Liam made me take a full body check-up. He then asked the doctor quietly, “How is she?”
The doctor sighed and looked at me.
“I’m sorry, but her cancer cells are spreading really quickly, and she didn’t get treated during the early stages either, so the situation isn’t looking good for her.
“If we give her conservative treatment, she’ll have at most a year.”
I had another year?
I thought I had less than two months.
I smiled. It was genuine this time.
“It’s fine. One year is really good for me.”
When we left the hospital, Liam stayed silent and did not say anything, but he held my hand really tightly.
I knew that he was angry at me for giving up on staying in the hospital for treatment.
But I did not want to stay in the hospital and be forced to breathe in the smell of disinfectant before I died. That was why I rejected the doctor’s suggestion.
I held his hand and flashed him a smile. “Won’t you talk to me, Liam?”
Liam turned around under the streetlamp, and I saw that his eyes were a little red.
He scoffed, “Don’t go thinking that you won’t have to go through treatment just because you’re not hospitalized. I’m going to make sure that you go to the hospital every day from now on.”
I pouted. “I don’t want to go…”
Liam flicked my forehead.
“When you’re sick, you take medicine. That’s the natural order of things. Also, I saved your life, so you have to listen to me, understand?”
But at the moment I thought about how I would end up like the other cancer patients if I started receiving treatment, I was quite scared. I did not want to lose all my hair, become as thin as bones, and be bedridden.
While we were walking down the street, I asked, “Liam, do you undertakers really make sure we look as nice as possible when we die? I don’t want to lose my hair and die looking ugly.”
Liam did not answer me, but he took my medicine bag from me and held my hand as he walked ahead of me.
A long time passed. Just when I thought he would not say anything, I heard him whisper, “You won’t look ugly.”
I did not hear him clearly, so I asked, “What did you say?”
Liam sighed.
When he spoke again, his voice was like a spring breeze that blew straight into my heart.
“Even if I don’t put any makeup on you, you still look lovely.”
…The night breeze must have been tickling my heart.
When I finally registered what he was saying, I found that my face was burning.
I ducked my head instinctively.
“Liam… you’re really good at comforting me.”
That night, Liam brought me back to his house.
When we got to his house, I was already really tired, so I curled up on his sofa.
After some time, my phone rang.
I answered it instinctively.
It was a call from Jake. “Where the hell are you?”
I was not expecting Jake to give me a video call.
He had a good relationship with Lydia, which was also why he always hated me.
“Don’t you know that Lydia rushed back after hearing about you? Are you playing hide-and-seek with us now?”
So, they still remembered me?
But that was meaningless.
If I went back, I was just going to be an emotional punching bag again and had to do things according to their moods.
I would even be bullied.
I had nothing to look forward to in that house.
I put a hand over my hurting stomach and said, “I’m not going back.”
In any case, I was going to die.
Why should I go back, then?
My mother was sitting by the dining table and grabbed Jake’s phone.
The moment she opened her mouth, she started yelling at me, “If you’re done causing trouble, come back! No one’s going to bend over backward every day for you! Can’t you be like Lydia?!
“Seriously, why did I give birth to you?! If I had known you would be like this, I wouldn’t have given birth to you at all!”
Honestly, I was prepared to hear something like this a long time ago, but when I really, truly heard it, I still found that it hurt.
My hands trembled, and I gave myself a mocking smile. “If you say so. And don’t worry, I’ll die far away and won’t dirty your house.”
My mother was so angry that her expression changed, and she swept all of the glasses on the table down on the floor.
“Get back here! Or else, I’ll disown you!”
I was used to my mother’s overbearing attitude. So, when I heard this, I suddenly found that I did not feel as sad as I usually would.
All the things that always bothered me finally disappeared.
I smiled.
“Alright. In any case, I don’t want to be a family with you anymore either.”