Chapter 3

"There's no first-aid kit in my room."

The words hung in the air, leaving Sterlings speechless.

When they brought their biological daughter home, they had placed her in a guest room.

The guest room was naturally lacking in supplies.

The original Emily had even been using the shared bathroom.

Not a single person had suggested giving her a proper room.

Mrs. Sterling looked at her daughter's face—so similar to her own—now angry red burn, and a flicker of panic stirred within her.

If it were Sophia, the slightest scratch would have the whole family fussing.

Why was it that with Emily, she just stayed silent?

Why couldn't she be as endearing as Sophia?

Damien stubbornly said, "You didn't say anything. How were we supposed to know it was this bad?"

A fresh wave of pain started spreading in my upper abdomen. I couldn't help but curl in on myself.

The metallic taste of blood rose in my throat.

I tightened my grip on my backpack straps and said hoarsely, "I'm going to school."

Damien frowned.

Maybe it was his imagination, but Emily's posture seemed off…

After the original Emily had been found, she'd transferred to the same private school as Damien and Sophia.

But Sophia didn't want to share a car with her, afraid people would find out she wasn't a real Sterling.

So the original Emily always went to school alone.

Over those six months, thanks to Sophia's hints, she endured a lot of bullying.

But that foolish girl had borne it all silently.

Probably because she knew that even if she spoke up, no one would care.

Her family wouldn't believe it had anything to do with Sophia.

As soon as I pulled my textbook out from my desk, I saw the fake cockroach glued to its cover.

A few girls waiting to laugh, were already smirking.

If it were the original Emily, she would've just taken it.

But for me, dealing with this kind of thing was routine.

I just wanted to quietly wait for death here, but if they insisted on bothering me, I wasn't going to be a pushover.

I picked up the book with the cockroach and walked straight over to the nearest girl who'd been watching.

I slapped the book right onto her face.

Before she could scream, I dumped all the books from her desk and found the matching textbook.

The original Emily was always seen as quiet and unnoticeable one in class.

Today, with my burned cheek, a lot of classmates were already secretly watching me.

Now that the invisible girl was suddenly making a scene,

The whole class fell silent.

The girl shrieked and tried to claw at me once she recovered.

I grabbed a fistfuli of her hair and said coldly, "I'll let what happened before slide. But don't mess with me again."

Then I pushed her away and went back to my seat to slump over the desk.

My stomach wasn't finished. She raised her hand to slap me.

Suddenly, her wrist was caught by Noah Miller, the boy behind me.

His rebellious face darkened. "You're annoying."

The girl saw it was Noah Miller and immediately shut up.

Noah was the school's notorious troublemaker.

His family had power and money. Nobody dared to cross him.

She went back to her seat and exchanged knowing looks with the other girls who'd been watching.

They all smiled knowingly.

The pain made it impossible to it upright. Cold sweat coated my forehead. I bit my lip hard, fighting the rising bile.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't smooth out the grimace of pain.

This wasn't right.

It shouldn't have progressed this quickly.

This was already mid-to-late stage symptoms.

The next moment, I was lifted clean off my feet.

The screech of the chair against the floor made the whole class turn and stare.

I struggled to get out of Noah Miller's arms, but I had no strength. He only held me tighter.

The tall, lean boy seemed to possess boundless energy.

"Stop squirming."

It was like if he was seeing me for the first time,

"Thought you were just a quiet little mouse who'd take anything. Guess even bunnies bite back."

As he carried me out, Noah sighed softly,

"How are you so light?"

Before we reached the infirmary, Damien Sterling came rushing down the hall and blocked our path angrily.

Damien Sterling was fuming, his voice dripping with cold sarcasm.

"Emily, are you that desperate? Skipping class to hook up with some guy?"

"No class at all. Nothing like Sophia."