Only One Month Left.

Yara Pov

“You don’t need to worry, Healer. Tell me the result. I can take it.”

The room fell silent. Though I said so, my trembling lips told otherwise.

“Hmm… Luna Yara— I…”

As I watched the always blunt healer hesitate to speak, my stomach twisted even more.

A heavy sigh broke the silence, then he stretched the result toward me.

“Luna, Anne’s health has deteriorated so badly. Though we tried to keep her alive this time, but…” his voice lowered. “She won’t live past a month.”

The result slipped from my fingers and fluttered onto the table.

For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

My eyes quivered as I picked up the result. With so much effort, I finally skipped to the last page, then read the words on it.

“S-She… I…”

I choked on my words. This time, I couldn’t hold back the single tear that escaped.

“What’s going on, Healer? You said she was recovering the last time I brought her here. So… what— Why…?”

The healer let out an exhausted breath. He looked straight at me with a serious expression, then spoke.

“Luna, Anne was born weak. We did everything we could but her illness is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”

My blood ran cold.

I met the healer’s eyes, which were filled with pity, and I didn’t need to listen to the rest of his words to know what he wanted to say.

There was no solution to the illness. My daughter… My baby girl can’t be saved.

All I could see was the image of my little daughter laughing out loud.

My head shook heavily.

No.

I can’t let this happen. There has to be a solution. Yes… a solution!

I snapped back to reality. The sound of a chair scraping against the ground echoed so loudly, but I could hear nothing. My trembling hands immediately grabbed the healer’s own.

He was stunned, but I didn’t let go. I held them tightly and gazed at him with so much hope.

“H-Healer Michael,” I whimpered. “There is a solution, right? You’re the most reputable healer in the pack. You—”

I choked on the tears that were falling heavily now.

“Luna…”

I shook my head again and tightened my hold on his hands. “You know how important she is to me.” My face twisted. “M-My baby can’t die.”

The office descended into another silence as our eyes met.

I waited with bated breath for him to say something. But… it seemed fate wasn’t on my side.

The moment the healer’s eyes closed and he dropped his head, I knew… I knew…

“I’m sorry, Luna. I’m so useless. There is nothing I can do.”

There, he dropped the words that totally shattered my heart and left me bare. The last bit of hope in my eyes disappeared. Then like a puppet, I turned around and walked out of the office, still clutching the result papers.

I walked through the hospital in a daze. My tears blurred my eyes, but I didn’t wipe them.

Before I knew it, my legs had stopped in front of a room. Slowly, I raised my head and looked through the transparent glass where I could see inside the room.

My eyes trembled as they trailed across the whole room, then finally stopped on the small white bed where a tiny lump could be seen.

Without moving, I stared at the small figure on the bed.

She looked so frail lying there with an oxygen mask covering her face. Her pink teddy bear lay between her arms.

My fingers slowly clenched as the healer’s words repeated in my head.

“She won’t live past one month.”

Just then, I bent over and grasped my chest. My breathing became so fast and rough, but my eyes remained locked on her. It was like the moment I took my eyes off her, she’d disappear from my life.

My baby…

How did it come to this?

She is just 3 years old! She hasn’t experienced the joy of living. She still believed the world was beautiful. She still smiled at everyone she met. She still believed her daddy loved her… he was just too busy to come home.

I let out a gasp but dared not let out a whimper.

It was just yesterday she had asked me if her daddy would come to check on her, just like always.

I could still remember the way she had sighed like an adult when I couldn’t answer her question.

“Mummy, it’s alright. I know Daddy is busy.”

My baby girl was so understanding. So cute and filled with joy. So why is the world so unfair to her?!

Just why?!

I covered my mouth tightly and tried not to wake her up. But just as I raised my head, my eyes collided with a pair of misty ones.

My body stiffened as I immediately swallowed back the tears about to fall. I looked at Anne, who was waking up, and instinctively, she looked straight at me.

For a moment, I held my breath. Then—

“Mummy…”

The weak call snapped me out of my thoughts.

I hurried into the room and rushed to the bedside. Before Anne could even open her arms properly, I bent down and carefully gathered her little body into mine.

“I’m here, baby.” I forced a smile and gently stroked her soft hair. “Mummy is here.”

Anne leaned weakly against my chest. Though her little face was pale, she still smiled at me.

“Don’t cry, Mummy…” she whispered softly. “Anne isn’t sick. Anne is a good girl.”

My lips trembled.

I quickly lowered my head and buried my face against her hair so she wouldn’t see my tears.

“Yes…” I whispered with a shaky voice as I gently rubbed her back. “Anne is a good girl. My Anne is the bravest little girl.”

She smiled happily at my words.

Her tiny fingers slowly clutched my clothes while I continued patting her back. I hummed the little tune I always sang whenever she couldn’t sleep.

The room gradually became quiet.

Just when I thought she had fallen asleep, a tiny whimper escaped her lips.

“Daddy…?”

My body froze.

Her little brows knitted together as if she were searching for someone.

“Daddy…” she murmured again, her voice growing softer. “Daddy… are you here to see Anne?”

A sharp pain pierced through my heart.

Before I could answer, another sleepy murmur left her lips.

“Daddy… hug me… too…”

The last thread holding my heart together snapped.

I gently laid her back on the bed, tucked the blanket around her, then hurried into the washroom. The moment the door closed behind me, my body slid helplessly against it until I sat on the cold floor.

A broken sob escaped my lips. I covered my mouth, but the tears wouldn’t stop.

Anne never asked for toys. She never asked for expensive gifts. She only wanted one hug from her father.

Just one hug…

Something every child should have without asking. Yet my little girl had been wishing for it all this time.

I slowly lifted my tear-filled eyes.

No.

For Anne… I would do anything. Even if I had to throw away my pride.

With trembling fingers, I pulled out my phone and pressed the number I hadn’t called in a very long time.

The call rang only twice before it was answered.

“Alpha Amir—”

“Oh… Elder Sister?”

My voice stopped as I heard the voice that cut in.

“Selene?”

Of course…

If there was one place he would be, it was beside her.

My fingers tightened around the phone until they turned white.

For one foolish second, I had actually hoped he would be the one to answer.

I swallowed hard.

I couldn’t be distracted now. I took a deep breath, then asked, “Where is Amir? Give the phone to him, Selene.”

A soft laugh drifted through the phone.

“Oh, Amir? He’s helping Felix with his bath. He’s been with him all afternoon. Should I tell him you called?”

Before she could finish speaking, laughter echoed faintly from the other end.

My breathing stopped almost immediately.

I knew that laugh.

Even though I had never heard him laugh like that with me… I knew that voice.

It was my husband.

My fingers slowly curled into a fist.

While my daughter lay in a hospital bed… he was laughing happily.

“Well,” Selene continued sweetly, “Amir is bathing my son, so he can’t answer your call.”

My heart twisted so painfully that I almost laughed.

I wanted to ask him why.

Just why could he smile so happily while our daughter was fighting for her life?

The questions rushed to my lips but I swallowed every one of them.

Anne was still waiting for me. Nothing mattered more than her.

“Where are you?” I asked quietly. “The Sterling house?”

The other end suddenly became quiet, then her sticky voice was heard.

“Why ask when you know?”

I breathed heavily and tightened my grip on the phone. But without arguing with her, I spat.

“Then I hope you can remain there. Don't leave.”