Chapter 4

I was rushed to the airport. At the terminal, we ran into Terrence and Yvonne, who were just about to leave.

My colleague, Susan Quinton, charged forward and grabbed Terrence by the arm. "Hurry! Let Quinn go first. She's in a critical condition. If she doesn't return to Eulasia soon, she'll die!"

Terrence immediately refused.

"That's not possible," he declared firmly. The helicopter can only take two passengers. I need to take Yvonne back now. It's too dangerous here."

"Quinn is dying!" Susan shouted in anger. "She's your wife—doesn't her life matter more than getting Yvonne out of here?"

Upon hearing this, Yvonne immediately tried to look weak and helpless.

"I'll be okay, Terrence. I think Quinn might just be jealous or upset. You should go with her. I'll be fine here on my own," she said timidly.

Initially, Susan's claims had made Terrence hesitant. But after hearing what Yvonne said, his resolve hardened.

"Quinn will be fine. Her condition had already stabilized earlier. Stop trying to help her trick me."

As his words fell, he took Yvonne's hand and moved toward the helicopter.

"Quinn is actually dying," Susan sobbed as she clung to his arm. "Are you really going to abandon her?"

He flung her hand away and shot me a cold glance. In a solemn and heavy voice, he said, "You need to be more mature, Quinn. I'll come back for you once I drop Yvonne off. Stop getting jealous over nothing."

Little did he know, I wasn't jealous. I was actually dying.

I lay on the stretcher and didn't say a word. The pain made it impossible for me to speak. I could feel my body slowly shutting down. On top of that, my consciousness had begun to slip away too.

Terrence removed his goggles and walked over to me. Then, he gently lifted my oxygen mask before leaning in toward my ear.

"Wait for me. I'll be back in six hours," he said softly.

His fingers grazed the decaying corner of my lips. There was a faint scar at the base of his thumb. He had gotten that from a burn he suffered while checking the temperature of my soup.

"When this is over, I'll take you to see the cherry blossoms you had always wanted to see."

I didn't want to see the cherry blossoms, and I didn't want to wait for him either.

I couldn't do anything while Terrence boarded the helicopter with Yvonne. I watched the rotating blades spin before the aircraft rose into the sky. Then, the helicopter eventually disappeared from my view.

I'd never imagined that Terrence could be so cruel. I couldn't believe that he would choose another woman over my life.

With great effort, I fished out my phone and a prenatal test report from my pockets. Handing the items to Susan, I instructed, "Hand the audio recording on my phone to headquarters. Don't let Yvonne take credit for what we did. And this…"

I paused. My breathing was growing more and more labored.

"Give this to Terrence," I continued. "Tell him I'll never forgive him."

Susan froze before she started to tear up. "Hang on, Quinn. We'll find you another aircraft. This is all our fault. I'm sorry we couldn't stop them from leaving—"

"It's too late…" I flashed them a weak smile as I felt my life slip away.

"I'd like to be cremated," I said. "Don't give Terrance my ashes. I don't want to see him ever again."

After my final words, my eyelids gradually fell shut.

My colleagues, who were standing around me, removed their hats and saluted me. The air fell silent as they wordlessly bade me farewell.

…

Far away, Terrence's interdimensional communication device suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.

"The female protagonist has perished. A new female protagonist will now be selected," a voice declared. "The Narrative has designated Yvonne Lynn as the new female protagonist of this world."

Terrence froze immediately. Before receiving the message, he had been eagerly trying to transfer our team's credit to Yvonne before his superiors.