Chapter 4

It took a long time for the system to answer.

[Due to City Hall operating hours, an alternative task has been issued: Secure a genuine marriage proposal from Victoria before the timer expires.]

Only three bars of sand remained. I had less than three hours...

I scrambled to my feet and rushed home.

The moment I pushed the front door open, I froze. Victoria was laughing brightly, sitting astride Keith’s waist as he playfully carried her around the living room like a horse.

I stared at them, a hollow, bitter laugh slipping from my throat.

Once, just to cheer Victoria up after a bad day, I had asked her to do the exact same thing with me. She had rolled her eyes and scoffed:

"What's so fun about that? That's so childish."

Why was it childish with me, but fun with my brother?

My parents were sitting on the couch, watching them with adoring smiles.

My father glanced up, frowning when he saw me. "Why are you so late?"

"Hurry up and eat. Wash the dishes when you're done."

The smile on Victoria's face vanished instantly. She hurriedly slid off Keith’s lap.

"Leo, I'm sorry about today, I—"

"Victoria..."

I cut her off, pulling the crumpled ultrasound report from my pocket and holding it up, my voice trembling.

"You're pregnant."

The entire living room plunged into dead silence.

I locked my eyes onto hers.

"Will you marry me? If you say yes right now, from the bottom of your heart... I will forgive everything you did today."

Victoria froze completely. Her throat bobbed, but no words came out.

My parents sprang to their feet, rushing forward to clap their hands over Keith's ears.

"Leo! Your brother just got out of the hospital! How can you push for a wedding right in front of him?! Are you trying to kill him?!"

I ignored them, keeping my gaze locked on Victoria.

After what felt like an eternity, she glanced nervously at Keith's pale face and forced the words out.

"Of course I want to. But you know Keith's condition... he can't handle us getting married right now."

The system gave no response. The countdown alarm ringing in my skull didn't stop.

Desperate, I lunged forward and grabbed her hands, begging like a stray dog.

"Victoria... please. For the sake of our unborn child, just propose to me. Just once. Mean it."

Victoria’s brow furrowed, a flash of annoyance crossing her features.

"Leo, stop making a scene!"

"I'll marry you eventually! But I'm in no mood for this right now! You know damn well Keith can't live without me!"

Keith pushed my parents away and suddenly dropped to his knees in front of me, tears streaming down his face.

"Leo... please stop forcing her."

"Did you already figure it out? The baby she's carrying... it's mine."

A deafening roar blasted through my head.

I stared at Victoria, then at my parents, in sheer disbelief.

None of them looked surprised.

Victoria immediately stepped in front of Keith, shielding him behind her back. She looked down at me, her words dripping with cold venom.

"Why the shock? Weren't you the one who begged me to take good care of your brother?"

Her words were so light, yet they felt like a jagged blade gutting me from the inside out.

Nausea surged up my throat, accompanied by a sharp, stabbing pain in my stomach.

I collapsed to my knees, dry-heaving uncontrollably.

Clutching at her coat like a madman, I choked out:

"So you've been cheating on me this whole time?! How do you even know whose child it is?!"

Victoria shoved me back violently, her tone freezing over.

"Stop cornering me! Even if this baby is yours, the only person I care about taking responsibility for is Keith."

"If I leave him, your brother will die!"

I could only watch as she gently helped Keith up and led him toward our bedroom, speaking in soft, comforting murmurs to hush his tears.

My mother dragged me out onto the balcony, her eyes rimmed with red.

"Leo, do you have any idea why your brother passed out yesterday?!"

"It's because he got Victoria pregnant! He felt so guilty toward you!"

"You're the older brother, why can't you just let him have this?! You can always find someone else, but Keith will literally die if Victoria leaves him!"

I stared at my mother, tears spilling freely down my cheeks.

"She's my girlfriend! She was supposed to be my wife!"

My father let out a heavy, weary sigh.

"Consider it a favor to your mother and me. We can't survive losing Keith..."

The hourglass in my mind was almost completely empty.

A wet, broken chuckle escaped my lips.

"Fine."

"I won't fight him for her anymore."

My parents gave my head a patronizing pat before heading back inside.

Before the sliding door clicked shut, I could hear them whispering about which boutique they should take Keith to tomorrow to pick out a tuxedo.

I was left entirely alone in the dark.

Only a few stray grains of sand remained in the glass.

The ticking in my ears morphed into a cold, mechanical voice.

10...9...8...

"System... how am I going to die?"

I hoped it would hurt. I hoped the pain would be so blinding that it would burn away every memory of this place.

The system didn't answer.

When the counter hit zero, the expected agony in my chest didn't come.

In the very next second, a thunderous explosion ripped through the air, and a blinding wall of fire erupted before my eyes.

The kitchen had blown up.

The building's fire alarms screeched into life.

Before the thick black smoke choked the consciousness out of me, I saw Victoria burst out of the bedroom with Keith.

She darted to the sink to wet several towels, rushed into my parents' room to drag them out of bed, and ushered everyone out the front door.

She even turned back into the bathroom to scoop up Keith’s pet cat.

Not once did she look toward the balcony where I was trapped.

Down on the street, tenants were screaming, scattering in total chaos.

Victoria patted Keith's head, whispering words of comfort.

Suddenly, my mother looked around in a panic. "Where's Leo?! Did Leo make it out?!"

Victoria froze for a second, but quickly waved it off.

"Mom, don't worry. Leo was a varsity sprinter. If he was in the apartment, he would've made it out before any of us."

My mother immediately nodded in relief.

"Right, right. Leo always knows how to take care of himself. We never have to worry about him."

Floating in the air above them, I smiled.

They didn't know.

The sensible, self-reliant Leo they never had to worry about was already a charred corpse inside the ruins, burned beyond recognition.