Chapter 2

Aaron returned at 6:00 am the next day, but he didn't return alone. Another young woman trailed behind him in a white trench coat, a suitcase at her side that hadn't been checked in.

She was Nancy Greene, Aaron's lab partner back in college—and also the person whom he could never work up the courage to confess to.

Nancy placed a container of warm chicken soup on the bedside table, her eyes looking a little swollen.

"I'd already hopped onto the shuttle bus, but Aaron insisted that I get off," she said. "I heard about what happened to your parents… and I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry, Carmen."

I glanced at Aaron. He held on to Nancy's suitcase, his shoulders still damp with morning dew, and yet an irrepressible sense of relief showed in his eyes.

So, convincing Nancy to stay really made him that happy.

"It's got nothing to do with you," I said, taking the soup container from the table. "Since you're back, you don't have to go through the trouble of leaving again. Don't you guys still have that National College Student Entrepreneurship Competition to prepare for?"

The relaxed look on Aaron's face faded very slightly.

"Don't say things you don't mean, Carmen. "

"I don't have time to beat around the bush with you."

Nancy hurriedly smiled and tried to smooth things over.

"I'm just deferring my exchange program. I won't necessarily stay here forever. Please don't argue with him over me," she said.

I took a bite of the soup. "There's nothing for us to argue about anyway."

Since Nancy's laptop was still locked in her checked luggage, she asked if she could borrow mine to handle the deferral of her exchange program. But before I could even speak, Aaron had already picked mine up from the table and handed it to her.

"I'll just use it for a short while. I'll return it to you a while later."

I didn't fight back.

At about 9:00 am that day, I got a call from the funeral home asking me to go and pick out an urn. Aaron had only just offered to keep me company when Nancy's phone rang about the same time.

As it turned out, their project system had crashed, and since their investor would only be around for two hours, they would most likely lose their eligibility for the competition if they missed this window to meet up with him.

Aaron stood by the hospital bed, clearly hesitating.

"Can we pick out the urn later in the afternoon instead?"

I paused for a moment.

"Sure," I said. "It's not like the dead are in a rush anyway."

Aaron's face turned pale. "I didn't mean it that way, Carmen."

"I know."

I steadied myself on the edge of the bedframe and settled into my wheelchair. Then, I said, "Go ahead and do whatever you need to do if you're busy."

…

The funeral home was cold.

One of the staff members wheeled over a rack of sample catalogues and asked what colors Mom and Dad liked, whether they had any special requests or beliefs, and whether I wanted anything engraved on the bottom of the urn.

I answered every question. When I was finally done selecting the urn, the staff glanced at the empty space behind me and asked, "Didn't your husband come with you?"

"I don't have a husband."

"What about a boyfriend?"

I lowered my head to double-check the spelling of Mom's and Dad's names.

"I don't have one either."

When I finally returned to the hospital that evening, Aaron was already waiting for me inside my ward. A container of my favorite stew sat on the table, but it had long since cooled.

Aaron's face darkened when he saw I was only accompanied by a nurse.

"Why didn't you ask me to come along with you to the funeral home?"

"You were busy."

"I could have made time for you even if I was busy."

I looked at him.

"But you didn't."

He was speechless for a moment. His gaze quickly shifted to the packed suitcase next to my hospital bed. Resting right on top was the acceptance letter for the Wingdor restoration project.

"Are you really going for that?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"With your leg in that condition? You're still going to the desert for restoration work like this?" Have you lost your mind, Carmen Mosley?"

"The doctor said that I'll be able to walk in a month," I replied. "I'll just travel with the team and organize their data and paperwork first. My leg won't get in the way."

Aaron ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He asked, "Are you punishing yourself like this just because I went to the airport yesterday?"

I smiled at him.

"You're not that important to me, Aaron."

That line seemed to have stung him. He fell silent for a long time before picking up the information sheet at the foot of my hospital bed. Then, his expression turned grim the moment he saw the entry for the emergency contact.

"You removed my name?"

"You're not my next of kin."

"Then who is?"

"Nobody."

His phone rang just then. It was Nancy, probably to ask him if the program had been fixed on his end.

Usually, he wouldn't even hesitate for a second to answer a call like that. But this time, he stared at me for a long time before finally tapping on the answer button.