Cost of a Lie

Six years after the Jennings family threw me out for being their fake daughter, I was surviving by selling my blood.

I had just been handed a few bills and was about to call my doctor for more medication when a bodyguard kicked the back of my knee. My knees hit the floor, and I heard a scream. "You ungrateful brat! What are you doing here?! Are you still trying to kill Tina?!"

Then, there was a slap on my face. Only then did I realize that the woman in front of me was my mother, Florence. She had come looking for blood for her precious daughter, Tina.

My older brother, James, stood beside her and watched her break down. Then, he ordered the bodyguards to throw me out.

He looked down at me, saw the cash in my hand, and sneered. "Looks like the past few years aren't enough to wipe that temper out of you. To think that you're willing to sell your blood just for some money to satisfy your vanity. Tina graduates in two weeks, and she'll go abroad to further her education.

"Once she leaves, the family won't have to spoil her alone anymore, and you won't be able to bully her again. When that happens, I'll explain everything to Mom and Dad and bring you home. You'll still be the family's princess."

"Home... Princess...?" I muttered under my breath.

Then, I shook my head and laughed.

My amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) had progressed too quickly. I would not last for another month.

From the moment James accused me of being a fake heiress for Tina, I no longer had a home.

My fingers did not have the strength. Before I could hold the bills steadily, a gust of wind snatched them from my hand. Instinctively, I dragged my useless legs after the money.

Everyone around me stared as if I were a monster, but I did not care.

All I knew was that if I lost that money, the special medication I had spent so long planning for would be out of my reach again. My attention stayed on the bills flying away, so I did not even hear the passersby hurling insults at me.

Their disgust made James's face go dark.

Finally, he could not stand it anymore and roared, "Alicia! Are you so desperate for my pity that you don't even care about your dignity anymore?! We only kicked you out temporarily and sent you to another family! They were doing well enough, too! Who are you putting on this disgusting act for?"

His familiar voice struck my heart… And it trembled.

His careless words were a hell I never wanted to remember.

I could feel the bitterness rising inside of me. But in the end, I stopped and gathered what little strength I had left before taking another step.

However, the way I walked was just too strange. James's expression softened, and something changed in his dark eyes. He finally realized something was wrong.

He walked toward me anxiously and was about to speak when Tina suddenly appeared, covering her mouth in surprise.

"Oh, Alicia! Getting the hospital to issue a fake ALS diagnosis was bad enough, but now you're actually acting the part, too?" As she spoke with a wounded tone, she handed my diagnosis report to James.

"James, I know Alicia only did this because she wants to come home as soon as possible. I'm the one who ruined your relationship. Why don't you send me abroad early?" With Tina fanning the flames, James stared at the medical report. His fists clenched tighter as he gritted his teeth.

"I almost fell for it. After all these years, you've even learned to fake an illness when all you did was lie in the past? Don't fake it so well that you actually die before you even make it home!" James then threw the medical report at my face before pulling Tina away without hesitation.

I only snapped out of it when Tina looked back and gave me a victorious gaze. I smiled mockingly at myself. So what if I was his biological sister?

No matter what happened, it was my fault as long as Tina was involved. I was the liar.

But none of that mattered now anymore.

I only wanted to get my medicine as soon as possible so that my body would hurt a little less.

I picked up the money and got on the bus to the hospital.

Traffic was bad for a while. A long line of trucks with Jennings family donation banners stretched down the road.

Only after I saw a video on my phone did I learn that they were medical supplies James had donated to the countryside.

Then, my phone rang. It was my doctor. He sighed regretfully from the other end. "Ms. Jennings, you don't have to come now. Mr. Jennings gave the orders and said you're faking your illness, so no hospital is allowed to prescribe any medicine for you and waste any medical resources."

But the doctor knew my condition. He had already promised to reserve the medication for me, but no matter how I begged, he refused to give in. In the end, he hung up.

I stared blankly at the banners outside the bus window.

How ironic.

When James sponsored Tina, he never batted an eye when he paid for Tina.

Every year, the Jennings family ranked first among the aid teams supporting the countryside. Yet now, when I wanted to spend my own money on my own medication, that was a waste in James's eyes.