He folded his arms and leaned back like a triumphant winner.

He was right. I had lost.

I didn't even know the combination to that safe.

Yet he had opened it with ease.

"Did that break your brain? Why aren't you taking your turn?" He waved a hand in front of my face, still waiting for me to continue the game.

I closed the deeds and contracts one by one. "Fine," I said hoarsely. "You win."

Until then, Evan and I had always bickered nonstop, and he had never gotten the better of me.

Linda always said, "Tessa is a girl. Ladies first."

That meant I got first pick of the snacks and toys.

I even had the largest bedroom in the house.

When we were kids, Evan complained more than once, "Linda and Alex always take your side. You're the only one they love."

All these years, I had enjoyed being the favorite while feeling guilty toward Evan.

Even when he told me to drop dead, I dismissed it as harmless venting.

But now I really was dying.

Just last month, I had been diagnosed with late-stage cancer.

The doctor said it had already spread and surgery had no chance of succeeding.

All I could do with the time I had left was live as well as possible and manage the pain.

Because I believed my parents loved me most, I couldn't bear to tell them the truth about my illness.

So while they were away, I had planned to use the game to break the news as casually as possible to the person who hated me most: Evan.

Now, however, I didn't want to tell him anything.

Evan cleared his throat. "You don't have to give up so fast. You still have three chances left."

I smiled and shook my head. "I'm done playing. It's late. Go get some sleep."

Evan noticed my mood and sneered. "Hey, you are not actually so upset that you are going to kill yourself, are you? Then make sure you die somewhere far away. Do not blame me afterward."

That was how he always talked, and I had long since grown used to it.

But hearing him say "die" now made my eyes sting.

I paused without replying, then headed straight for my room.

Just as I reached the door, Evan called after me, "There is one more thing I have not told you. Do you want to..."

"No." Without looking back, I forced a calm smile. "I don't want to hear it. Go back to your room and sleep."

After quietly closing the door, I pulled out the bucket list I had written a few days ago.

Hike up a mountain to watch the sunrise. Take one last family photo. Go to the beach together...

Was there really any point in doing these things with my family before I died?

I fought the burning behind my eyes, stubbornly refusing to shed a single tear.

*****

At one in the morning, my whole body ached so badly that I couldn't sleep.

Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I decided to look for painkillers in Linda's drawer.

She usually kept medicine there, but at some point, an old diary had been tucked inside.

Its cover had yellowed with age, and the handwriting was Linda's. [Evan started smiling today. His eyes sparkled. He's absolutely adorable.

[Evan had another fever. My husband and I stayed up with him all night. It broke our hearts...]

I turned the pages one by one, but my name was nowhere to be found.

Only when I reached the final few pages did I finally find something about me. [Evan has started fighting over things, but he is three years younger than Tessa and cannot compete. Sometimes I want to slap her hard.

[What else can we do? Today I told Evan that Linda and Alex would secretly repay him twice over for anything he gave up.

[They are only snacks and toys. Letting Tessa take them makes her indebted to him. Trading cheap treats for greater gains for Evan is an incredible bargain.]

I put the diary back in the drawer, my whole body trembling with cold.

So that was what she truly thought.

Their love for me had been nothing but a calculated act.

For as long as I could remember, Linda and Alex had always let me have my way over trivial things.

A few bags of snacks, a handful of toys, and a slightly bigger bedroom, all in exchange for giving Evan the properties, the insurance money, and their genuine devotion.

The parents I had always loved did not love me at all.

A wave of icy nausea suddenly hit me.

I rushed to the bathroom as violent spasms surged from my stomach to my throat.

Eventually, I collapsed onto the floor, too weak to move and gasping for breath.

At some point, Evan had come in. The sight of me clearly startled him. "Did you stuff yourself in the middle of the night or something?"

I wiped the tears from my face and answered weakly, "Stomach cramps."

"Doesn't Linda keep painkillers in her drawer?"

I shook my head. "There aren't any left."

"What a pain. It's always something with you." He looked thoroughly annoyed, but he still turned and went to put on his coat by the door. Wait here. I'll go buy some, but you owe me 170 dollars for the errand, not a cent less."