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But she still refused to give up, continuing shamelessly, “Scarlett, we really can swap. Since I escaped, the Bernard family has been sending people to find me, to take me back. We look almost identical. If we exchange clothes and you scratch your face, when you go back, no one will suspect a thing.”
She spoke with such conviction, as if proposing something
completely reasonable, that I could hardly believe my ears. I asked her directly, “You mean you want me to suffer in your place, possibly even die?”
My question was blunt, and she hesitated before finally nodding. “Scarlett, I was foolish before. I didn’t understand your suffering. I’ve had enough now. Please give me back my life.”
Her words were completely unacceptable. I coldly asked, “Why should I?”
I didn’t bother wasting more breath and turned to walk toward the school.
But suddenly, as if having an emotional breakdown, she pulled out a fruit knife from her pocket. She screamed, “Why? Why won’t you switch with me? You’re asking for trouble!”
She lunged at me like a madwoman, aiming the knife at my back. But I was prepared, quickly lowering my center of gravity and tackling her, firmly pinning down her knife hand. She was
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no match for me to begin with, and after several days without proper food, she had no strength left, like a weak little bird.
I controlled her with one hand while quickly dialing 911 with the other. She struggled desperately, crying and shouting. I calmly said, “Didn’t you say Ryan was the person you feared most? I’ll send you to the police station, so you’ll never have to see him again. Isn’t that better?”
She cried out, “Of course I’m afraid of him, but I don’t want to go to jail either! Scarlett, why can’t you suffer for me and let me have a few good days?”
Indeed, she truly feared Ryan, but she never wanted to face the consequences of her actions, always wanting me to pay the price. I thought to myself, she’s just been spoiled rotten.
I didn’t hesitate any longer and called the police without mercy.
But Amelie suddenly burst forth with tremendous strength. She broke free and ran into the middle of the road. Just before being hit by a large truck, she turned back to me with a smile and said, “Scarlett, let’s start over. I believe fate will give me another chance.”
With a tremendous crash, Amelie’s body rolled several meters down the road before stopping. Blood splattered everywhere. I began to wonder if she was already dead.
My hands fell to my sides, and when questioned by the police, I told them to call an ambulance quickly. But looking at the gruesome scene before me, I suddenly thought, if she really were
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to be reborn again, what kind of person would I become?
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However, she couldn’t possibly be reborn this time. Because she didn’t die.
I followed her to the hospital in the ambulance. Her injuries were severe, requiring immediate surgery and a family member’s signature for consent. The person who asked me to sign was Matthew.
Before wheeling her into the operating room, he told me, “Don’t worry, I won’t let your sister die. That’s my responsibility as a doctor.” After speaking, he turned and closed the emergency room door.
I knew that white doctor’s coat he wore was his battle armor for fighting death to save lives.
Four hours later, the light above the operating room finally went out. Matthew emerged, drenched in sweat but with a smile on his face. Ironically, Amelie’s life was saved by the surgical procedure she once despised.
However, after that surgery, Amelie never left the hospital. Not because the operation failed, but because after her physical recovery, her mental state deteriorated severely.
In the hospital, she claimed every day that a man named Ryan was cursing at her and threatening to kill her. During her three–month stay, she injured several nurses who came to change her dressings. Eventually, the hospital’s psychiatric department examined her and diagnosed her with dissociative
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identity disorder, paranoid delusions, and high aggression, requiring transfer to a mental institution for long–term
treatment.
The last time I visited her, she was drooling and mumbling, “Scarlett, this time I choose Dr. Murray. You go back to the Bernard family with Wyatt.”
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She was truly pitiful. But what she didn’t know was that the Bernard family had already been destroyed. In fact, the police had been investigating the Bernard family for some time and had gathered substantial evidence. Amelie’s accident was also linked to the Bernard family and Ryan.
Following these leads, the police eventually dismantled the entire Bernard Group. Wyatt was sentenced to death, with all his assets confiscated. Ryan was forced to flee abroad, where he was ultimately conned out of all his money by a woman he trusted and beaten to death by homeless people in a foreign land. They all got what they deserved.
*****
Many years later, Matthew retired from the hospital. Unable to stay idle, he opened a small clinic near our neighborhood, treating common ailments for local residents. Though advanced in age, he still worked eight hours daily.
with
I studied hard, and after graduating from medical school, I secured a position at the city’s best hospital as a surgeon my doctoral degree. I officially took up the scalpel of healing from Matthew’s hands.
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Our family regularly receives thank–you letters. Some addressed to me, others to him.
The End.
