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."

and turned to mingle with the

heavy weight finally lifted from

brighter, her exhaustion replaced by a surge

and made her way over to examine one of the

ahead, a wave of commotion

looked over and saw Jarrod and Sylvie arriving, accompanied

alone sent a ripple through the room-people were abuzz, hoping for a chance to

side. She looked away, deciding not to pay

turned her focus fully to the ingenious design of the drone in front of

spotted Elodie too. When they saw that Jarrod

Elodie,

score an

must have gone to ridiculous lengths just

in the clever engineering before her. By the time she looked up, Maurice and Joseph were already standing in front of her, Jarrod and Sylvie

poking around here? Do you have any idea how expensive these things are? If you break one, do you really think

bumpkin pretending to be some kind

smirk that

the billiards

Elodie could actually understand

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

would mean anything?" Maurice sighed theatrically. "Sylvie is the real deal a PhD from Pinecrest Institute

just to catch Jarrod's attention?

Jarrod and Sylvie arrived and caught the tail end of Maurice's words. Sylvie was calm, not giving away