Max Landon heard her and withdrew his hand.
He went downstairs and saw Sylvia Quinn’s flushed face, clearly indicating an abnormal temperature. “I’ll get the car. We need to go to the hospital right away.”
Max and Easton took Sylvia to the hospital together.
In the second-floor bedroom, Lila Landon lay in bed, her face flushed, sweating profusely.
All night, her body felt weightless as she was plagued by nightmares.
The next day, Lila’s phone kept buzzing with notification sounds.
After being awakened by the noise, Lila checked her phone with a dark expression. The notifications were private messages from an app.
When she opened them, she found they were almost entirely abusive comments. She was no stranger to this kind of harassment-someone had posted the incident of her pushing Sylvia into the water on the campus forum last night.
Sylvia was quite popular at school, and these people had all come to angrily berate Lila.
Lila’s head was pounding so badly it felt like it might explode. She joined the fray herself, fighting back against those insulting her.
She responded to a flood of messages calling her a prostitute’s daughter, a modern Medusa, a wicked woman…
The forum post quickly accumulated over a thousand comments, frightening the administrator who thought the forum had been hacked.
After sending her responses, Lila tossed her phone aside and lay back down.
She no longer needed to please the Landon family or care about her reputation.
She didn’t want to live so miserably anymore.
Shortly after, a servant knocked on her door from outside. “Miss, you should get up for school. You’ll be late.”
Lila remembered that she indeed still had school today!
She washed her face with cold water to wake herself up.
If she wanted to leave the Landon family, she needed to complete her education and get into a university far away from here.
After changing her clothes, she picked up her backpack and went downstairs.
Max and Easton had just walked in from outside.
Seeing Lila’s flushed cheeks, Max walked straight over to her, habitually reaching out to feel her forehead to check her temperature.
But Lila stepped back, avoiding Max’s hand, and turned to sit down at the dining table.
She needed to eat a hearty meal to recover quickly and have the energy to study for Cloudridge University.
Max’s hand hung awkwardly in the air before he lowered it.
Easton snorted coldly, “I told you she’s ungrateful. Besides, she’s as strong as an ox, unlike Sylvia who’s been frail since childhood. After falling into the water last night, Sylvia caught a cold and developed a fever. Lila never gets sick no matter who else does!”
Max ultimately said nothing. It was true that Lila had always been healthy.
He walked to the dining table. “Sylvia is sick. These days at school, you need to take good care of her until she recovers. Understand?”
He felt that Lila was becoming increasingly difficult, and he couldn’t spoil her like before.
Since Lila didn’t understand gratitude, he would force her to learn.
Easton added, “Lila, Sylvia’s father saved your life, and you nearly killed her. You must take good care of Sylvia to atone for your sins!”
Lila kept her head down, focusing on her breakfast. Although she had no appetite, she forced herself to eat.
With less than a hundred days until the college entrance exam, she could leave the Landon family after that.
Dissatisfied with her indifferent attitude, Easton snatched her fork away. “I’m talking to you! Don’t you have ears?”
Lila looked up, her eyes clear and sharp, silent.
Easton spoke commandingly, “When Sylvia takes her medicine, you’ll fetch hot water for her. At noon, get her lunch from the cafeteria, and remember to run fast so the food doesn’t get cold. When she needs to use the bathroom, you must accompany her! Her father saved your life, this is what you should do. Did you hear me clearly?”
Lila replied coldly, “I heard clearly.”
But she hadn’t agreed to comply.
Lila walked out of the villa expressionlessly, looked up at the sky, and forced back her tears.
She thought that living a second life would mean she wouldn’t be sad anymore.
But hearing Easton’s words just now, her heart still ached as if pierced by needles.
She still remembered when she was little and fell ill, her second brother Max would stay by her side all night, and her fourth brother Easton would tell her jokes to coax her into taking medicine.
Just because Sylvia was physically weak, her brothers would prioritize her whenever she got sick.
Later, even when Lila had a fever, she had to endure it alone.
Lila swallowed the bitterness in her throat, got into the car, and closed her eyes to rest.
Just bear it a little longer. Less than a hundred days to go.
When she arrived at school, she went straight to her senior high classroom.
As she walked in, the previously noisy classroom fell completely silent.
Lila’s forum battle had now spread throughout the school.
Everyone wondered if Lila had lost her mind.
“I don’t know what happened to Lila that made her completely give up on herself?”
“I think she can’t clear her name anymore, so she’s dropped the act. This is the real Lila.”
Lila heard the whispers around her but paid no attention. She dropped her backpack and laid her head on the desk to sleep.
The entire morning, Lila slept through her classes.
When lunch break came, Sylvia arrived at the classroom.
She still had an IV drip attached to her arm, and her appearance immediately garnered sympathy and concern from the classmates.
Lila frowned and shifted position to continue sleeping.
Soon after, someone forcefully slapped her desk.
Lila raised her head impatiently, her eyes clear but tinged with hostility.
She saw Sylvia standing before her, with her sycophants looking impatient beside her.
Lila narrowed her eyes.
These two girls were Sylvia’s little followers who had frequently spread rumors and bullied her, even fabricating evidence to complain about her to her brothers.
Sylvia spoke weakly, “Lila, what would you like for lunch? I’ll get it for you. Please don’t be angry with me anymore, okay?”
Lila replied coldly, “Not necessary.”
Ruby burst out angrily, “Lila, don’t be so ungrateful! Sylvia herself is sick.”
“That’s right, Lila, you should be taking care of Sylvia at school. She’s sick because of you.”
Sylvia coughed weakly a couple of times. “Don’t be like that. I can take care of myself. I’ve always been on my own. Please stop, or you’ll make her angry.”
“Sylvia, you’re just too kind. That’s why you get bullied like this.”
Lila was getting impatient. She stood up to leave the classroom.
Just as she walked out, Sylvia suddenly rushed over, causing the IV stand to topple.
Coincidentally, Sylvia fell onto the broken glass.
What a coincidence.
The classroom erupted in chaos, and Lila’s head throbbed with the noise.
She opened her mouth to speak, but her vision suddenly darkened, and she fainted.
When Lila regained consciousness, her nose was filled with the smell of disinfectant.
Was this the school infirmary?
“Temperature of 39 degrees. Hanging on this long-are you trying to experience what it’s like to be naturally cooked?”
Lila turned her head to see a man in a white coat, tall and slender, wearing a mask, with cold and clear eyes.
She remembered now-this was the new school doctor who was quite handsome and had attracted many girls’ attention.
But he also had a notoriously sharp tongue.
This school doctor hadn’t worked long before leaving.
Lila sat up, feeling much better. The IV must have worked.
She lowered her gaze. “Can I leave now?”
“Wait for your family to pick you up. I don’t want you dying on the way and having to take responsibility for you,” Dr. Sean Chase said casually from his chair, his voice particularly languid.
He truly was a sharp-tongued doctor.
She replied hoarsely, “I don’t have family.”
Just as she finished speaking, Easton’s anxious voice came from outside. “Sylvia, are you alright? How did you get hurt so badly?”
“Easton, it’s just a minor injury. Don’t blame Lila. It wasn’t intentional-I was just clumsy and knocked over the IV stand.”
Ruby embellished the story. “That’s not true! Sylvia specifically offered to get lunch for Lila, but Lila refused and held a grudge. She deliberately tripped Sylvia. We all saw it!”
Bella chimed in, “Exactly! Sylvia was sick herself but still thought about Lila not having lunch. And Lila was so vicious to push her down!”
After hearing this, Easton’s anger immediately flared up.
His voice suppressed with fury, he shouted, “Where is Lila? Get out here! How dare you make Sylvia get lunch for you? Her father should have let you die in that car accident rather than having you alive to torment his daughter.”
When Lila heard these words, she tugged at the corner of her mouth, revealing a mocking smile.
Sure enough, just like in her previous life, whatever Sylvia said was taken as truth.
The next moment, the curtain beside Lila was forcefully pulled open.
Lila looked up, her face pale, her lips dry and white, her entire appearance sickly.
“Lila, you…”
Seeing Lila’s condition, Easton’s remaining words caught in his throat.