“Sally, didn’t you say you couldn’t breathe?” Sophie’s voice drifted in from the side.

She walked toward me with a birthday cake covered in lit candles.

“My grandma said blowing out candles is good for your lungs. It’s good for your health. Can you blow out these twenty candles in one breath? Just think of it as a birthday present for me, okay?

“Maybe it’ll even help you get better.”

She blinked with an innocent face. “I just want to help you recover. You’re not petty enough to refuse such a small request, are you?”

What an absurd idea!

But her friends around her began to cheer immediately.

“Blow them out! Blow them out! Blow them out!”

“Yeah, Sally, blow them out for Sophie!”

“In one breath! It has to be in one breath!”

Justin’s eyes lit up as if he had found a new game to play.

He grinned as he pulled me away from the wall and pushed me down in front of the cake.

“Did you hear that? Sophie’s doing this for your own good. Are you still going to be difficult? Know your place!”

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, opened a livestream app, and pointed the camera at me.

“Good evening, everyone! My girlfriend hasn’t been feeling well lately and insists that she can’t breathe.

“But our kind Sophie’s here to help with some… candle-blowing therapy. If you enjoy this, like this video, and subscribe to Sophie’s channel!”

Hundreds of curious viewers flooded into the livestream, and the comments rolled across the screen.

[Wow, the streamer is wild!]

[Blowing candles as treatment? That’s a first. Sounds interesting!]

[That girl looks so pale. Is she really sick?]

[You’re naive. This is scripted. Look at her eyes! She acts pretty well.]

I shook my head desperately. My throat rasped as I tried to pull away.

But Justin held the back of my neck and forced my face closer to the flames.

Heat scorched my skin and singed strands of my hair. The smell of burning filled the air.

On the edge of suffocation, I touched the watch on my wrist.

It was the custom-made watch Alex had given me. Pressing the side button three times would trigger the highest-level emergency alert and send my location with a live recording.

I gathered every bit of my strength and pressed it.

One press.

Two presses.

Then, a third.

I looked at the face I once loved deeply through the flickering flames.

“Justin… I’m breaking up with you.”

Me breaking up with him did not make Justin pause for even a second. Instead, he treated it as a joke in his livestream.

“Hahaha! Did everyone hear that? She’s threatening to break up with me!

“My god! She’s acting like she’s the lead in some romance drama!”

The comment section exploded.

[This is hilarious! Is she the tragic heroine from some melodrama?]

[A breakup? Blow out the candles first!]

[Hold her down! Don’t let her run! I want to see the ending!]

The comments seemed to fuel him even further. He grabbed my hair and yanked me closer to the cake.

“Blow them out! Sally, blow them out right now!

“We have the highest number of viewers we’ve ever had. Blow out these candles first, keep our viewers happy, and then we can talk about breaking up!”

Just then, Sophie walked over with a laugh.

“Alright, Justin. Don’t force her. If she doesn’t like it, we’ll stop…

“Let’s cut the cake first.”

She walked around me, but she suddenly stumbled on something and let out a dramatic scream.

“Ahh!!!”

She fell directly onto me.

I lost my balance and toppled forward. I could not react in time, and my face slammed into the fluffy cream cake.

Sizzle…

A burning pain flared across my forehead. A lit candle was pressed against my skin.

Even worse, the thick cream blocked my nose and mouth and sealed off what little air I had left.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Sally! It was an accident!”

Sophie scrambled up from the floor with tears streaming down her face as if she was terrified.

“I only wanted to help you. Please don’t be mad at me!”

Justin, on the other hand, pushed the phone closer to my face and shouted excitedly at the stream.

“Wow! Guys, this is unexpected! An epic plot twist!

“Look at how real my girlfriend’s expression is! The pain… the struggle… This is peak entertainment!

“Exclusive clown makeup! Come on, everyone! Send some donations. Let’s get those donations going!”

I was on the floor, choking on cake and cream. The suffocating pain in my lungs, mixed with the blockage in my nose and mouth, made me sputter.

My vision went dark. My consciousness wavered.

Justin reached out, scraped a large handful of cream from my face, and smeared it on my hospital gown with a laugh.

“Look! With this outfit and this makeup, doesn’t she look like she’s indeed been through something? Incredible.

“Come on! To thank our top supporter for the biggest donation, let me show you all her signature ‘cream pull’ trick!”

He scraped my face again, and a long string of cream stretched out. He snickered triumphantly.

Just when Justin’s livestream reached an unprecedented peak of popularity…

Bang!

The private room door crashed open with overwhelming force.

The heavy, solid wood door fell to the floor and scattered dust as screams filled the room.

Against the backlight, a man strode in with two tall bodyguards in black behind him.

He scanned the chaotic scene before him, and his gaze finally landed on me. His gaze, usually gentle, was dark with malice.

“Who removed my sister’s ventilator?”