“I’m sorry, sweetheart, that Mommy still hasn’t been able to come back there yet. But I promise, by tomorrow I’ll feel better enough to visit you. I miss you so much.”“Oh, don’t worry about me, Mommy,” Stephie said softly on the other end of the call. “I’m okay. I miss you too, but I want you to rest so you don’t get sick taking care of me.”I slowly sat down on the couch, my chest tightening at the sweetness in her voice.“Thank you, Stephie. I’ll see you tomorrow.”“Mommy… I love you.”I swallowed hard.Stephie wasn’t my biological child, yet somehow she made me experience the kind of love only a mother could understand.“I love you too, sweetheart. Always.”The moment the call ended, I bit my lip and opened Nathalia’s social media profile.The second I saw our pictures together, tears rolled down my cheeks again.I’d actually known Nathalia since college, though we were never close back then, even if we were in the same department.Years later, we met again during auditions for Te
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