Chapter 2

The temperature in the sauna room kept rising.

I was soon drenched in sweat.

I heard the front door close outside.

Clara and Michael had already left with Nathan.

I used all my strength to push at the sauna room door.

Each time I pushed, the sharp pain in my lower back grew worse.

But the door still wouldn't open.

Clara had locked it from the outside.

The floor temperature had already blistered the soles of my feet.

The pain brought tears to my eyes.

The combination of heat and pain left me nearly collapsed.

Suddenly, I heard sounds from outside again.

Hope rekindled, I forgot about the heat.

I ran to the door, standing on tiptoe to reach the window on the sauna room door.

"Clara! Michael! Save me!"

"It hurts so much! I know I was wrong!"

I kept apologizing, banging on the glass.

Hoping to get their attention.

But what I heard was Clara and Michael's muffled conversation.

"This kid made me so angry I forgot to bring the documents. Now I have to make another trip."

"The bone marrow has such a short preservation time, and she's still making trouble!"

Michael sighed.

He was about to say something when his eyes caught sight of the glass on the sauna room door.

"Honey, I think Riley's crying. Maybe we should let her out."

Only then did Clara turn around to look at me.

I quickly tried to smile at Clara and Michael.

My intention was to apologize to them.

To act cute like I used to.

Before, whenever I did something wrong, if I admitted my mistake and smiled and acted cute,

they would always forgive me.

But this time, for some reason, Clara got even angrier.

She frowned and glared at me fiercely.

Her volume suddenly shot up.

"What's that look? You call that crying?"

"Look at her—completely unrepentant. She even has the nerve to smile!"

I shook my head frantically.

"Clara, that's not it! I won't do it again!"

The heavy door swallowed my voice.

They could only hear faint cries but couldn't make out what I was saying.

Clara walked toward me.

My heart pounded with excitement.

I thought she had finally forgiven me.

Clara loves me after all. She was just too anxious earlier. It must be that!

But Clara stopped about two meters from the door.

She pointed at me and said to Michael:

"This door is so soundproof, yet she's still this loud. If we let her out and she disturbs the neighbors, should we come back or not?"

"And if we take her along, what if she makes trouble during treatment?"

Seeing Michael's hesitation,

feeling the temperature in the sauna room continuing to rise,

I panicked.

I reached for the metal handle on the door, trying to pull it open just a crack.

So my apology could slip through the gap.

The moment my hand touched it, a layer of skin was instantly scalded off.

The pain made everything go black. I screamed until my throat was raw.

But it only seemed to confirm what Clara had just said about me making noise.

Michael looked at me, then at the documents in Clara's hand.

"Forget it. Treating Nathan is what matters. We'll talk to her properly when we get back."

With that, Michael put his arm around Clara's shoulders and they left together.

The sound of the front door closing again extinguished my last glimmer of hope.

I took off my clothes and placed them on the floor to separate my skin from contact with the ground.

I curled up into a ball, hugging my knees.

"This way it won't hurt. If it doesn't hurt, I won't cry."

"As long as I'm quiet and well-behaved, when Clara and Michael come back and see me being good, they'll let me out."

I murmured to myself.

Even though every inch of my skin was burning with pain,

I bit my teeth and didn't make another sound.

I don't know how long passed before I completely lost consciousness.