This drug was supposed to dramatically increase appetite.
Soon after, my parents collapsed, foaming at the mouth and unconscious from overeating.
Instead of rushing to help, my husband actually stopped a staff member from calling 91
Let them digest a bit longer, he said calmly. Then they won’t find any trace of the drug.
Half an hour later, my parents were literally choked to death by food.
My husband stood by their bodies, comforting his ex-girlfriend with tender words.
“It’s not your fault, honey. They were just too greedy!”
He called me.
“Skylar, your parents died from overeating at a buffet!”
I was about to rush to the scene, but then I heard my parents’ voices from outside the door.
“Skylar, the restaurant was too crowded. We bought groceries to make you a nice meal at home!”
My parents didn’t go to eat. So, who exactly was it that suffocated in that private room?
01
When I arrived at the scene, the paramedics were already examining the deceased inside the private room.
A few regulars huddled in a corner, whispering.
“That owner is something else, isn’t he? Such a big incident, and he’s not even checking on it. He’s just focused on comforting that woman. Anyone who didn’t know would think she was his wife!”
“Right? A staff member tried to call an ambulance earlier, but the owner stopped them. They clearly could have been saved then!”
“Exactly. And the woman next to him just smiled, like she was enjoying the spectacle.”
“Speaking of which, it’s so strange. How could someone overeat themselves to death like that? I heard they ate over twenty pounds of food! Their stomachs were huge, like they were pregnant!”
“Shh, the owner’s wife is here.”
The moment they saw me approaching from afar, they immediately fell silent.
The owner they spoke of was my husband, Brandon Davies.
Their descriptions filled me with a wave of unease.
I personally oversaw the ingredients for this buffet restaurant.
For years, we hadn’t had a single food safety incident, let alone someone dying from overeating, or even getting an upset stomach.
How could someone actually gorge themselves to death?
And with such a serious incident at the restaurant, why wasn’t Brandon, as the owner, handling it first?
On the sofa outside the private room, Tiffany Hayes was huddled in my husband’s arms, sobbing.
“Brandon, what should we do? Skylar won’t blame me, will she?”
My husband gently patted her back.
“Don’t worry, Tiffany. Skylar isn’t unreasonable. Her parents gorged themselves to death; how could she possibly blame you?”
The moment he finished speaking, Brandon saw me standing behind him.
His expression hardened. His hand was still on Tiffany’s back as he snapped at me from across the room.
“Look at your parents! Being cheap is one thing, but to die from overeating at a buffet? It’s utterly humiliating!”
The explanation I had been ready to offer caught in my throat, stunned into silence by his accusation. I paused, then shot back,
“How do you know it’s my parents in there?”
“Well,” Brandon gestured toward the order slip on the table,
“Their name is on the reservation. Besides, who else would pull a stunt like that besides your parents?”
2
I suppressed the anger bubbling inside me and picked up the order slip.
Sure enough, I saw my parents’ names.
It seemed Brandon had known from the start that it was my parents, yet he still sat there comforting Tiffany.
My anger surged to its peak. I looked at the two embracing, demanding,
“If you knew it was my parents, then why are you still sitting here?”
At my words, Tiffany shrank into Brandon’s arms like a terrified fawn, and my husband held her protectively.
“Skylar Miller, stop being ridiculous! Your parents are dead. What good would it do for me to go in there now?”
“Exactly,” Tiffany timidly added,
“Skylar, your parents always loved cutting corners and getting freebies. They insisted on eating so much. Whose fault is it they died from it?”
A storm of anger brewed within me.
Loved cutting corners? Always looking for a handout?
Brandon must have told her that, right?
My parents had always been frugal. Not only did they refuse the living expenses I offered them, but they’d thoughtfully save money and even send some to us.
When Brandon struggled with cash flow, weren’t my parents always there to bail him out with significant support?
He never hesitated to accept their money then, but now he was twisting it, calling my parents “cheap” and “greedy for small benefits”?
And using that to help an outsider attack me?
The paramedics walked by, carrying a stretcher.
The white sheets covered the bodies from head to toe, but the abdominal area was visibly distended.
“Who is the next of kin?” the paramedic asked.
“I am!” Brandon quickly interjected.
“The deceased have been confirmed. Preliminary assessment points to extreme overeating. The exact cause will require a full autopsy…” the paramedic explained.
“No autopsy needed!” Brandon cut him off.
“I’m the son-in-law. She’s the direct relative. We accept this cause of death. There’s no need for further examination.”
The paramedic looked at him, then at me, looking a bit stunned.
It seemed he’d never seen family members of an unnatural death so calm.
“The death certificates?” Brandon pressed.
“We can sign them now!”
“That’s right!” Tiffany, who had been sitting beside him, also stood up.
“Since death is confirmed, let’s just get it over with quickly. No need for such a fuss!”
Their anxious attitude instantly made me suspicious.
Coupled with what the staff members had said, I suddenly suspected that this death was definitely connected to the two of them.
“Wait,” I interrupted their conversation,
“I don’t accept this cause of death. Please proceed with the autopsy as per procedure!”
If they were calling me a “direct relative,” then I would act as one, and seek justice for the deceased.
“Skylar Miller! Don’t be so unreasonable!” Brandon snapped, furious.
“This restaurant is mine! Your parents are dead and gone. Are you trying to cause me even more trouble?!”
I scoffed.
“Brandon Davies, when you run a business, you have to follow the rules. No matter who died, you have an obligation to provide the truth!”
Brandon’s composure fractured for a split second. He glared at me angrily.
“Skylar Miller, what good will come from digging deeper?!”
“Skylar, if word gets out that someone died in your restaurant from overeating, who will want to eat here?” Tiffany interjected, sounding worried.
“Skylar really doesn’t understand how hard Brandon works to run this place!”
I shot back sarcastically,
“If you truly understood how hard he works, you wouldn’t be cowering in his arms when he should be dealing with a crisis.”
That made them awkwardly release each other.
Brandon covered his guilt with anger.
“Skylar Miller, don’t be absurd! Tiffany was scared, shouldn’t I comfort her?”
I found it ridiculous.
“So you think Tiffany being scared is more important than two human lives?”
Brandon’s face darkened.
“Skylar Miller, don’t you know how timid Tiffany is?! How can you be such a cold person?”
3
I sneered and didn’t argue further.
I had heard about this Tiffany, Brandon’s ex; she was known for playing the damsel in distress.
One day she’d complain about this ache, the next about that itch.
Everyone found her a bother, but Brandon, apparently, was oblivious.
She had gone abroad when Brandon and I met.
I never expected her return to show me just how cunning she could be.
Brandon, of course, couldn’t overrule me, the “next of kin,” and so the two bodies were taken for autopsy.
Brandon was furious. He left me behind, accusing me of being “ridiculous and unreasonable, needing time to reflect,” and stormed off, escorting Tiffany away.
The day the autopsy results came out, I was waiting at the hospital early, while Brandon and Tiffany arrived much later, arm-in-arm.
“Family, please come sign the documents,” the doctor said, holding the report.
“What did the examination show?” I asked anxiously.
Whether I could get justice for the deceased depended entirely on this result.
The two beside me also looked serious.
The doctor shook his head, looking a little defeated.
“Although we found it unusual for a normal person to consume this much, the autopsy results show no abnormalities.”
I froze. Was my feeling wrong?
Could a normal person really eat so much?
Inside the morgue, I bowed to the deceased with a feeling of apology.
A sarcastic voice suddenly cut in.
“Skylar Miller, you wasted all that effort for nothing. How does that feel?”
I turned and saw Tiffany. She was wearing a bright red dress, a jarring sight in the stark white morgue.
She noticed my gaze and chuckled.
“Red is so pretty, isn’t it? Brandon loves it when I wear a red dress. Skylar, are you upset about that?”
“How about this?”
She walked to the bodies, pulled back a sheet, and spat on the person underneath.
“Oops, sorry, Skylar! I have a cold! Better to spit on your parents than on the floor, right? They’re dead anyway, they won’t know!”
Even though the deceased had no relation to me, a wave of immense anger washed over me.
I raised my hand, intending to slap her hard.
“Don’t you have any respect for the dead?”
But my hand was caught by a large hand just before it made contact.
It was Brandon, the man I was supposed to call my husband.
He stood beside Tiffany, looking at me disapprovingly.
“Skylar Miller, this was a simple matter, but you had to make a fuss and almost got Tiffany wrongly accused. Just let her blow off some steam!”
“Hahaha,” Tiffany laughed with satisfaction, then taunted,
“They’re dead anyway. What’s there to respect?”
“Besides, why haven’t they told you they died from eating my new drug?”
“What?” I could barely believe my ears.
Amidst my shock, I suddenly noticed a camera rotating in the corner of the room. I scoffed.
“You’re lying. The doctor said they didn’t find anything during the examination.”
“You don’t believe me?” Tiffany suddenly pulled out a small bag of white powder, smiling proudly.
“I snuck this out of the lab. It metabolizes really fast. By the time the doctor did the autopsy, it was long gone!”
“Lab?” I was stunned.
“You actually used an unresearched chemical on people?”
After extraction, a new drug typically requires decades of research and extensive testing to ensure safety before it can be used on humans.
Tiffany was a pharmacology student; she couldn’t possibly be unaware of this.
“That’s right,” Tiffany smiled.
“Not only that, my professor even said this drug has huge side effects and should never be used on humans, even if successfully developed.”
“But I just wanted to experiment, you know? See what happens when a normal person’s stomach bursts.”
Tiffany said it nonchalantly.
“I never thought I’d be so lucky to find your parents.”
Even knowing the drug was unsafe for human use, Tiffany secretly administered it to them.
Two innocent lives were lost because of it, and she spoke about it with such a calm tone.
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