Ninety-Nine Messages, One Goodbye의 모든 챕터: 챕터 1 - 챕터 9

I remained on the rug for a long time. When the pain from the surgery finally eased, I continued packing the things our baby would never use.Adrian had chosen the pale yellow onesie himself. He said yellow would suit either a boy or a girl.Beside it lay a pair of socks embroidered with stars. My mother had made them stitch by stitch, using the softest cotton thread so they would not irritate a newborn’s skin.The crib was still unassembled. A moon-shaped night-light sat beside it, and a gray elephant was hidden at the bottom of the closet. Adrian had brought the toy home from Sicily as his first gift for our child.Every item I placed in the box tightened the ache in my chest.I packed everything carefully. I would take it all to Boston.The next morning, I woke on the sofa. Adrian had not returned, and there were no messages from him.Bianca had posted a photograph half an hour earlier.Adrian was asleep on a sofa at the Bellini estate. His collar was open, and his coat covered Bian

After Adrian followed Bianca out, I gathered the scattered items alone.The heartbeat player would no longer turn on. I smoothed the creased ultrasound and returned it to the memory box with the baby’s identification bracelet.Less than half an hour later, my phone rang.“Is this Elena Moretti? Your mother has suffered an acute heart attack. She is being treated now. Please come immediately.”The light above the emergency room was already red when I reached the medical center.Mom’s doctor had warned me that her condition was complicated. If an emergency occurred, Dr. Russo, the head of the cardiac unit, needed to supervise her treatment.I stopped a nurse.“Where is Dr. Russo? He knows my mother’s entire case.”The nurse stiffened.“He was called to another emergency room.”“Who called him away?”She lowered her voice.“Don Moretti.”My body went cold.“Miss Bellini took too much sedative medication and then developed chest pain and difficulty breathing. Mr. Moretti ordered Dr. Russo

ADRIAN’S POVAdrian’s knees struck the floor.He stared at the portrait on the wall. Elena’s mother had treated him like a son. She had cooked for him, defended him when Elena’s relatives distrusted the Moretti name, and said her daughter had never felt safer than when he was near.Now she was dead, and he had not known.“Mom.”The word broke in his throat.Any hope that the documents were false disappeared. Elena would never use her mother’s death to punish him.Adrian took out his phone and opened his conversation with Elena.He returned to the afternoon of her surgery and began reading.3:07 p.m.“Adrian, something is wrong. My stomach hurts. Can you come home?”His phone had answered immediately.“Got it.”A cartoon cat waved cheerfully beneath the words.3:21 p.m.“I’m bleeding. I called you, but you didn’t answer. Please tell me where you are.”Another automatic response followed.“Got it.”The same cat continued waving.Adrian’s breathing became shallow.At that time, he had bee

ELENA’S POVAutumn arrived late in Boston.The city felt unfamiliar enough to let me breathe.On my first day at the new office, my supervisor asked why I had left New York after so many years.“I wanted somewhere new.”I wanted a city where no street carried memories of Adrian or Bianca, somewhere far from my mother’s grave and the nursery I had prepared for a child who would never use it.I rented a small apartment near the office and filled my days with reports, meetings, and long walks. At night, I unpacked one box at a time.I kept the baby’s memory box in the bedroom closet.The heartbeat player remained broken.I had no intention of returning to New York or seeing anyone from my former life.A week after I started work, I left the office after nine and found Adrian waiting beneath a streetlamp.“Elena.”I stopped.He looked thinner. His coat hung loosely from his shoulders, and exhaustion shadowed his face.I turned away. My Boston address had been included in the divorce filing