He Faked a Disease to Test Me for Three Years, I Used the Time to Earn My Escape Chapter 01
Three years ago, the people who had raised me were arrested for human trafficking, and the police finally found my biological parents.
But on the way to pick me up, they got into a car accident. My parents and younger sister were all killed.
My older brother survived only because he had been stuck working overtime, but soon after, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
When I was reunited with him, his eyes were full of hatred. “If it weren’t for you, our family would still be whole.”
I was forced to carry the guilt of three deaths, crushed under a mountain of debt, and took on the rest of my brother’s life as my responsibility.
I dropped out of school and worked four jobs at the same time.
When I was hungry, I chewed on cheap dinner rolls. When I got sick, I pushed through it.
Every dollar I earned went toward my brother’s medication.
Then one day, while delivering food to a private club, I saw the brother who was supposed to be at home waiting for me to reposition him in bed.
He was holding a pool cue, his movements clean and effortless.
One of his friends laughed and said, “Adrian, you’ve been faking ALS for three years. Even for a test, that’s long enough.”
Without even lifting his head, my brother said, “Ivy Lane was raised by traffickers for ten years. Who knows what she picked up from them? How could we bring her back into the Whitmore family without testing her thoroughly first?”
“Besides, Ava has cried several times because she’s afraid we’ll stop loving her once we get our biological daughter back. We had to give her time to adjust.”
His friend looked uneasy. “But from what I’ve seen, Ivy has worked herself down to nothing trying to pay for your treatment.”
After sinking another ball, my brother said, sounding pleased, “Ava and my parents are coming home from abroad tomorrow. I’ll arrange for Ivy to return to the Whitmore family then. I’ll make it up to her later.”
I lowered my head as heat rushed up through my nose.
The System in my mind suddenly spoke.
[Congratulations, Host. The Unfinished-Wish Commission is complete. Would you like to redeem your reward?]
I wiped away the blood beneath my nose. “Redeem it.”
In three days, I would be going back to my real home.
The Whitmore family had never been what I wanted.
…
By the time I finished all my jobs for the day and returned to my tiny rental room, it was already late at night.
“You finally remembered to come back? Where were you this late?”
As usual, Adrian Whitmore’s face turned cold the moment he saw me.
He sat in his wheelchair, his limbs slack and weak.
He looked nothing like the man I had seen clearing the pool table with such easy grace earlier that day.
In the past, the moment I came home, I would hover around Adrian, ready to take care of him.
Whenever he asked for anything, I would respond immediately.
This time, I ignored his question, sat down, pulled out a cheap dinner roll, and started eating.
Adrian froze, then his expression darkened. “Are you deaf? I’m talking to you.”
Only after I swallowed the bread in my mouth did I slowly say, “Adrian, I’m hungry. I don’t have the strength to talk. This is my dinner for today. Can you let me finish it first?”
His expression stiffened, and for a moment, he didn’t seem to know how to respond.
After I finished the roll and regained a little strength, I took several boxes of medicine from my bag. Then I popped the pills out and placed them in Adrian’s hand.
“I bought this month’s medication. Take it.”
Adrian swallowed and looked away.
“Set them down for now. I’ll take them later. Go wash up first. You’re covered in grime.”
I nodded and turned toward the bathroom.
But I did not wash up right away. Instead, I left the bathroom door cracked open and watched as Adrian wrapped the pills in a tissue and threw them into the trash.
With the sink running to cover the sound, I gently closed the door and stared blankly at my pale face in the mirror.
After I passed out earlier today, a stranger had taken me to the hospital.
When I woke up, I heard the doctor sigh with regret. “If you had started treatment earlier, there might still have been a chance, but…”
I understood what he had left unsaid.
I did not have much time left.
I had handed Adrian the chance to live that should have been mine.
I never imagined he had never needed saving at all.
When I finished washing up and came out, Adrian was already impatient. “What’s taking you so long? I’m going to bed.”
After saying that, he sat there as if he were waiting for me to help him into bed.
I did not understand. Since the people who were supposed to be dead were coming back tomorrow and my test was already over, why was he still pretending?
I was exhausted. I wanted nothing more than to collapse and sleep.
But the face in front of me looked so much like the person burned into my memory that I couldn’t bring myself to turn my back on him.
I helped Adrian up and settled him onto the bed.
Just as I was about to leave, Adrian suddenly grabbed my wrist. His tone was gentler than usual. “Ivy, since you’ve taken care of me for three years, I won’t blame you for the car accident anymore.”
I paused, then turned my head slightly to look at him.
There was not a trace of guilt in his eyes. Instead, he looked satisfied, as if I had finally passed inspection.
A sudden pain stabbed through my chest.
That emotion did not belong to me.
It had been left behind by the original Ivy Lane.
I forced it down, stared at Adrian, and asked, “Adrian, if I were the one who was sick, would you do everything you could to save me?”
Adrian froze for a moment and did not answer right away.
I gave a self-mocking smile, then turned and left the room.
At four in the morning, I got up quietly and prepared to leave for work.
Through the walls, I vaguely heard my brother on the phone. His voice was softer than I had ever heard it.
“Don’t worry. You’re the one I love most. No one can replace you.”
“Mom and Dad love you most too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have spent the last three years traveling abroad with you before ever even meeting her.”
“Even if we let her through the Whitmore family’s front door tomorrow, you’ll still come first. Happy now?”
After a pause, Adrian’s voice took on a faintly pleading note.
“It’s only eight at night where you are, but it’s four in the morning here. I’m getting old, Ava. I really can’t stay up anymore. I need to sleep.”
The sharp ache in my chest returned. I raised a hand and rubbed at it, then looked toward Adrian’s bedroom door.
No matter how much Adrian resembled the person in my memory, he was not him.