Chapter 2

I walked out of the law firm, and a fiery red sports car brazenly screeched to a halt in front of me.

The window rolled down, revealing Chloe’s face, etched with a victor’s smile.

"Get in."

She said in a sweet voice from the driver's seat, her boastful intent undisguised.

Liam didn't even look at me, he just commanded:

"Get in. Don't make me say it twice."

I got in. Every inch of air in that cramped space suffocated me.

The car started, speeding along the riverside highway.

Suddenly, a ball rolled into the middle of the road, followed immediately by a toddler.

Chloe panicked, yanking the steering wheel wildly, mistaking the accelerator for the brake and stomping on it.

The sports car shot straight for the guardrail along the river.

In the split second before impact, I clearly saw Liam lunge forward.

He shielded Chloe with his own body.

From beginning to end, he didn't spare me a single glance.

"Crash—"

A deafening impact, then the chilling cold and darkness of plunging into the water.

Icy river water surged in through the shattered window, frantically flooding my mouth and nose.

My heart, in that moment, turned utterly cold.

Before I completely lost consciousness, the last thing I saw was Liam smashing open the car window.

He carried the already unconscious Chloe, swimming strenuously towards the surface, his back to me.

I woke up in a hospital, to the sound of a man's voice, thick with suppressed fury.

"Why isn't she awake yet?!"

It was Liam.

My heart gave an uncontrollable tremor.

I heard the doctor holding my medical chart, trying to explain:

"Mr. Hayes, Mrs. Hayes's unconsciousness might not just be due to drowning. Her physical condition..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by an anxious nurse's voice.

"Mr. Hayes! Ms. Miller is awake and crying, looking for you everywhere!"

The hospital room door was pushed open, and Liam's tall figure appeared in the doorway.

Our eyes met, mine having just fluttered open.

The anxiety and suppressed anger that had been etched on his face because I hadn't woken up quickly vanished the moment he saw I was conscious.

He turned without hesitation towards Chloe's room, not sparing me another glance.

I slowly closed my eyes, a faint, bitter smile escaping my lips.

It's better this way, that he doesn't know about my illness.

Otherwise, he'd probably just scoff at it as karma, then complain I was dying too slowly and disgusting him.

I discharged myself.

Returning to the empty villa, my heart was as still as stagnant water.

I began to calmly arrange my final affairs.

First, I went to the old photo studio on the corner that had been there for decades and took a portrait for my funeral.

In the photo, I wore a clean white shirt, a calm smile on my face.

But my eyes held an unyielding stillness, a deadness.

I went to choose the simplest white ceramic urn for myself.

Holding that small urn, imagining myself curled up inside it in the end, I felt an immense sense of peace.

Finally, I took a cab to the cemetery.

In front of Lily's tombstone, I laid down the white roses I carried.

"Lily, I'm so sorry."

"I'll be joining you soon."

I whispered my illness and my impending death.

"Rose."

I stiffly turned my head. Liam was standing not far away, also holding a bouquet of white roses.

And by his side, intimately linked to his arm, was Chloe.