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."

huff and turned to mingle

heavy weight finally lifted

the world seemed brighter, her exhaustion replaced by a

her way over to

of commotion

saw Jarrod and Sylvie arriving,

a ripple through the room-people were abuzz,

noticed the way Jarrod protectively kept Sylvie close to his side. She

the ingenious design of the drone

saw that Jarrod didn't so much as glance her way, both

woman, Elodie,

score an invitation to this

have gone to ridiculous lengths just to be seen

meanwhile, was lost in the clever engineering before her. By the time she looked up, Maurice and Joseph were already standing

to do laundry and cook what are you doing poking around here? Do you have any idea how expensive these things are? If you

A country bumpkin pretending to be

smirk that

last time at the billiards

way Elodie could actually

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

theatrically. "Sylvie

about drones, just

caught the tail end