They Chose Her Over Me In Two Lives Chapter 02
I went pale. I shook my head quickly.
“No.”
Jade burst into tears.
“I got locked out in the middle of the night. I cried and begged her to open the door all night. She ignored me.”
My parents came running.
Mom shot Ryan a look.
“How many times have I told you? When something happens with those two, check the security footage first. Have you forgotten what happened in our past life?”
Ryan said nothing. He looked away, sulking.
But after they watched the footage, their eyes turned cold.
The footage was clear.
Jade had cried her heart out outside the door. I hadn’t made a sound inside the room.
I stood there, clutching the hem of my shirt.
My face burned with shame and panic.
“I—I didn’t mean to. I was sleeping too deeply.”
Ryan snorted. “So deeply you couldn’t hear Jade crying?”
I wanted to explain.
For kids like us, kids who’ve been bounced from one group home to another—if you don’t want to be sent back, you have to prove you’re easy to raise. You do chores all day. You eat as little as possible. At night, you force yourself to sleep hard.
One, because when you’re asleep, you don’t feel hungry.
Two, because without enough sleep, your body can’t handle the labor.
But I never got the words out.
Mom had already pulled Ryan away.
Dad didn’t say much.
He didn’t scold me.
He just looked at me for a long time. Then he spoke.
“From now on, you’ll sleep in this room by yourself. We’ll buy an apartment next door for Jade.”
I stood there, frozen.
For one terrible moment, I felt like I’d become some kind of irredeemable sinner.
After that illness, Jade suddenly calmed down.
She stopped bothering me.
She even started being nice to me.
My parents and Ryan relaxed.
They took us to the aquarium.
While we were taking a group photo by the pool, Jade grabbed my arm.
She gave me a smile that didn’t belong on a ten-year-old’s face.
“So it’s just me, Mom, Dad, and Ryan who came back.”
“You’re still the same idiot. Nothing’s changed.”
Her expression twisted.
“So what if they came back to make it up to you? See? In their hearts, I’m still the most important.”
I blinked.
But I didn’t get angry the way she wanted.
I just looked at her.
“You’re right. You are the most important to them.”
“I’m not going to fight you for it.”
I was young. But I understood.
A family that doesn’t love me—fighting for them is useless.
Jade wasn’t satisfied.
“It’s not enough.”
“As long as you exist, Mom, Dad, and Ryan will never belong only to me.”
Then she grabbed me and jumped into the pool.
Two splashes. Chaos.
Through the water, I heard my parents and Ryan screaming.
But I could swim.
I tried to surface.
Jade held on to me, tight.
She couldn’t swim. She was choking on water. Her face was turning purple.
I tried to pull her up.
But I was too malnourished. I had no strength.
I couldn’t understand why Jade—drowning, dying—still held her breath and didn’t call for help.
Then I saw it.
That smile on her dying face.
A chill ran down my spine.
I heard my parents on the shore, shouting at the lifeguards.
“Please! Save Lily first!”
Even Ryan was on his knees.
“I don’t care how you do it. Just save Lily. We can’t lose her again.”
