I looked at the ruined rabbit for a long time.
Then I bent down and picked it up.
Half an ear was missing.
The stitches had come apart, and most of the cotton was gone.
But the four crooked embroidered words were still there.
Exclusively for Thoi Thoi.
I brushed the dust away.
“It’s fine.”
Lam Diem Diem blinked.
“You aren’t angry?”
“No.”
There were only a few hours left.
What was the point?
The eldest brother appeared behind her.
“Thoi Thoi, you’ve become much more sensible.”
The second brother smiled.
“Prison wasn’t completely useless.”
The third brother glanced at my bleeding arm.
“Clean that before dinner. Dad hates seeing blood at the table.”
None of them asked whether the wound hurt.
I nodded.
“Okay.”
They seemed satisfied.
They mistook silence for obedience.
They didn’t know I had simply stopped expecting anything from them.
【Remaining time: 7 hours 42 minutes】
I entered the bathroom and cleaned my arm.
Then I carefully wrapped the damaged rabbit in one of my old shirts.
That was the only thing I intended to take.
Everything else could remain here.
Dinner began at seven.
My adoptive father sat at the head of the table.
My adoptive mother looked at me for several seconds before sighing.
“You’ve lost too much weight.”
Diem Diem immediately lowered her chopsticks.
“Mom, don’t say that. Sister will think we’re criticizing how prison treated her.”
Mother patted her hand.
“Why would you think that?”
Then she turned toward me.
“Tomorrow we’ll buy you proper clothes. You can’t go outside looking like this. People already know you’ve been in prison.”
I quietly ate.
Father finally spoke.
“You were released early because of good behavior. That’s good.”
I looked up.
“Does that mean I’m officially your daughter now?”
The table became silent.
Seven years ago, that had been the promise.
Take the blame.
Serve the sentence.
Come home.
Become their real sister.
The eldest brother frowned.
“Why bring that up immediately?”
Second brother put down his glass.
“Thoi Thoi, family relationships aren’t transactions.”
I almost laughed.
Seven years of my life had been exchanged in exactly one transaction.
But apparently only I was forbidden from remembering the price.
Diem Diem’s eyes reddened.
“If Sister becomes the official daughter, then what am I?”
Mother immediately hugged her.
“You’ll always be our precious daughter.”
Then she looked at me apologetically.
“Thoi Thoi, give us some time.”
I nodded.
“Okay.”
They relaxed again.
So easy.
I wondered how many years I could have saved if I’d learned earlier that asking these people for love was pointless.
【Remaining time: 5 hours 18 minutes】
At nine, someone rang the doorbell.
A woman in her sixties stood outside.
The moment I saw her, my heart tightened.
“Director?”
She had run the orphanage where I’d lived before the Tham family adopted me.
Her hair was almost completely gray now.
She looked at the chain still hanging around my neck.
Then at my bandaged arm.
Her face changed.
“Thoi Thoi.”
She rushed forward and held me.
For the first time that day, someone touched me carefully.
“You came.”
My voice trembled.
“Of course I came.”
She pulled away and looked at me.
“I promised your parents.”
Everyone behind me went silent.
My adoptive father frowned.
“What parents?”
The director reached into her bag.
“Her biological parents.”
My breathing stopped.
“They’re dead.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“But before they died, they left something for you.”
The eldest brother stepped closer.
“What?”
“A letter.”
She handed me a yellowed envelope.
My fingers trembled as I opened it.
There were only a few lines.
Our little Thoi Thoi,
If someday you feel that nobody in this world chooses you, remember that we did.
If there is another place after this life, we’ll wait there.
You don’t need to earn your way home.
You were ours from the beginning.
I pressed the letter against my chest.
The system appeared again.
【Remaining time: 3 hours 56 minutes】
For the first time, I wanted the countdown to move faster.
Behind me, Diem Diem suddenly spoke.
“Why are you making everything so dramatic?”
Everyone turned.
She looked at the director.
“Sister just returned. Why bring up dead people?”
The director stared at her.
Then something changed in her expression.
“You.”
Diem Diem froze.
“Do I know you?”
“I saw you seven years ago.”
The room became silent.
My eldest brother frowned.
“Where?”
“At the hospital.”
My heart stopped.
The director continued.
“The night that schoolgirl was poisoned.”
Diem Diem went pale.
My father stood.
“What are you saying?”
“I went because Thoi Thoi’s school called the orphanage before they could reach your family.”
She looked directly at Diem Diem.
“I saw this girl outside the emergency ward arguing with someone.”
Diem Diem backed away.
“You’re mistaken.”
“No.”
The director’s voice hardened.
“You said, ‘Thoi Thoi will take the blame. My brothers promised.’”
No one moved.
My second brother’s face changed.
Diem Diem immediately began crying.
“She hates me! She’s lying because she raised Thoi Thoi!”
The eldest brother turned toward me.
“Did you tell her to say this?”
I looked at him.
Seven years.
And even now his first instinct was to suspect me.
“No.”
“Then explain.”
“There is nothing to explain.”
I stood.
“I confessed because you asked me to.”
Father’s face drained of color.
“What?”
My brothers froze.
Apparently they had never told our parents the truth.
The eldest spoke first.
“Thoi Thoi—”
I interrupted.
“You said if I protected Diem Diem, I would finally become your sister.”
Mother stared at her sons.
“You knew?”
No one answered.
That silence was enough.
Diem Diem suddenly screamed.
“She agreed!”
Everyone looked at her.
“She agreed herself!”
Her face had twisted with panic.
“I didn’t force her!”
I looked at her calmly.
“No.”
Then I looked at my three brothers.
“They did.”
The second brother stepped toward me.
“We were young.”
“You were twenty-six.”
He stopped.
Third brother whispered:
“We thought the victim would recover.”
“She almost died.”
The eldest brother’s voice cracked.
“We didn’t think you’d actually get seven years.”
I smiled.
“Neither did I.”
【Remaining time: 1 hour 03 minutes】
My body suddenly felt strangely light.
The system had promised that when the mission ended, I could return to the place where my biological family was waiting.
I had spent seven years completing its final requirement.
Protect Diem Diem until release.
I had done it.
I picked up my small bag.
The ruined rabbit was inside.
The director caught my hand.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
My adoptive mother began crying.
“This is your home.”
I looked around.
At the dog bed in my bedroom.
At the chain around my neck.
At the family who had sacrificed seven years of my life and still asked me to prove myself.
“No.”
I unclipped the chain.
It fell onto the marble floor.
“This was never my home.”
【Remaining time: 11 minutes】
My eldest brother followed me outside.
“Thoi Thoi!”
I continued walking.
“Stop!”
For seven years, I had obeyed whenever he used that voice.
This time I didn’t.
He caught up.
“I’ll fix this.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
His eyes were red.
“We’ll clear your name.”
“You should.”
“We’ll expose Diem Diem.”
“You should.”
“I’ll give your room back.”
“I don’t want it.”
He finally broke.
“Then what do you want?”
The answer surprised even me.
“Nothing.”
His face collapsed.
That was the one thing he couldn’t give me.
Because nothing meant there was no bargain left.
No test.
No second chance he could offer himself.
【Remaining time: 34 seconds】
The director stood beside me.
My brothers ran from the house.
Mother was crying.
Father was shouting into his phone, demanding someone reopen the old case.
Diem Diem stood alone at the doorway.
For the first time, no one was protecting her.
【10】
I held the rabbit.
【7】
My second brother shouted my name.
【5】
I closed my eyes.
【3】
I remembered the letter.
You don’t need to earn your way home.
【1】
The countdown disappeared.
But I didn’t.
My eyes opened.
I was still standing outside the Tham villa.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then another message appeared.
【Primary mission completed.】
【Return request denied.】
My heart stopped.
“No…”
A second line appeared.
【Reason: Biological family not located in destination world.】
My hands began trembling.
Then came the final notification.
【Correction: Your parents and brothers did not die in the accident twenty-four years ago.】
I stared at the words.
Impossible.
The official records said they had all died.
The system continued.
【Identity records were altered.】
【Your biological family has been searching for you for twenty-four years.】
Headlights suddenly appeared at the end of the road.
One car.
Then another.
Then five more.
They stopped outside the villa.
The director covered her mouth.
An elderly man stepped from the first vehicle.
Behind him came three men.
The oldest held a faded photograph of a little girl.
Me.
He looked at my face.
Then at the damaged rabbit in my hands.
His eyes turned red.
“Thoi Thoi?”
My three adoptive brothers went completely still.
The stranger took one trembling step toward me.
And said the words I had waited an entire lifetime to hear.
“Little sister.”
I couldn’t move.
Behind him, the elderly man was already crying.
“We finally found you.”
I looked back at the Tham family.
For seven years, they had promised that if I suffered enough, I might earn the right to become their daughter.
But the people standing beyond their gates had crossed twenty-four years just to find the daughter they had never stopped calling their own.
And suddenly I understood why the system hadn’t allowed me to leave this world.
My mission had never been to die and reunite with my family somewhere else.
It had been to survive long enough for my real family to reach me.
