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918words2026-01-26 11:22

It was our fifth wedding anniversary, the tenth year since my best friend and I started pursuing the Shaw sisters.
Evelyn and Scarlett Shaw promised us a surprise.
But after waiting ten hours, all we got was a torrential downpour and a landslide.

I made seventeen desperate calls, each one coldly rejected.
With my phone battery at 1%, the call finally connected.
"David, Ethan fell off his bike and broke his leg. He has no family here. Can't you show some basic human empathy?" Evelyn's voice was sharp.
Meanwhile, my best friend, Ethan Carter, received only one icy text in reply to his messages.
"Ethan needs me. Keep bothering us and you both can drop dead."
As our screens went black, boulders crushed our final, desperate cries for help. Their wish came true.

...
Our bodies died. The mission failed.
The temporal conduit couldn't handle two souls at once. I sent Liam back with the System first, staying behind myself.
The agony lingered, yet my spirit was wrenched elsewhere.

Inside a lavish private hospital room, a team of doctors led by Scarlett Shaw hovered around Ethan Carter's bed, meticulously examining his ankle.
He glanced at Evelyn Shaw nearby, feigning concern.
"Liam called so many times... shouldn't someone answer?"
Hearing my name, Evelyn's face twisted with familiar irritation.
"Why bother? He's always paranoid, suspicious. Not like a relal man anymore."
"So we missed our anniversary? Using a landslide as some pathetic excuse."
Scarlett chimed in, soothingly.
"Ethan, your recovery is what matters now."
"You know exactly how Liam and David are."
"Two grown men drowning in petty jealousy, never focusing on what's important. If they really died? Good riddance."
Their cruel, heartless words spilled out. My spirit felt only profound sorrow.
Ten years of devotion, pouring our souls into them, and this was our reward.
...
Liam and I met as kids in the oncology ward, bonded by illness, became brothers.
To survive, we took the System's mission: enter this world, win the Shaw sisters' hearts.
When we found them, they were orphans, branded bad luck, shunned by everyone.
The System gave us matching orphan identities and a trust fund. To win them over, we endured scorn, spent everything to lift them up.
We tutored them through school, shielded them from bullies, stood by them day after day, hoping they'd thrive.
Finally, at 70% mission completion, they accepted our proposals. That same year, they said yes to marriage.
The elaborate proposals we planned moved not only them, but thousands of online followers.
People said we four lost souls had finally found our family.
Liam and I thought we'd weathered the storm.
With our help, Shaw Industries went public overnight. The sisters became famous.
Scarlett was the youngest star surgeon at Chicago Metropolitan Hospital.
Evelyn became Chicago's newest elite.
Then, at a charity gala, Ethan Carter appeared.
Dressed as a server, he accidentally spilled wine on a guest’s suit.
Evelyn and Scarlett noticed him just as he dropped to his knees, begging forgiveness, face deathly pale.
They seemed indifferent, yet when Ethan fainted, they were the first to rush forward, screaming for an ambulance like madwomen.
That's when we learned the truth the System hid: the Shaws once had a perfect family.
The Carters, close friends, out of jealousy, orchestrated the Shaws' ruin, leading to the suicide of Evelyn and Scarlett's parents.
Their childhood friend Ethan vanished, cutting all ties.
No wonder they accepted our proposals that day – the day Ethan got married abroad.
It wasn't love. It was heartbreak and impulse.
But for the mission, Liam and I tried harder.
We were at 85% progress—just a little more, and we could complete the mission and live healthy, long lives.
But it was all a delusion.
Evelyn and Scarlett, with their absence and coldness, killed Liam and me.
Tears fell unseen. Pain radiated from my core.
A female doctor nearby couldn't stomach it. "Mr. Carter has a minor sprain. Rest for a few days is sufficient."
"Calling an emergency, mobilizing all these doctors... it's a waste of resources."
"Besides, if your husbands mentioned Misty Peaks Lodge? They weren't lying."
"The news just reported it. Misty Peaks collapsed in the landslide. Rescue operations are underway."
The room's TV flickered on, showing the Misty Peaks search.
Seeing the news, Evelyn and Scarlett froze.
Ethan tugged Evelyn's hand, whispering.
"But... wasn't your meeting time 9 AM?"
"It's past 10 PM now. Surely Liam and David wouldn't still be waiting?"
Scarlett seemed to grasp the point.
"Exactly."
"They're impatient. They probably left after half an hour."
"Just a five-year anniversary. Why make such a fuss?"
Evelyn looked convinced, putting her phone away.
"They deserve this lesson."
"Thinking a fake death story based on news will fool us?"
"If they keep this up, we might as well get divorced."
Hearing her disgusted tone, I smiled bitterly—but I didn’t feel hurt anymore.
If they cared even a little, they'd have seen our calls and texts came an hour before the news broke.
How could we have known to warn them thirty minutes before the disaster hit?
...
The doctor stormed out, clutching her schedule.
Despite the diagnosis, Evelyn and Scarlett insisted Ethan stay hospitalized.
For days, I watched Evelyn dote on him.
She remembered his likes, dislikes, brought him everything he fancied.
Scarlett shed her usual sharpness, becoming soft, gentle.
I saw it all only after death.
On discharge day, Evelyn's secretary called.
"Ms. Shaw, regarding Mr. Hayes's remains... how would you like them handled?"