How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

When Elodie accepted his friend request, Joseph was genuinely surprised. He couldn't even explain to himself why he'd added her in the first place, or what he was supposed to say now that she'd accepted.

It all felt a bit awkward.

In the end, he didn't say anything.

Instead, he tapped into Elodie's social feed and started scrolling.

She didn't post often, and it looked like her privacy settings were wide open. The latest update was from about two weeks ago—a photo of a hospital building.

The caption read: "Here alone, fingers crossed for good news..."

Joseph couldn't help picturing Elodie's calm, detached expression.

Clearly, she'd gone to the doctor by herself.

As he scrolled further, most of her posts were snapshots of daily life-little things that showed how much she loved living. Pictures of desserts she'd made, home- cooked meals, fresh bouquets she'd bought, and her place looking neat and inviting.

It was all so warm and full of intention.

Joseph lingered for a while, thinking that, really, Jarrod ought to be pretty happy.

His thumb paused on a mirror selfie Elodie had posted. He hesitated, then decided not to open it in full.

"Joseph? What are you looking at?" Maurice's voice broke his reverie. They'd all been out to dinner for a while now, but Joseph had barely said a word and kept staring at his phone.

Jarrod glanced over, his tone unreadable. "Something on your mind?"

He, too, had noticed Joseph seemed distracted all night.

Joseph met Jarrod's eyes, feeling a sudden, inexplicable irritation. "No."

Sylvie walked over and glanced at Joseph's phone. "You seem out of it. Are you feeling all right?"

He quickly locked the screen. "I'm fine."

smiled gently. "Glad to

a woman's photo on his

A woman?

gave Joseph a second,

night at Silverstein Mansion. He'd left some important

study there, and the next morning,

was just heading

into his car, still in her

her, eyebrow raised.

school, obviously.

miss her, thought I'd

Sylvie

Sylvie to say she'd be downstairs soon, she suddenly asked, "Has

her. "What do

but

Elodie didn't compare to

the aviation field, and Octavia wanted to

at running a home-her cooking and desserts were always

useless,

stopped dropping off little treats for her on

them, but she wasn't about to act friendly-otherwise, Elodie might

pretty peaceful lately," Octavia said, turning back to

the U.N2 drone. Someday,

out his tablet and started checking the stock market, making it clear he

they met up with Sylvie, Jarrod dropped Octavia off

year, but since she attended an international school, her mornings weren't too early. When she walked into the classroom, she saw Freya was already

stay. Octavia didn't bother to say hello. They were the same age and had been compared to each other all their lives-she

simply took a box of cookies out of her bag and set it on her

behind her, Octavia immediately recognized the packaging. "Where'd you get those?" she blurted

her a look and took