Chapter 6
With no one left to help her, Sarah crawled over to beg me.
She dropped to her knees, bowing her head over and over, all her former pride completely gone.
“Betty, please! I just wanted a family. For old time’s sake, can’t you spare me?”
I looked down at her from above. Right now she looked like a stray dog begging for scraps.
I remained stone cold.
“Old time’s sake? You’ve done nothing but hurt me. What good times?”
Sarah scrambled up and grabbed Jake’s arm.
“If it wasn’t for me, you never would’ve met Jake, right? I’m basically your matchmaker!”
“Matchmaker? You mean you weren’t just looking out for yourself?”
Jake and I did meet through Sarah.
Jake was an orphan too, and it was Sarah who suggested sponsoring him so he could attend the same academy as me.
Jake was the one who pursued me first, and I agreed.
But the truth was, those two had been scheming together all along, planning to use my robotic arm technology to make dirty money.
I asked Jake: “Did you really use the robotic arm to complete Sarah’s surgery?”
Jake didn’t even flinch.
“Yeah! What’s the problem?”
I smiled and played a video of my robotic arm experiments. In the footage, the arm and I seemed to work in perfect harmony, but the
final results were mediocre at best.
That’s why I said the success rate was only 70%.
If I, the creator, couldn’t use the robotic arm flawlessly, how had Jake managed it?
Jake snarled: “Maybe it just proves I’m better than you. What, only you’re allowed to be a genius?”
“Then why wasn’t the surgery footage uploaded that day?”
Jake snorted.
“Bad signal. Didn’t record properly.”
I smiled wickedly: “No worries. I’ve got it.”
Jake’s face went white.
He had no idea I’d installed the latest recording equipment on the robotic arm-unaffected by the jammers he’d planted beforehand.
The first half of the video showed Jake operating.
the surgery.
Afterward, they switched back.
“What? The surgery was faked? Oh my God, that’s horrifying!”
“So this robotic arm is basically a prototype? If it gets distributed to hospitals, it could kill people!”
“How did someone like this become a military doctor?”
Plus, the agency contract with Crossfield Corporation had both Sarah’s and Jake’s names on it.
They’d planned everything. Sarah’s case would be the perfect example of successful robotic arm surgery.
Jake stared at me in complete despair.
Their perfect plan had finally been exposed.
The waiting reporters swarmed forward, cameras flashing like crazy.
But this time, Jake and Sarah were the targets.
They covered their faces, trying to escape, but the media dragged them back.
“Do you people have any humanity left?”
“Mr. Matthews, have you been having an inappropriate relationship with Sarah Hayes this whole time? How else could you both commit such a heinous act?”
Honestly, whether they’d been doing gross stuff behind my back-I didn’t know and didn’t care.
Jake suddenly ran over to me, grabbing my hand like a madman.
“Betty, save me! I was just so jealous of you. Why should we study the same thing but you’re better? The professors only paid attention
to you. And I’m a guy-being worse than my girlfriend is embarrassing. That’s why I did this stupid thing!”
“Sarah and I never had anything! I’ve always loved you, but you were so proud, I was afraid I wasn’t good enough…”
So his solution was to drag me down into the mud with him?
Pathetic.
I yanked my hand away.
Whether he and Sarah had a thing or not-I was past caring.
Military Command took both Sarah and Jake away for investigation.
And finally, I could breathe.
The burden I’d carried all these years was finally gone.
I looked up at the sky. For the first time, it seemed so blue.
“Betty…”
My parents called from behind me. In that moment, they looked like they’d aged decades.
Their eyes no longer held hostility toward me.
“Betty, Mommy was wrong about you. Can you forgive me?”
“Yeah, just give Daddy a chance to make it up to you. We can go back to how things were when you were little-just the three of us, happy together.”
But I touched the necklace Grandma had given me.
Inside was a photo of Grandma and me.
Only Grandma had ever been my real family.
“Chances? I gave you countless chances. I don’t want to give any more.”
After thinking it over, I decided to tell them.
“Oh, and when I was trying out for the military academy? Sarah made me sick so I’d miss the selection. Your precious adopted daughter destroyed your real daughter’s dreams!”
My parents finally broke down completely, covering their faces and sobbing.
I still remembered that day. Sarah came home and my parents treated her like a hero, while they tore me apart.
They said I was useless, that they wished they’d never had me.
They said if they could do it over, they would’ve adopted Sarah early.
Now I didn’t say a single harsh word.
I just watched them coldly.
Watched them fall apart, crying until they couldn’t breathe.
But I’ve never regretted choosing medicine.
