I Listened to Future Me and Paid the Price

That day, Mom brought me some mushroom soup.

I pulled out the donor form I'd found in Dad's bag and immediately asked, "Are you planning to have me donate blood to Kieran?"

Mom's hand froze in the air. She looked at me, then at Dad.

Dad looked guilty as he said, "Evangeline, you faint at the sight of blood. We were only worried about you."

I cut him off, saying, "I want to do it! I may faint at the mere sight of blood, but his life matters more."

In my last life, my refusal had caused Kieran to miss the best window to receive a blood transfusion.

In this life, however, all I needed to do was cooperate, and he would be fine.

Thus, I signed my name on the form without thinking twice.

Mom looked at me with tears in her eyes as she said, "You've matured, Evangeline. You've become so thoughtful."

This time around, Mom and Dad took me to the hospital to donate my blood.

When I woke up after the procedure, I felt sore everywhere.

As soon as I got out of bed, I started coughing nonstop, and I even hacked up several clots of blood.

Knowing that it was blood, I looked away right away. But my head spun from the sudden movement.

Was my immune system always so weak? Why had a simple blood donation affected me this deeply?

Before I figured it out, the door slammed open.

It was Brielle. She charged in and started shouting at me, "You murderer! You killed Kieran!"

"How did he die? He received my blood. He should've been fine!" My mind went blank at that.

I couldn't understand why things still ended the same way they had in my last life. I'd obeyed Mom and Dad and done the blood donation instead of listening to the calls, yet I still could not stop Kieran from dying.

Brielle ignored my confusion. "Stop pretending. You did it on purpose! You have HIV, yet you still let them use your blood on him.

"He received blood with a virus. The complication killed him on the spot! Why would you do this? Is it because he drove your BMW and damaged it? How could you be this cruel?"

"HIV? Me? Impossible!" I thought.

"I did no such thing! I would never hurt Kieran," I tried to explain.

She screamed back, "Liar! How did he die, then?

"Evangeline, you never learn until you hit a wall. I will test it right now," Brielle shouted as she grabbed my blood sample and stormed off to get it checked.

After a while, she came back in a rage and slapped me across the face. "Here is your proof! Let's see how you deny it now!"

I covered my swelling cheek and stared at the test sheet that she'd just thrown at me.

The blood I donated to Kieran had indeed tested positive for HIV.

My eyes went wide in shock.

I lived a clean lifestyle. Every test I ever took was perfect. How could I suddenly have contracted HIV?

Brielle grew even more unhinged in her insults. She kicked and hit me over and over again. "He treated you like a treasure since you were little, yet you did this to him! He won't rest in peace because of you!"

Pain tore through me. Brielle's words echoed in my head.

"Did I really kill Kieran?" I asked myself.

"Enough! Brielle, Kieran is gone now. Stop blaming Evangeline. Go home!"

Brille uttered one last cruel insult my way. "I wouldn't touch you even if I had gloves on! You dirty thing!"

In the end, after my parents begged her to stop, Brielle shot me a hateful glare and finally left to deal with Kieran's funeral.

"I'm sorry, Dad, Mom."

Guilt crushed me like a tidal wave. I felt like the worst person to have ever lived.

"I never wanted to hurt Kieran. I only wanted to save him. I don't know why the test says that I have HIV."

I kept apologizing.

Mom shook her head and pulled me into her arms. "No more of this, Evangeline. Come home for dinner."

Yet again, the phone rang, and my own voice drifted out of the speaker.

"You killed Kieran. They hate your very existence now. If you go home, they will end their lives and take you with them."