Forced Beautification

When James Chapman and I first got together, I was a regular student while he was one of the most popular guys in school.

Five years down the road, I'm still a regular woman. James' attitude toward me has changed drastically, though. He frequently complains about my appearance. I know it's because his true love is back in the country. He misses our fifth anniversary because of her.

His true love makes fun of me for being ugly to his face, so he orders me to get cosmetic surgery at her newly opened clinic. He wants me to use my fanbase to make her business boom.

"You're so ugly that you'd be the perfect person to prove Barbara's skills… if she can actually make you look better, that is. We're all friends, aren't we? What's wrong with lending her a hand? Stop being so petty!"

Barbara Simpson kills me—I die on the operating table in her inhumane clinic.

James thinks I go missing because I'm just throwing a tantrum, but he realizes he's wrong when he finds my mangled body in the basement. The diamond ring he put on my finger is still there, too.

A sharp buzzing came from the machine on the side of my bed, signaling that the person on the bed had lost all vital signs.

I floated in the air and watched the medical personnel bustle around my bed in a panic.

This was the first time that the young nurse had encountered this situation. She didn't know that I was already dead, as she thought that I had just fallen unconscious due to the toxicity of the drugs, so she ran to the office in a panic.

James Chapman and Barbara Simpson were entwined together in the office, their clothes disheveled. Both of them look displeased at being interrupted.

"Sir," the nurse started awkwardly. "Ms. Jiles is in a bad way."

James straightened his collar and said impatiently, "Tell her to drop the act. It's just a simple cosmetic procedure. What can happen to her? I should've given her more anesthetic. She's always causing trouble for me."

He thought that I was just pretending to be sick in order to get his sympathy, but I was really dead. I died just a floor above his office, on a hospital bed.

His childhood friend, Barbara, feigned concern and anxiously asked the nurse, "Did something happen to her? Is it serious?"

Though she sounded concerned, the intense look she gave the nurse spoke differently. She looked like she would fire the nurse if she said the wrong thing.

James, however, was hoodwinked by her act. He looked at her fondly and patted her on the head. "You're too kind, Barbara. Anne's a cunning woman. She just wants me to see her. Only someone as stupid as you would believe such a crude lie."

Even though he called her stupid, the look in his eyes was affectionate and teasing.

Barbara blushed. "Really?" she said slowly. "I see, she's just lying. I thought something really happened to her. That's so bad. I was worried about her."

James stroked her hair fondly.

Their sweet interaction disgusted me. However, I was stuck here, unable to leave.

James decided to take revenge on me for making his beloved upset. Gritting his teeth in anger, he said, "You have more anesthetic, right? Give her more. I want to see how she's going to deceive people if she can't talk."

The nurse was an intern, so she had proper medical training. She knew the effects of the anesthetic overdose. "If we use too much, she might die, sir," she said carefully.

James did not care. "If she's active enough to lie, a little bit more of anesthesia won't kill her. I'm even worried that it might not be enough to shut her up."

The nurse hesitated. James was not happy with her disobedience.

In fact, any mention of my name was enough to make him angry. "You're just an employee. You have no right to question me. I'm only talking to you for Barbie's sake."

The nurse was tactful enough to know that there was no sense in offending her boss for a stranger, so she turned to leave without further comment.

"Tell her that I won't go see her until she decides to stop antagonizing Barbie," James said. "Tell her she has to apologize to Barbie. If she's good, I'll go see her."

With her head lowered, the nurse went back to the operating theatre and relayed James' orders.

They gave me another shot of anesthetic, though I was already dead.

The surgery continued.

A while later, Barbara came to the theater under the pretense of getting some fresh air. She folded her arms and looked at me disdainfully. "Is she dead?"

The lead surgeon wiped his brow. "No. She's under anesthesia and unconscious."

Barbara laughed lightly. "I know she's dead. It's alright. You're all interns. You've done your best."

I was shocked.

The surgery I was undergoing was a major, invasive surgery, yet Barbara sent interns to work on me.

She killed me on purpose.

The woman that James thought was innocent and naïve was actually evil.

Barbara left after that.

James was a paranoid man, so she had to go back to him quickly.

After she left, the doctors looked at each other, unsure what to do next.

At that point, my face was cut open. My blood covered the entire bed, dying the sheets crimson.

The interns gritted their teeth. "It's our fault. Let's sew her up."

A kind-hearted doctor couldn't take it anymore. He rushed over to James and told him, "Sir, Ms. Jiles is dead."