How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

"Sorry..." Elodie felt her eyes sting with unexpected tears.

Alexander's irritation was palpable, but he couldn't stand to see Elodie like this. "What are you apologizing for? If anyone deserves an apology, it's the land itself for you monopolizing the wild vegetable patch for three years. Go say sorry to Mother Earth, not me."

Elodie couldn't help but feel a mixture of laughter and tears.

Honestly, Alexander had known she'd come.

Esmeralda, with her loose lips, had already spilled everything to him.

"You're not late," Alexander said, letting out a long sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. "As long as you've figured things out, it's never too late to start over. With your talent, what company wouldn't want you? VistaLink Technologies only truly shines because you're part of it."

Elodie's abilities had once earned her a special recruitment straight into the research institute.

She should never have been left to wither in obscurity.

For years, everyone had admired the jaw-dropping U.N2 drone, crediting the invention to him. People lined up at VistaLink's doors, desperate to get in because of the U.N2. But in truth, it was Elodie who had reached those heights at just twenty years old—a benchmark nobody has surpassed even now.

She'd given others years to catch up, but no one had managed to outpace her groundbreaking ideas and tech from back then.

"You're really okay with me joining VistaLink?" Elodie could barely express what she was feeling.

Alexander snorted. "Esmeralda already agreed, all on her own, to bring you on as a partner with your tech. I'm just curious to see what kind of leap forward you'll bring to VistaLink. Be there Monday morning!"

He was always tough on the outside, but Elodie knew his heart was soft.

She broke into a genuine smile, maybe the first real one she'd had in ages. "Thank you, Alex."

gave a gruff huff and turned to mingle

finally lifted from

world seemed brighter, her exhaustion

way over to examine one

of commotion swept

looked over and saw Jarrod and Sylvie arriving, accompanied by Maurice

through the room-people were abuzz, hoping

his side. She looked away, deciding

fully to the ingenious design of the drone in front

had spotted Elodie too. When they saw that Jarrod didn't so much as glance her way, both men

woman, Elodie, was

she managed to score an invitation

ridiculous lengths

Maurice and Joseph

do laundry and cook what are you doing poking around here? Do you have any idea how expensive these things are? If you break one, do you really think you could pay for it with your little

to

gave Elodie a smirk that

if last time at the billiards club was a misunderstanding, what

way Elodie could

wanted to pretend, couldn't she at least pick something

"Sylvie is the

about drones, just to catch

tail end of Maurice's words. Sylvie was calm,