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?"

and she pressed her lips into

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

of the ordinary. He hadn't noticed anything unusual in the report. Only then did she finally

it. If Joseph found out about her condition, Jarrod would know soon enough, and then everything would spiral

dignity. He might even go to her family, use her illness as an excuse to

were the medical bills? I'll

pressed his lips together. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing. You still look pale, though. The test results

Nothing serious," Elodie replied, her voice cool

were unconscious, you kept

in her sleep, whispering softly as

pain had she endured

Still, send me the total cost

understood the message—she

let me take you

head. "That's not necessary. I'll call a

drew a clear line between them. Joseph pressed his lips together, an unexpected sting of