"Aunt Patricia, I'm traveling. And at this hour, I couldn't get a flight back even if I wanted to."
"You've got enough energy to call me—why not call Uncle Harold instead?"
Silence stretched across the line.
Then her voice came back, sharp and urgent: "Jennifer, you book a flight back right now!"
"I fell! You need to come back and take care of me!"
"Don't worry about the ticket—your cousin will pay you back when he gets here!"
I listened to her and let out a small laugh. "Aunt Patricia, there's nothing I can do. It's the holidays. Even if I wanted to fly back, I couldn't get a ticket now."
"Besides, I still have so many places I haven't been to yet."
"And honestly? Instead of wasting time calling me, you'd be better off calling the hospital."
In my previous life, I'd dropped everything and rushed to her house the moment I heard. I'd even called the hospital myself. They sent people right away—and I was the one who covered the medical bills out of my own pocket.
And what did I get in return? Betrayal. From every last one of them.
So in this life, their problems were no longer mine.