Chapter 2

I didn't want to humiliate myself, so I kept my phone turned off.

For the next two days, Hailey kept me company, chatting about random things.

When her eyes landed on the silver bracelet on my wrist, she lowered her voice.

"Is that for good luck?"

I nodded, a soft, instinctive smile touching my lips. "Ethan got it for me at a little chapel gift shop a while back."

"Why do you ask?"

Hailey shook her head. "Just curious. The caregiver I took over for—Jessica—had the exact same one on her wrist, so I wondered."

The smile died on my face.

A memory flashed in my mind. When Ethan had fastened the silver bracelet around my wrist, he had held a second one in his palm.

I had smiled and reached for it. "Let me put yours on for you."

Ethan had flinched and pulled his hand back.

Catching his own reaction, he had quickly offered an excuse: "The engraver said each bracelet had to be put on by the person who bought it, or the inscription wouldn't mean anything."

And I had believed him.

Even though I had never once seen him wear it, it had never crossed my mind that the second bracelet had been meant for Jessica all along.

A wave of sharp disgust churned in my stomach. I yanked the silver bracelet off and threw it straight into the trash can.

If it wasn't bought for me, I didn't want it.

Hailey stared at me in shock. "What's wrong? Did I say something bad?"

I didn't tell her the truth.

"No. It just feels pointless for someone who's dying to wear something like this."

Hailey frowned, waving her hands. "Don't say that! You're going to get better."

Knowing my own deadline, I just offered a quiet smile and let it drop.

Hailey began setting out dinner on the tray table.

Seeing the side of steamed cauliflower, I spoke up. "I don't like cauliflower."

Panicking, Hailey pulled out her phone to double-check the list.

"Wait, I didn't mess up! Look, Ethan specifically wrote that this was your absolute favorite and told me to make sure you got extra."

Before I could say anything, a notification popped up on her screen from a contact saved as "Cauliflower Queen."

I recognized the profile picture instantly. It was Jessica's.

The pieces fell into place.

Ethan hadn't misremembered. Someone did love cauliflower.

It just wasn't me.

A suffocating bitterness rose in my throat. "It's fine. You can have it."

Hailey cleared the dish and started tidying up the room.

Spotting a notebook tucked into the corner of the nightstand, she handed it to me.

"This must be Ethan's. Where should I put it?"

I had never seen this journal before.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I opened the cover.

Chloe was diagnosed with stomach cancer. How could this happen to her?

She looks like she's in so much pain. My heart aches for her.

I will stay by her side no matter what. Always.

I kept flipping through the pages until I hit six months ago, where a second name suddenly invaded the private pages meant for me—Jessica.

Her smile is so radiant.

She spent the entire day taking care of Chloe. She must be exhausted.

Something is wrong with me. How could I have feelings for Jessica?

Chloe threw up blood on me again today. It was so disgusting.

Sometimes I just want to walk away from everything. I'm so damn tired.

...

Why was it Chloe who handed me that sandwich and saved my life years ago? Why couldn't it have been Jessica?

Tears spilled over my lashes, splashing onto the open pages.

So, Ethan had grown sick of this life a long time ago.

I was nothing more than a suffocating burden to him.

My phone rang. The screen flashed with Ethan's name.

I forced my breathing steady and swiped to answer.

"How are you feeling today?" he asked.

It was the same question he had asked me every single day for the past year. But this was the first time I didn't answer it.

Instead, I said flatly, "Remember to remind Jessica about her pelvic follow-up."

Ethan's voice instantly dropped to freezing point.

"Did you background-check her?!"

I let out a hollow laugh. "The clinic couldn't reach either of you. The nurse asked me to pass along the message."

A heavy silence stretched across the line before Ethan finally mumbled, "I'm sorry, Chloe. I misunderstood."

"It's fine," I murmured. Silence swallowed the call again.

I never imagined there would come a day when Ethan and I would have nothing left to say to each other.

Two conflicting voices tore at my mind.

Emotionally, I wanted to see him one last time.

Rationally, I didn't want him to watch me die.

After a long pause, I finally broke the silence.

"Ethan, can you come back early?"

"I don't think I'll make it through these ten days."