Love My Friends with Benefits

She was right. I had nothing to say.

I was the one who'd acted impulsively, throwing myself at her the moment I heard her say that she wanted to harm Grandma.

I was also the one who'd wanted to kill her with the slightest provocation. I didn't even bother to find out what she'd done.

It all boiled down to me being in the wrong.

I'd lost this round.

Phoebe wiped away the blood on her face and let me go. She circled me cockily.

"With your brains, did you think that you could go against me and my mother, Queena? Dream on!"

She gave me two more slaps.

I could feel dampness at the corner of my lips. I knew that she'd busted my lip.

I wiped the blood away and said calmly, "Phoebe, you'd be better off just killing me today."

She clucked her tongue, then said haughtily, "Wow, you still have the nerve to threaten me in your state?"

"If you don't, you're going to regret it." I glared at her and said firmly.

...

From this day onwards, I'd resort to any means to get revenge.

I knew that it was unwise to challenge her at this juncture, but I just had to get it out.

Maybe Phoebe was frightened by the ferocity in my tone. She subconsciously bowed her head and shrunk into herself, looking more like the obedient act that she put on every day. After a moment, she came to her senses and flew into a rage.

"How dare you threaten me when you're on the brink of death?" she mumbled to herself.

Her eyes scanned the corridor.

Her gaze landed on the basin. She ran over to it, picked it up, and walked away.

There was no way I'd stay here, now that she was gone. It was obvious that she was up to something.

I gritted my teeth and tried to get up while my head pounded.

Unfortunately, Phoebe came back faster than I'd expected.

Holding a basin full of water, she looked at me with relish.

The basin was so heavy that she could barely hold it up. She snorted and swung the basin at me.

The water splashed all over me.

I couldn't even open my eyes because of the water and fell back onto the floor.

Phoebe laughed hysterically at my dishevelled state. "Don't worry, Queena. You will have a fun time, now that you've truly offended me!"

She was laughing so loudly that she didn't hear Aunt Nancy's voice ring out from a distance.

"Queena? Queena, where are you?"

I really wanted to tell her that I was here.

However, I didn't have the strength to speak. The moment I opened my mouth, the corner of my lip hurt like hell. I could only remain sprawled on the floor. "Queena..."

Aunt Nancy rounded the corner and saw me. She shrieked, "Queena, what happened to you?"

Phoebe didn't expect someone to come across us. Her expression morphed into her usual pitiful one. "Aunt Nancy, I..."

"You're not my niece!"

Aunt Nancy immediately guessed what had happened the moment she saw us. She shoved Phoebe away, making her fall to the floor, then started kicking and punching her. Phoebe wanted to stand up, but the floor was too slippery because of the water.

This time, Leonard would not be back to save her.

I supposed that this was karma. What goes around truly does come back around.

However, Aunt Nancy didn't really want to injure Phoebe. After a few kicks, she glared at Phoebe with a mixture of disgust, anger, and hatred.

"Queena's your sister! How could you do something like this to her, Phoebe? Like mother, like daughter. You're as shameless as Gail is!"

After that, Aunt Nancy helped me up. "Queena, are you okay?"

I wasn't, of course.

The corner of my lip hurt so badly that it felt like my mouth was being ripped apart. I also had a splitting headache.

However, Grandma was already sick. How could I say that I wasn't feeling well at a time like this?

Without hesitation, I lied. "I'm fine."

"That's good."

Aunt Nancy didn't suspect a thing. She held onto me as we walked away.

Phoebe was left on her own. I turned back and saw her sprawled on the floor, a murderous look in her eyes.

Back at the ward, Grandma happened to wake up at this moment. When she saw me, she sat up in surprise. "Queena, what happened to you?"

Aunt Nancy helped me onto a chair and tried to answer.

I beat her to the punch and said, "I accidentally fell down."

I didn't want Grandma to worry about me.

Grandma didn't have the best eyesight and she couldn't see the injuries on my face clearly. She thought I was telling the truth and said reproachfully, "Really, how could you be so careless?" I grimaced bitterly.

At this moment, a nurse came in with a trolley. When she saw me, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. "Aren't you the patient's granddaughter? How'd you get beaten up so badly?" Aunt Nancy kept shooting looks at the nurse, but she didn't manage to stop her.

Grandma was taken aback. She asked, "Excuse me, she got beaten up?"

"Well, yeah." The nurse was confused. She pulled Grandma's sleeve up to give her an injection. "What else could it be? You can still see the handprints on her face."

We were lost for words.

After the injection, the nurse turned to leave. Grandma grabbed her and said, "Can you please attend to my granddaughter's wounds?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess."

The nurse nodded and took some alcoholic swabs from the trolley. She took one with a pair of tweezers and dabbed at my wounds while muttering, "This isn't included in the hospitalisation fee, mind you. It's an additional cost..."

"Ok. Let's just disinfect her wounds first."

Aunt Nancy nodded and hurriedly gave her some cash from her pocket.

When the alcohol came into contact with my wounds, it hurt like hell. My hands twisted in the bedsheets. When the nurse saw this, she continued muttering, "These sheets aren't in the best condition. You'll have to pay if you tear them."

I could only let go.

After the nurse left, Grandma waved me over and asked, "Who did it?"

I pursed my lips. "Nobody. I just ran into someone holding a grudge against me."

Grandma didn't believe me. "Don't lie to me."

"It's true," I said emphatically.

If Grandma were to find out that Phoebe was the one who'd done this to me, she'd probably pass out from the anger.

"You should be more careful in future."

Judging from the look on Grandma's face, she still didn't believe me. However, she didn't want to press the matter since I was so insistent. She could only tell me things that I'd already heard countless times. "You're a girl, and you're on your own out there. You should always treat others with kindness and try not to make any enemies."

I smiled bitterly.

There was no way Phoebe and I could bury the hatchet. Things were doomed to be irreconcilable from the moment Gail had caused my mother to take her own life.

Grandma wasn't in the best of spirits. She fell asleep after nagging at me for a while.

Aunt Nancy bought me a mask from a doctor and sent me out.

I was very grateful to her. After all, I didn't want to frighten anyone with the way that I looked currently.☐☐