Chapter 5 A Taste of His Own Medicine
Dad did not stay in the hospital for long before he was discharged to rest at home.
The hospital did not want to let him leave.
His wound was so deep that infection could easily settle in if he did not recover in the hospital’s sterile environment.
However, Dad kept going on about how the hospital only wanted to squeeze more money out of him. He was determined to leave.
In the end, he was discharged.
At home, he would constantly get into arguments with Alex.
Alex begrudged Dad for chasing off Wendy. There was not a single day where he did not grumble about that.
As for Dad, he was angry at Alex for wanting to kill him. Similarly, he kept going on about it, cursing Alex out.
There was no longer a single day of peace in the home.
Until now, Alex did not know that Dad was only being so friendly to Wendy because I planted the seeds for those actions with my thoughts.
‘I think I saw an envelope filled with money in Wendy’s bag. Judging by the thickness of the envelope, there must be thousands in there.‘
‘It must be meant for Dad and Mom as a gift, right? She’s so nice…”
Dad was a man who prioritized money above all. That was why he was being extra friendly.
However, that friendliness took a different slant in Alex’s eyes.
Every day, the two men would be arguing non–stop. Dad’s wound reopened several times in his anger.
After a while, his wound became infected, leading him to suffer a high fever.
Ever since the beatings, Mom was treated as though she did not exist by the men. Hence, she did not care about him.
I went to Alex, asking in pretend helplessness, “Dad’s fever is really bad. Should we take him to the hospital?”
Alex glanced at the unconscious man on the bed and scoffed, saying, “Don’t bother. Dad is very frugal. How could he bear to waste another cent at the hospital? Just give him some medicine for the fever.”
“Okay…” I replied.
I went to dig out the fever–reducer medicine we kept at home. They were one month past their expiry date.
Still, I fed them to Dad.
I was the one to take these pills in my last life.
The family had ganged up on me, forcing me to slave away at the factory without stopping.
If I ever worked less than fifteen hours a day, they would beat me up when I returned home.
I did not last more than two weeks before I fell sick.
My fever was incredibly high at forty degrees Celsius. I begged them to give me some money to get treated at the hospital.
Dad just kicked me.
“It’s just a fever. Why go to the hospital? Do you think your body is made of gold or something precious? Just take some
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Chapter 1 A Taste of His Own Medicine
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medicine!”
I was in so much pain that I had no choice but to look for the medicine.
When I found the pills, they were already expired.
I was fearful of any negative side effects, so I went to beg Dad, hoping he would buy some new medicine for me.
“Expired? What about it? Expiry dates are a lie made up by greedy pharmacists! They’re just trying to make fools like you buy more. I say it’s fine, so take them!”
After he said that, he pried my mouth open and forced me to take the pills as though he wanted to prove his point.
“Now, get back to work! If your pay is lower this month, I’ll skin you alive!”
I did not dare to fight against him, so I went to work in my sickly state.
However, the expired medicine was not just useless to treat my fever. It made the fever worse until it became acute gastroenteritis.
I worked through the pain for one whole day before fainting in exhaustion.
In the end, one of my coworkers pitied me and took me to the hospital. They even helped pay for my medical bill.
I was only able to survive that ordeal because of them.
Now…
I looked down at Dad, whose condition did not improve even after taking the medicine.
It was time for him to have a taste of his medicine.
As expected, Dad’s condition worsened on the next day. His whole body was burning up while white foam drooled out of his mouth.
He seemed to be on the brink of death.
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