Reborn Into a Family That Actually Loves Me

After they pulled me back from the suicide attempt, there was a system in my head.

It said that if I finished its money-chasing missions, it would take me to another world.

In that world, there would be a family who loved me.

I wanted so badly to be loved that I agreed on the spot.

So this time, when the family of this world walked out on me again to take the fake heiress to Disneyland,

I didn't lose my mind trying to stop them. I just opened my payment code.

"From now on, I won't fight you over Willow Sinclair. Just send me money."

"A hundred thousand per person each weekday. Triple on weekends and holidays."

Mom and Dad froze, looking at me with disgust filling their eyes.

Adrian Sinclair, my eldest brother, the doctor, forced me to choose between the surgery to save my legs and the transfer.

Without hesitation, I chose the transfer. My legs weren't repaired in time, and they were amputated.

Julian Sinclair, my second brother, the CEO, cursed me out when he heard, calling me a gold-digger, a leech.

Every transfer came with a note that was another insult.

I didn't fight, didn't make a scene. I just carefully tallied the balance on my card.

Three months later, the system's money-chasing mission was complete.

I stopped clamoring for money. I chose to die clutching an explosive and leave this world.

And the Sinclairs, whose transfer I'd refused, suddenly panicked.

*Host, are you certain you want to leave this world this way?!*

The system's voice rang out in my head, disbelieving.

I was about to speak.

Then the family group chat lit up with a string of pings.

*Got Willow. Her stomach's acting up again. I pushed back a heart transplant to stay with her.*

*Is Willow okay? I canceled the billion-dollar contract we spent half a year preparing. On my way to the hospital now!*

*Your mom and I already called the airline and stopped the flight to America. Twenty minutes out.*

The chat kept scrolling, message after message, all worried about Willow.

I watched quietly, and suddenly remembered the fire at the villa an hour ago.

I'd been trapped inside, and I sent countless messages to the chat begging for help.

All they sent back was a cold *1*.

I never imagined that Willow only had to send one message about a stomachache, and every one of them would rush to take care of her.

The phone screen went dark, then lit up again.

Adrian sent a mocking sticker.

*Time to transfer money to someone!*

*Or she'll jump off a building again!*

*1*

*+1*

A few read receipts, and then nothing but the transfers.

Before, to finish my missions, I always accepted them fast.

This time, I didn't.

I typed calmly.

*No need to send me money. No need, ever again.*

Because I was about to leave.

No amount of money would matter.

I turned off the phone and looked at the system's countdown to leaving this world, and I couldn't stop myself from asking out loud.

"System, in that world I'm going to, Mom and Dad and my brothers will all love me, right?"

My heart was uneasy, my fingers clenched tight, and before the system could answer,

I couldn't help asking for more.

"Could they love only me?"

"No, no, no! Never mind. As long as they love me, that's enough."

Frantic to take the words back, I bolted upright, warning myself over and over inside.

As long as the family in that other world could love me, that was enough.

As long as they wouldn't just coldly blame me every time Willow slandered me, that was enough.

As long as they wouldn't, the day I got my acceptance letter from a top Ivy League university, believe Willow's word and report me to the Department of Education for cheating, that was enough.

I turned it over in my mind a few more times, then braced myself on my hands and fitted the prosthetics onto both my legs.

Following the system's directions, I arrived at the place where I'd leave this world.

Harbor City's largest airport.

Half an hour from now, a catastrophic explosion would happen here.

All I had to do was find the man who'd prepared the explosives.

At the moment of the blast, shield the explosive under my body.

I'd looked into it before.

Death by explosion looks terrible, but it doesn't hurt for long.

Steeling myself over and over, I gathered my courage and went inside.

The phone suddenly buzzed like mad.

"Zelda James, what's that supposed to mean?!"

"What do you mean, we don't need to send you money anymore?"

"Are you going to die?"

"Should I switch it over to hell money for you?!"

In the chat, Julian raged in a voice message.

My steps stopped, and the ache surged up in my chest, wave after wave.

"Yeah. I'm about to die."

I sent the voice message thinking Mom, Dad, and both my brothers would feel at least a flicker of worry.

Instead, in the next second.

Behind me, a burst of laughter erupted.

"See? I told you Zelda would say exactly that."

"I won!"

"Now transfer me a million!"

My second brother Julian's sneering voice rang out, unmistakable in the airport.

I turned around and saw them all standing not far off, laughing softly Mom, Dad, and both brothers, who were supposed to be at the hospital caring for Willow.

Before I could take it in, my eldest brother Adrian strode over.

He seized my wrist and spoke with a mocking edge.

"Zelda, didn't you say you'd stop competing with Willow for attention as long as we gave you money?"

"So what was that message you just dropped in the family chat, saying you're going to die?!"

"Our family despises that disgusting two-faced act more than anything!"

"You really were raised wrong. Not fit to be seen in decent company!"

"Now hurry up and come home with us. Stop the suicide theatrics and embarrassing yourself here!"

Suicide theatrics. Adrian leaned hard on those words.

A sharp pain seized my heart.

A few months ago, Willow had smeared me as a cheater to explain how I'd gotten into an Ivy League university.

The Sinclairs never doubted her for a second. They reported me to the Department of Education, then burned my acceptance letter right in front of me.

"We're people of standing in Harbor City. We will never let someone like you drag our name through the mud!"

Dad roared, and locked me in the house for a month.

That was how I missed the enrollment date at the university.

So the jump that had left me hollowed out and broken, in their eyes, was nothing but suicide theatrics.

I didn't explain again. I didn't say another word.

I turned to check the detonation time the system showed me.

Ten minutes left.

Ten more minutes, and I could go to another world.

A world where I'd have a family who loved me.

I turned and walked away, step by step, toward the waiting seats in the airport.

I'd barely gone a few steps when Adrian coldly grabbed my hand again.

"Zelda, I'm talking to you!"

"If you're going to stage a suicide, at least pick a good spot. What's here at Harbor City Airport to kill yourself with?"

"You planning to block a plane and get run over? Or jump off one?"

Adrian's mouth curled with derision as he finished.

Julian, phone in hand, cut in, his face full of impatience.

"You've made enough of a scene. Hurry up and come home with us!"

"Willow still has to get back to her dorm. We can't hold up her studying!"

"Just say it. How much do you want this time?"

He pulled up the payment screen and tapped at the numbers, offhand.

I glanced at it and spoke again.

"I already told you. I don't want money anymore."

The moment I said it, Julian's finger stopped.

He chewed the inside of his cheek, impatient, and let out a low scoff.

"You don't want money?"

"Zelda, are you actually planning to die here at the airport?"

His eyes locked onto me, then dropped, sliding to the prosthetic legs that made me move so clumsily, and the corner of his mouth lifted.

"If you die today, I'll donate every last dollar of the billion-plus I've got to cripples just like you!"

Cripples. Julian bit down hard on the word.

I froze, my nails digging into my palm.

Before I could speak, Adrian suddenly spoke up.

"What's the point of donating money?"

"If Zelda really dies today, I'll kneel and kowtow to every disabled person who comes to that hospital for treatment!"

"Fine."

I cut Adrian off. I lifted my head to the system's countdown.

Only three minutes left.

"Adrian, Julian. You'd both better keep your word."

"Zelda, do you have any idea what you're saying?"

Julian's face was frighteningly cold.

I didn't say a word. Beside him, Willow suddenly pouted.

"Adrian, Julian, I'm so hungry. If Zelda keeps dragging her feet, I think my stomach's going to act up again!"

The second she finished, Adrian grabbed my arm, his face full of impatience, and yanked me forward.

"Didn't you hear Willow say she's hungry?"

"Come back with us. Now."

My arm burned where he gripped it. I fought desperately to steady myself on my prosthetics.

Then, from behind, Julian kicked one of them out from under me.

Bang.

The prosthetic leg flew off with the force of it, and I dropped to the floor. Blood seeped out where the leg connected to my body.

Bright red, stark against the white floor.

Something like panic crossed Julian's face, but it was gone in an instant, his voice going cold again.

"You had a perfectly good body, and you threw yourself off a building instead, turned yourself into a cripple!"

"You brought this on yourself!"

Every word landed. Then he picked up my prosthetic and held it high.

"Either you come back with us, or you crawl back on one leg by yourself!"

"We'll be waiting in the airport VIP lounge. You've got ten minutes."

"You're not there in ten, then don't ever come back to the Sinclair house again!"

Julian's words rang in my ears as I stared blankly at the cheap, broken prosthetic.

My mind went back, on its own, to when I first came to the Sinclairs.

Back then they held me close, soothing away every fear and every bit of panic in me with the gentlest words.

They said I'd suffered all those years on the outside, and they'd make it up to me twice over.

They said the family was finally whole, now that they had me.

But later, all it took was a few of Willow's lies and made-up stories, and they forgot every word they'd said.

Tears rose without my meaning them to. I lowered my head and quietly wiped them away.

I couldn't help looking at my parents, who hadn't said anything this whole time.

"Mom, Dad, if I really died today"

Would you be even a little bit sad?

I didn't get to finish.

Willow cut me off again.

"Mom, Dad, let's go to the VIP lounge!"

"I want the fruit they have here. I've been craving it ever since we ate it on our trip over the holiday!"

Listening to Willow coax them, my heart clenched.

So it turned out that during that holiday, when I was locked in the house, starved for three days and three nights, nearly dead

they'd all gone on a trip together.

"Zelda, just listen to your brothers, and don't go pulling any of these disgraceful stunts."

"We still have to take Willow to buy a bag afterward. Ten minutes is too long."

"We'll give you five."

Mom frowned as she said it, then took Willow's hand, a smile at the corner of her mouth, and walked out first.

I watched their backs as they left, and pushed myself up against the wall.

Tears kept sliding from the corners of my eyes. I reached up and wiped them away, one by one, and forced a smile.

"System, in that other world, my parents and brothers there will love me, won't they?"

I murmured it out loud, and saw the system's countdown to leaving this world hit zero.

Not far off, at the airport security checkpoint.

A middle-aged man, carrying a big black bundle in his hand.

His face blank, he pushed into the crowd, and once he was in the middle of it, he slowly unzipped the bag.

Dragging one leg, bracing on the wall, I stumbled toward him.

One leg was harder to walk on than I'd imagined.

I stumbled, caught my balance, and forced myself through the pain of the prosthetic grinding against bone until I finally reached the man's back.

After this, all I had to do was tear the explosive out of his hands.

I drew a deep breath, closed in, and was just reaching for the package.

Then Willow tossed a watermelon rind down from the VIP floor above.

Oops, sorry, wrong throw!

She laughed and turned to leave.

The rind smacked into my head, and it startled the man.

His eyes went bloodshot. He seized my wrist and wrenched it hard backward.

Crack!

The sound of bone snapping reached me, and the pain convulsed through my whole body.

Someone in the crowd noticed something was wrong.

The man's face twisted, savage, and he ripped the explosive charge wide open.

I'm going to blow you all up!

Your airline killed my daughter and my wife!

His fury tore through the airport.

The crowd scattered in an instant.

I was shoved to the ground, still clutching the man's explosive charge.

He glared at me, vicious, and drove his foot into my face.

Thud, thud, thud!

The burning sting spread across my face. I clenched my teeth, my mouth full of blood, and didn't let go.

You won't let go?!

Then we die together!

The man snarled and pressed the detonator.

Beep. Beep. Beep!

The explosive's countdown ticked off the seconds in my ear.

Like death's claws, closing in inch by inch.

As the last beeps sounded, the man suddenly changed his mind.

He threw down the charge and ran, wild with panic.

The black explosive charge dropped fully into my hands.

I opened my blood-smeared eyes and saw the fear and panic on every face.

Without a second of hesitation, I pressed the charge tight beneath my body.

Trying to take the worst of the blast with my own body.

Faintly, I heard a few gentle voices calling.

It was the family in that other world, the ones who loved me, waiting for me.

I closed my eyes with a smile on my lips.

I heard the explosive's beeping stop.

The charge beneath me went off with a roar.

The blast was so huge the airport building shook for a few seconds.

In the VIP lounge, the Sinclairs held Willow tight against them.

A few seconds later, they heard someone screaming.

The bomb went off!

Someone's trying to blow up the airport!

They rushed out the door, about to make for the emergency stairs.

Then, again, they heard it.

That poor girl, one leg gone, and she still held that bomb tight against her chest.

Her body, it's been blown to pieces

The stranger's words froze every one of the Sinclairs.

Adrian, the eldest, frowned and sneered.

One leg gone? Zelda, holding a bomb? How is that possible?!

Julian, the second son, let out a faint laugh.

This jealous little act is really convincing this time. She found some decent extras!

Their parents said nothing, keeping Willow carefully shielded.

Five minutes are up. If Zelda still won't come, then let's go!

She needs to be taught a lesson!

They finished and walked off without a care.

But just then, all of their phones rang at once.

Faces exactly like their own, their future selves, howling in agony.

Every pore radiating regret and despair.

Go stop Zelda, now!

Don't let her hold that bomb and kill herself!!