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 a tight line. "Where's

gaze, hesitated a moment before handing it over. "Sorry. It was urgent. I went

He hadn't noticed anything unusual in the report. Only then did she finally breathe out, just a

found out about her condition, Jarrod would

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

much were

in her tone. He pressed his lips together. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing. You

just a fever. Nothing serious," Elodie

when you were unconscious, you kept

her sleep, whispering softly as if shielding herself from

she endured to end

didn't explain. She simply said, "Thanks for today. Still, send

message—she wanted no

you're feeling better, let me take you home. It's late,"

shook her head. "That's not necessary. I'll call

line between them. Joseph pressed his lips together, an unexpected sting of defeat in his