‘If not for that, I wouldn’t have ended up with liver cancer.
Wouldn’t have ignored my symptoms.
Wouldn’t have let it drag on until it was too late.
Lucas took the cigarette pack and lighter from his pocket and tossed them into the trash.
“Alright. I’ll quit.”
He hesitated, then asked, “Does Josh know?”
I said, “He doesn’t deserve to.”
His brows furrowed. “What about your mom and Nick?”
I pressed my lips together. My nose tingled with the sting of unshed tears.
“They stopped being my family a long time ago. 11
I exhaled, pushing the thought away. “Didn’t you say Toben has the best shrimp? I want to try some.‘
So, Lucas took me to eat the freshest shrimp.
We watched the vast blue sky stretch over the crystal–green lake.
11
1/3
Chapter 9
He took me on a boat to a small island at the center.
There were birds everywhere–maybe not as many as in some other famous lakes, but they were beautiful.
I wore my favorite light blue dress.
He took pictures of me, and I made him take more until I found the perfect one.
I handed it to him.
“Lucas, I have a favor to ask.”
“When I die, can you use this as my memorial photo?”
His eyes reddened.
Suddenly, a sharp pain tore through my abdomen. Sweat beaded across my
forehead.
+15 Bonus
Lucas panicked. Without hesitation, he lifted me into his arms and rushed me back to the boat.
He thought the boatman was too slow..
Cursed his ancestors eighteen generations back.
He was ridiculous–so angry, so frantic–that I wanted to laugh, but the pain made it impossible.
He wanted to take me to the hospital, but I refused.
He sulked the entire way back, pretending he didn’t care.
But the moment we stepped off the boat, he crouched in front of me and carefully carried me on his back, running toward the
guesthouse.
In that moment, I thought of Nick, ten years ago, carrying me through the rain.
Who would’ve thought that a decade later, it would be someone else’s back I’d be clinging to?
Lucas laid me down on the bed.
I curled up from the pain.
He returned quickly, water and medicine in hand, kneeling beside me to feed me the pills.
The pain dulled, just a little.
I lay there, exhausted, watching his panicked expression.
“I’m sorry, Lucas,” I whispered. “I’m about to die, yet I still came to bother you. If I get in the way of your guesthouse’s business, you have to tell me. I can die somewhere else.”
Suddenly, he lunged forward, burying his face against my shoulder, holding me so tight I could hardly breathe.
2/2
Chapter 9
“Grace, let me take you to the hospital, okay? I waited seven years for you to
The dam inside me finally broke.
+15 Bonus
Come back to me.”
Tears spilled onto his shoulder.
“Lucas, I’m sorry. I don’t want chemotherapy. I don’t want to lose my hair. I don’t want to smell antiseptic every day. I want to
leave this world looking beautiful. With dignity.”
He didn’t force me after that.
Every day, when I felt strong enough, he would take me for a walk along the lake.
On the seventh day of my disappearance, my mother finally remembered I existed.
