Chapter 3

I shot up to my feet and knocked over my chair. Everyone nearby immediately looked over.

I did not stop to apologize. Instead, I rushed out of the library, calling Daniel as I went. "Daniel, are you free this afternoon? Let me buy you coffee."

-

At the cafe, Daniel laughed when I told him I wanted him to come with me for a medical checkup. "Nolan, why do you suddenly want a medical checkup? Are you feeling sick?"

I made up an excuse. "My college wants it and I'm not feeling comfortable enough to do it alone. Can you come with me?"

Daniel gave me a suspicious look. "Really?"

I did my best to look honest. "It's true. And I want you to get checked too. Think of it as... a pre-wedding checkup? You're going to marry my sister, after all."

Daniel's ears turned red as he said in a helpless tone, "Oh, you..."

Just then, his phone rang. It was Maya. "Where are you?"

"I'm having coffee with Nolan," Daniel said.

The line went quiet for a moment before she said, "Come home soon."

After he hung up, Daniel laughed. "She's so clingy."

I forced a smile and said I had class soon. I then arranged to meet him that weekend.

As soon as I reached the school gate, I saw Maya's car parked outside.

She got out and immediately grabbed my wrist before dragging me over to a wall. Before I could react, she shoved me away.

I staggered and fell to the ground, my knees and elbows red and swollen. I looked down to find them scraped, blood already appearing on the wounds.

She stood in front of me, her eyes cold as ice. "Nolan, I'm warning you. Stay away from Daniel. Don't say anything you shouldn't. Don't do anything you shouldn't."

I pushed myself to my feet, my voice trembling. "I didn't. I only wanted him to come with me for a medical checkup."

She hesitated and asked before she could stop herself, "Are you sick?"

I paused, then shook my head. "No. The college needs it."

She stared at me for a long time, and her expression gradually changed. It looked like she had remembered something or she was trying to confirm something.

After a moment, she crouched and looked at the scrape on my knee before saying, "Get in the car."

She took me to a pharmacy for antiseptic ointment and gauze, then crouched beside the road to clean and bandage my wounds. She was not gentle, but she was careful.

Her voice was a little low as she said, "I'll take both of you for your medical checkup this weekend."

I lowered my head and stared at my shoes as my vision blurred.

When the results came back, Daniel sobbed so hard his whole body shook.

Early-stage bone cancer.

The doctor said, "We caught it very early. The treatment's success rate is very high."

Maya held Daniel in her arms, her hands trembling with relief and fear.

Daniel's red eyes met mine. "Nolan, thank you... I mean it. Thank you."

I shook my head and patted his back.

Maya looked at me over Daniel's shoulder, her gaze intense and unreadable.

I remembered the day Daniel passed away in my previous life. It had been a stormy day.

After Maya learned that Daniel had left because he found out we had slept together that night, she stood at his grave all day, completely drenched.

When she came home, she smashed everything she could. That was how she found the diary I had hidden at the back of my bottom drawer. That was when she decided I had told Daniel on purpose.

I explained, but she refused to believe me.

She divorced me and kicked me out with nothing. She also made sure I could not find work anywhere. In the end, I died alone in a rental apartment because of my sickness.

Now, there was still time to change everything.

Daniel would live.

Maya would not blame me after this.

As for me… I would leave this place.

The weight on my chest finally lifted.

By the time we left the hospital, the sun was already setting. Maya had gone to handle Daniel's admission paperwork while Daniel and I waited in the lobby.

Daniel quietly said, "Nolan, I'm scared."

I patted his shoulder. "Don't be scared. Maya is here. She'll stay with you."

-

After that, Daniel was hospitalized.

The surgery went very well, and chemotherapy came next.

Maya put all her work on hold and stayed with him at the hospital every day.

I split my time between college and the hospital while preparing my study-abroad applications. I was so busy I barely had time to catch my breath.

One day, when I came home from the hospital, Maya stopped me.