Goodbye, Mr. Reynolds: I Have Nine Months to Live의 모든 챕터: 챕터 61 - 챕터 70

Third Person’s POV The first time Alice stood without holding onto anything, she almost cried. It happened during physiotherapy on a quiet morning when sunlight warmed the floor. Her legs were tired, but she pushed herself up from the chair, held the armrest for a few seconds, and slowly let go.Nothing happened.Her knees did not collapse, her chest did not tighten, and the room remained still. She was simply standing on her own.“I’m standing,” Alice whispered, staring at her feet as though they belonged to someone else.Her physiotherapist smiled. “You are. Just don’t move yet.”“I wasn’t planning to.”“Then let’s start with three steps.”Three steps had once meant nothing to Alice. She had crossed rooms carrying bags, hurried through airports, climbed stairs, and wandered through bookstores for hours. Now three steps felt worth celebrating. She carefully lifted one foot, placed it in front of the other, and took a third step before reaching for the chair. Her breathing was heavy,

THIRD PERSON'S POVThe house had changed since the baby arrived.There were toys where there had once been empty spaces, small clothes folded neatly in drawers, bottles on the kitchen counter, and a crib in the room that had been prepared months before his birth. The quiet elegance of the house remained, but it had been softened by the ordinary mess that came with having a child. Some mornings, Charles could hear crying before he had even finished his coffee, and on other mornings, he would find himself standing beside the crib simply watching his son sleep.The boy was growing quickly.He had begun to hold his head up properly and had developed a habit of grabbing anything within reach. His hands were always moving, and his eyes followed people around the room with an attention that sometimes made Charles laugh.One morning, Charles stood beside the crib while Carolyn sat nearby, watching their son kick his little legs beneath the blanket.“He’s getting bigger every week,” she said.

The morning of Ethan’s first birthday arrived quietly, without the grand celebration Alice had once imagined when she was younger. There were no photographers waiting outside, no enormous guest list, and no need to prove anything to anyone. Alice had chosen something simple instead, a small gathering at home with a few people she trusted, a birthday cake waiting in the kitchen, balloons around the living room, and enough food to make sure nobody left hungry. What mattered to her was that Ethan would grow up knowing that his first birthday had been celebrated with love, even if he was far too young to remember it.Alice woke before everyone else and stood beside Ethan’s crib for several minutes, watching him sleep. He had changed so much since the first time she had held him. His face had become fuller, his hair had grown thicker, and he had developed a personality that seemed to become stronger every week. He was curious about everything, stubborn when someone took something away from

THIRD PERSON’S POV Alice had imagined her first day at Phoenix so many times that she had almost convinced herself it would feel ordinary when it finally happened. She was wrong.That morning, she stood in front of her wardrobe for nearly twenty minutes, changing her mind about what to wear while Ethan wandered around the bedroom carrying one of his favourite toy cars. She eventually settled on a simple cream blouse, dark trousers, and comfortable shoes, wanting to look like a businesswoman without feeling as though she was pretending to be someone she wasn’t. Ethan wore a little shirt and trousers that made him look older than he actually was, and when Alice finally picked him up, he immediately grabbed her necklace.“Not today,” she told him, gently removing his hand. “Your mother is trying to look serious.”Ethan laughed.Alice smiled at him before looking at herself in the mirror.This was it.For years, Phoenix had existed on documents, screens, meetings, and conversations. Wayn

Alice arrived at Phoenix on Monday morning with a plan.It was a simple plan, really. She would review the progress reports, attend the product development meeting, speak with the finance team, and finish the day without receiving a single phone call from Wayne asking whether she had eaten, rested, or remembered that she was not supposed to work herself into exhaustion.She had even considered switching her phone off.Unfortunately, Wayne was not the only person who had decided her health was a company-wide responsibility.“Good morning, Miss Alice.” Her assistant stood beside her desk with a tablet tucked against her chest. “You have a meeting with the product team at nine, a finance review at eleven, and lunch at twelve thirty.”Alice placed her handbag down slowly. “Lunch at twelve thirty?”“Yes, ma’am.”“Is that a meeting?”“No, ma’am. It’s lunch.”“Then why is it on my schedule?”Her assistant looked entirely unbothered. “So you won’t forget.”Alice closed her eyes briefly. “I se