The day Charles’s first love, Melanie, and I were both in a horrific car accident, Melanie was the one rushed into the trauma bay. Charles choked me, his fingers digged into my throat as he snarled, “Melanie always insisted on riding shotgun, and you fought her for it every single time. Why didn’t you fight her today? Why did you let her sit there? It’s because of you she’s in the ER! You did this on purpose, didn’t you?” Beside him, our seven-year-old son, Toby, repeatedly slammed his small fists into my freshly bruised, bleeding leg. “If Aunt Melanie dies, I will never call you Mom again! Never!” “Why couldn’t you have died instead of her?” Charles hissed. Just then, a surgeon stepped out of the operating room. “Excuse me, about the family member who previously agreed to donate a kidney…” Charles’s face tightened. “I’m her husband—well, her partner. I consent. She’ll donate.” Toby raised his hands in the air, cheering. “Me too! I agree completely!” I lay on the gurney, the agonizing pain in my chest and leg so severe I couldn’t even part my lips to speak. Seeing my silence, Charles’s expression darkened into disgust. “I never realized you could be this malicious. I’ve told you a thousand times, Melanie is just a ghost from my past. Once I finally get some closure with her, I promise I will settle down and build a real life with you. Why can’t you just grant me this one simple peace of mind?” The surgeon blinked in confusion. “Wait. The patient we just treated only suffered a superficial scratch. I was referring to the other family…” But before the surgeon could finish, another doctor called him away, and they hurried down the hall. Left in the corridor, the father and son breathed a collective sigh of relief, utterly ecstatic that their precious Melanie was safe. In that quiet, sterile hallway, the last remaining shred of my affection for them died. Then, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in my mind. “The once-in-a-decade window is open, Host. Do you choose to exit this world through physical death, or do you choose to stay?” The first time the System offered, I stayed for Charles. The second time, I stayed to give birth to Toby. This time, without a single moment of hesitation, I answered in my mind: “I want to leave.” … Melanie looked incredibly fragile, though the smug triumph in her eyes was barely concealed. “Look at how worried you both are,” she cooed, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness. “I just scraped my hand a little bit. It’s nothing.” The scratch was so minor it had practically healed already. Yet, looking at her, both Charles and Toby let out a massive sigh of relief, as if Melanie had just survived a life-threatening ordeal. Toby beamed. “It’s so wonderful that you’re okay, Aunt Mel! Now my mom doesn’t have to give you her kidney, and you won’t have to feel guilty at all. I hate seeing you sad.” Melanie blinked innocently. “What kidney donation?” Charles quickly clamped a hand over Toby’s mouth, shooting me a sharp, warning glare. “Don’t you dare say a word to Melanie about the kidney. She’s too pure and kindhearted; it would break her spirit if she knew we tried to force you. Let this matter drop. Don’t you go trying to make trouble for her.” Their Melanie. Years ago, I wasn’t allowed to so much as look at her wrong. Now, I wasn’t even allowed to speak in her presence. My leg was actively bleeding beneath my torn jeans, a sharp, white-hot agony radiating from my shin. Pale and trembling, I whispered, “Since she’s fine… can I please go get my wounds treated now?” I had been waiting this entire time, but they had refused to let the nurses wheel me away until they were absolutely certain Melanie was unharmed. Melanie’s eyes immediately welled with tears. “Diana, you’re hurt? Oh, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have asked Charlie to speed up. I just wanted a little excitement…” “This has nothing to do with you!” Charles snapped, his gaze cutting into me like a blade. “It’s Diana’s fault. She was screaming in the back seat the whole time, telling me to slow down. If she hadn’t been hysterical and distracting me, I wouldn’t have lost control of the wheel!” They were drag racing, flipped the car, and somehow it was my fault for begging them not to die. Charles saw me trying to shift my weight, but his first instinct wasn’t pity—it was irritation. “Stop trying to emotionally hijack the situation. Melanie is sensitive. It’s just a minor injury. Go put some ointment on it and stop being so dramatic. I’ll buy you that Chanel bag you wanted, alright?” He spoke with a lofty, patronizing generosity, as if a luxury handbag could somehow knit my shattered bone back together. Without another word, he wrapped his arm around Melanie’s shoulders, took Toby’s hand with his other, and the three of them walked away like a perfect, happy family. “Oh my god! Your leg is broken! There’s bone fragmenting, and you’re losing a lot of blood!” a passing nurse shrieked when she finally noticed me slumped against the wall. Just ten feet away, the three of them heard the scream. They were laughing and teasing each other, and not a single one of them turned back. While the doctor set my bone and stitched the deep gashes, the nurse asked softly, “Do you have any family we can call?” “I used to,” I whispered, staring at the fluorescent lights. “Not anymore.” In the silence of the recovery room, the System’s voice chimed again. “The once-in-a-decade window is open, Host. Do you choose to exit this world through physical death, or do you choose to stay?” Before I could answer, the door swung open. The three of them had returned. Staring at the heavy cast on my leg, Melanie’s tears flowed instantly. “Diana… it’s just a little scrape. Why did you have them wrap it up like that? Are you doing this to make me feel guilty? Because you hate me?” Charles lunged forward, grabbing my arm and wrenching me upward. The sudden movement sent a sickening jolt of pain through my leg, and my face contorted in agony. “I knew it,” Charles sneered. “You couldn’t just let us have a peaceful moment. You had to stay behind and orchestrate this little drama. Why the hell did you get a cast? Just to make Melanie feel like a monster? How much did you bribe the nurse to put this on you? Tear it off. Now!” The attending nurse marched in and snapped, “Are you out of your mind? This patient has a severe compound fracture and lost a significant amount of blood. Look at her chart! Do you honestly think she’s faking a broken bone?” Charles froze, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his eyes. “You’re… actually hurt? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” “Did you ever give me a chance to speak?” I asked, my voice flat, devoid of any warmth. Perhaps my tone was too cold, too detached. Charles’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “Well, you didn’t die, did you? Why do you have to be so hostile over a simple misunderstanding?” I stared at him, utterly dumbfounded by the sheer cruelty of his words. “Because I didn’t die… it doesn’t count as serious?” Toby crossed his arms, looking at me with pure disgust. “Aunt Melanie has suffered so much more than you ever have, and she never whines like this! Look at you—you’ve gone and driven her away again! Why can’t you just say you’re fine? You always get hurt at the worst times. You did this on purpose just to ruin our day! I hate you!” The brief flash of guilt in Charles’s eyes vanished, replaced entirely by cold impatience. “I’ll stay here for ten minutes. Otherwise, you’ll just use this as another excuse to play the victim and harass Melanie later.” He acted as if spending ten minutes by my hospital bed was the ultimate sacrifice. “Just go,” I said quietly. Charles’s temper flared. “If we leave, you’ll just scream and cry that we abandoned you, turning the whole house upside down. Haven’t you played that game enough?” I didn’t have the energy to argue anymore. “I won’t. Not this time.” My compliance only seemed to anger him more. “Fine! Don’t complain when we go spend the weekend with Melanie. You brought this on yourself.” “Women are so exhausting,” Toby muttered, running after his father. Through the heavy wooden door, Melanie’s soft, weeping voice drifted back to me. “I’m so sorry, Charlie… it’s all my fault Diana got hurt. You should hate me…” “Aunt Mel, it’s not your fault at all,” Toby’s high-pitched voice echoed. “My mom is just a dramatic freak. When I grow up, I’m going to take care of you instead.” Melanie laughed softly. “Oh, sweetie, you can’t do that. You have to take care of your mother.” Toby raised his voice, clearly wanting me to hear him down the corridor. “I’m not taking care of her! She has a horrible temper and she’s always mean to you. I hate her! I wish you were my real mom!” Then came Charles’s warm, doting voice. “You had a terrible scare today, Mel. I had some premium organic chicken and fresh oysters flown in from the coast. I’ll make you a nice soup to help you recover, and as soon as you’re feeling better, I’m taking you on that trip to Paris.” “But what about Diana…?” “Don’t mention her,” Charles said dismissively. “With her dramatic personality, if she were actually hurt that badly, she would have screamed the hospital down. The fact that she’s being quiet now just means she knows she’s in the wrong. She’s probably got a scratch no bigger than a fingernail.” “And don’t forget, last time she claimed she was coughing up blood, it turned out to be fake.” I closed my eyes, tuning out the rest of their conversation. They didn’t realize that the reason I wasn’t screaming or fighting anymore was because I had already checked out. The “fake blood” incident they kept throwing in my face had been Melanie’s doing—she had spilled cherry syrup on my pillow and convinced them I was staging a medical crisis for attention. And of course, they believed her without question. In the quiet of the room, I spoke to the silence. “I choose to leave.” The System replied: “Acknowledged. However, because you declined to leave during the first two windows, exiting now requires a physical death in this world to sever the connection. Furthermore, you will never be allowed to return, and you will never see Charles or Toby again.” Hearing the System’s terms, my hand trembled as I looked at the medical shears on the bedside table. No one is entirely unafraid of dying. And Toby… he was the child I had carried for nine grueling months. I hesitated. Suddenly, the door burst open. A nurse shrieked, and a group of doctors rushed in. Charles, who had apparently forgotten his car keys, froze at the door. Panic flashed across his face, and like a madman, he lunged forward and violently wrenched the shears from my hand. He stared at my wrists, his face flushed with a mixture of terror and white-hot rage. “Diana! Are you out of your mind? What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Melanie, hovering at the door, let out a soft, mocking hum. “Charlie, look… those shears aren’t even sharp. They’re safety scissors.” Charles looked down at his own uninjured hands, and the panic instantly morphed into utter humiliation and fury. “Right. First the dramatic cast, and now a staged suicide attempt? You really will stop at nothing to get attention, will you? Stop putting on a show!” I opened my mouth to explain that I was simply trying to cut the bandage that was too tight, but Charles didn’t give me the chance. He turned to the medical staff holding me down. “Leave her alone. She doesn’t have the guts to actually do it. Give her a sedative. Let’s see if that quiets her hysterical brain.” Without my consent, a nurse administered the injection. As darkness pulled me under, the last thing I heard was Toby’s whiny voice: “Is she done yet? I want to go have seafood with Aunt Melanie.” When I woke up, the room was empty. No surprise there. My phone buzzed with a text from Toby. “Mom, my school’s summer camp starts today. Parents have to attend the kickoff ceremony.” No matter how much he hated me, I was still his legal mother, and school events required my presence. The ceremony was starting in an hour. Dragging my broken, heavily wrapped leg, my throat parched and my stomach empty, I managed to limp my way to the school parking lot. A fleet of yellow school buses was lined up, parents and children boarding. I frantically grabbed the arm of Toby’s homeroom teacher. “Miss Lee, where is Toby? Did I make it in time?” Terrified of delaying the trip, I climbed up the steps of the bus, completely ignoring the teacher’s awkward, pitying expression. The moment I stepped onto the bus, I saw Melanie sitting in the very back row next to Charles. Her eyes instantly turned red. “Toby told me you refused to come, Diana. He begged me to fill in. Why are you doing this? You’re making me look like a homewrecker in front of everyone.” Melanie had fired the first shot. “I never said I wasn’t coming,” I gasped, leaning heavily against the handrail. “I came straight from the hospital the moment I got the text. I…” Anyone with eyes could see I was still wearing a thin hospital gown, my hair matted, my leg in a makeshift splint. But Charles didn’t see my pain. He only saw Melanie’s tears. “Enough!” Charles roared, standing up. “I’ve told you a hundred times, Melanie and I are just friends. You put on a suicide show yesterday, and today you show up like a lunatic to embarrass us! Do you have any idea how much shame you’re bringing upon our son?” I pulled out my phone, my hands shaking. “That’s not true. I only received Toby’s text an hour ago…” “Shut up! Get off the bus! Did that sedative yesterday do nothing to calm your crazy mind? Do you really want to ruin this trip for all these families?” With a few cruel words, Charles had painted me as a psychotic, jealous wife. Desperate, I looked at my son. “Toby… do you believe Mommy?” Toby’s face was flushed red with embarrassment. He glared at me with sheer disgust. “Mom, I beg you, just stop humiliating me! Aunt Melanie didn’t do anything wrong!” With all his strength, he shoved me. Unprepared and balancing on one good leg, I tumbled backward down the high steps of the bus, crashing onto the asphalt. Miss Lee sighed, looking down at me. “Mrs. Campbell, you’ve missed so many of Toby’s events lately, and Melanie has always had to step in. You really need to ask yourself why your own son doesn’t want you around.” I hadn’t missed them. Charles and Toby had simply hidden the invitations from me. The bus doors hissed shut, the engine roared, and the vehicle sped away, leaving me coughing in a cloud of exhaust. By the time I dragged myself back to our suburban home, the house was dead silent. And empty. Every single one of my personal belongings was gone. I had only been away for a week—first to visit my grandmother’s grave in upstate New York, and then straight to the hospital after the crash. In just seven days, my home had been entirely purged of my existence. My chest tightening, I limped to the bedroom and tore open the vanity drawer. Fortunately, my wedding ring box was still there. But when I opened it, I found three identical rings inside, engraved with “The Perfect Three.” I picked up the one that was supposed to be mine. The initials “D.C.” (Diana Campbell) had been crudely filed down and replaced with “M.P.” (Melanie Parker). My wedding ring had been melted and refashioned for Melanie. My phone chimed. It was a text from Charles. “Are you home? Clean up the house when you get back. You’ve been gone a week and left a sink full of dirty dishes. I let Melanie come on the trip with us, so don’t feel like you’ve been cheated out of anything.” I typed back, my fingers trembling: “I went upstate to bury my grandmother. If you needed me, you could have called. Why is all my stuff gone? Why is Melanie’s clothing in my closet?” Charles: “Melanie said your old clothes were horribly outdated, so she threw them out. You can just wear some of her spare outfits. It’s not like you have nothing to wear.” Me: “And my wedding ring? Was that outdated too?” Charles sent a frustrated voice note: “It was just a craft project Toby wanted to do. It’s not a big deal. It was just a fun activity for the kid. Why do you have to pick a fight the second you get back? If Toby isn’t close to you, you need to look in the mirror.” Then came a text from Toby: “Mom, if you keep acting like a psycho, Dad and I are never coming home.” Looking at the screen, a cold, peaceful finality washed over me. “Okay,” I replied. I blocked both of their numbers, turned off my phone, and walked into the bathroom. This time, I didn’t use safety scissors. I took a heavy, sharp shaving razor from Charles’s drawer, climbed into the bathtub, and drew it deeply across my wrist. When I opened my eyes again, the smell of sterile antiseptic hit my nose, accompanied by a barrage of familiar, angry shouting. “Diana! I only took Toby out to celebrate Melanie’s birthday, just to let the kid have some fun! Did you really have to do this?” “Now you’re cutting your wrists just to blackmail me?” Melanie stood beside the hospital bed, looking utterly miserable. “Diana, I’m so sorry. I won’t ever see them again. I’ll disappear. Just please, stop hurting yourself. You left the bathroom door unlocked and the front door wide open so the neighbors would see you bleed out… I know you just want me gone. Fine, I’ll go.” Charles’s face was dark with fury. “Diana, do you have any idea how excited Toby was for this summer camp? He talked about it for weeks! From now on, Melanie will represent our family at all of Toby’s school events.” “Until you learn how to behave—” “Weeks.” They had known about the summer camp for weeks. I had asked them repeatedly if there were any school events before I left for my grandmother’s funeral, and they had both lied to my face. The final, lingering warmth in my heart for these two people completely dissolved. “Okay,” I interrupted Charles. “From now on, Melanie can be his mother. She can attend everything.” Both Charles and Toby froze, clearly not expecting me to give up so easily. Charles’s voice carried a hint of suspicion. “If you really felt that way, why did you stage this suicide attempt right when we were leaving? You’re just trying to manipulate Toby and me…” The attending physician stepped in, frowning. “Actually, sir, the cut was incredibly deep. If it hadn’t been for the neighbor calling the paramedics, she would have bled to death in minutes. Furthermore, she was already severely anemic from her leg injury.” “If we had been even five minutes later…” Before the doctor could finish, Melanie burst into tears. “It’s all my fault. I’ll just leave!” She turned and ran out of the room. Charles hissed at the doctor, “You don’t know Diana. She’ll do anything to get her way. Melanie is just telling the truth!” He glared down at me. “She’s just acting.” To Charles, because I hadn’t died, it wasn’t real. I stared at him, remembering the man he used to be. Years ago, during the early days of his startup, an investor had tried to slide his hand over mine under the dinner table. Charles had flown over the table and beaten the man senseless, entirely destroying the deal. It took our company a full year to recover from the fallout. Back then, I had asked him, “What if we go completely bankrupt because of this?” Charles had wrapped his arms around me and whispered, “Then I’ll deliver pizzas to support you. You won’t look down on me, will you?” I had held him tight, deciding then and there that no matter what the System demanded, I would stay by his side. I worked eighteen-hour days, drank coffee until my stomach bled, and suffered two miscarriages due to sheer exhaustion to help him build his empire. When he finally made it, he threw me a magnificent wedding, swearing before God and hundreds of guests that he would spend the rest of his life protecting me. But the moment Melanie returned, every single promise was rendered null and void. “You made Aunt Melanie cry! You’re a monster, I hate you!” Toby yelled, running out of the room to chase after her. Charles turned to follow, but the doctor called out, “Mr. Campbell, your wife cannot be left alone. She is in an extremely fragile state.” Charles paused, his hand on the doorframe. “Melanie is young and sensitive. She shouldn’t be alone after being accused of such horrible things. Diana, you’re strong enough to handle yourself, right?” Without waiting for an answer, he ran after Melanie. They didn’t return for two days. When Charles finally called, his voice was tight. “Are you sobered up yet? Are you done throwing tantrums?” I was silent. Hearing no response, Charles adopted a proud, triumphant tone. “To make amends, Melanie actually drove all the way upstate to bring your grandmother here. Didn’t you say you wanted to see her? Melanie did that out of the goodness of her heart, despite her own exhaustion.” Ice water seemed to flood my veins. My voice went entirely breathless. “My grandmother has advanced heart disease. She can’t handle long-distance travel! Why would you move her?” I had purposely kept my grandmother in a specialized care facility upstate because the doctors warned me that even a short road trip could trigger a fatal cardiac event. Charles’s tone immediately turned defensive. “It’s just a car ride, what could possibly happen? Melanie went out of her way to do something nice for you, and this is how you trample over her kindness?” “Tell them to stop!” I screamed, pulling the IV from my arm. “Charles, I swear to God, tell them to turn around!” Melanie’s sweet, hurt voice echoed near the receiver. “Charlie, I was just trying to apologize to Diana. Why does she hate me so much? Should I just give her my kidney to make things right?” “Don’t listen to her, Mel,” Charles murmured softly. Then, his voice turned cold as he spoke back into the phone. “I’m warning you, Diana. Stay in that hospital bed. When we get back, you are going to give Melanie a formal, public apology for ruining her birthday. You have absolutely no conscience.” “I don’t need her apology! I don’t care about the birthday!” I sobbed into the phone. “Just please, don’t touch my grandmother! Please!” He hung up. When I tried to call back, the line was dead. I fell out of the bed, crawling toward the door. My grandmother was eighty-eight years old. She couldn’t survive a two-day road trip. I was losing my mind, but I didn’t know where they were. For two agonizing days, I lived in a state of suspended terror, praying that Charles was just trying to scare me. Surely, he wouldn’t actually endanger an elderly woman. But on the third day, a nurse escorted me down to the hospital morgue. When the metal door opened, I saw Charles and Melanie standing there. My heart stopped. “What are you doing here? Where is my grandmother?”
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