My smile faded, but I still said, "Celeste, I’m sick. I have stomach cancer..."
Before I could say anything more, she cut me off, her voice filled with anger. "Can you stop pretending just to get sympathy? Seriously, you're pulling these childish tricks like I'm going to fall for them!" She sighed and was frustrated. "You know how important this is for Conan—he's trying to get into a top prestigious school. I can’t just leave him for this."
Her voice grew colder. "If you put as much effort into working as you do into lying, maybe you wouldn’t still be stuck in that same small job after all these years."
"At your age, still lying like that, how are you this shameless?" She snorted, her voice filled with sarcasm. "Let me make this clear, I can’t let anything interfere with Conan’s studies right now."
Then, with no sign of interest, she added, "If you want to die, just do it somewhere else, so you don’t bother me."
A heavy silence settled between us, and I could hear Celeste's voice on the other end. She murmured, “Conan, don’t be scared. It’s all that bad person’s fault.”