How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

When Elodie woke up, she felt weak and lightheaded, her limbs heavy as lead. As she stirred, Freya's voice rang out in relief, "You're awake! Are you feeling okay? Anywhere still hurt?"

Elodie turned her head. "Why are you here...?"

Freya helped her sit up, fussing over her. "My brother and I brought you to the hospital. He's gone to print your test results. We were worried something was wrong, so we had them run every check-"

"What floor is he on?" Elodie's face changed. She threw off the covers and got out of bed.

Freya blinked in surprise. "He's right on this floor."

Ignoring the lingering ache in her body, Elodie hurried out.

She made straight for the self-service printer in the hallway. Sure enough, Joseph was there, waiting as the machine spat out paper.

Elodie rushed over and yanked the report out before he could react, clutching it tightly.

"You're awake?" Joseph looked both surprised and concerned. "What are you doing out of bed?"

still racing, and she pressed her lips into a

her gaze, hesitated a moment before handing it over. "Sorry. It

noticed anything unusual in the report. Only then did she finally breathe out, just

found out about her condition, Jarrod would know soon

Jarrod learned the truth, he'd never let her keep her dignity. He might even go to her family, use her illness as an excuse to break things off, and she couldn't bear for things to

Elodie wasn't ungrateful. "How much were the medical bills? I'll

lips together. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing. You still look pale,

Elodie

you were unconscious, you kept crying

remembered how frail she looked, curled up even in her sleep,

pain had she endured

"Thanks for today. Still, send me the total cost later, please. I want to settle

understood the message—she

let me take you

"That's not necessary. I'll

pressed his lips