Chapter 10
I was back in the hospital. When I opened my eyes, I saw Zachary standing by the bed, his
face drained of all color. His head was bowed, his back hunched, as if he had aged ten
years. His voice was so hoarse it sounded like he had knives in his throat, each word an effort. “Is there really no way?”
She doctor sighed, “It’s too late. Even if a matching bone marrow were found now, it wouldn’t help.”
Zachary staggered, remaining silent for a long moment before insisting with desperation, “If New York can’t help, then we’ll go abroad. I don’t care how much it costs–I’ll keep her
alive!”
I spoke softly, “Stop the treatment. Just let me go in peace.”
He whipped his head around, his eyes red. “You knew you were sick all along. Why didn’t you tell me?”
I gave a small, bitter smile. “Who would I have told? Everyone who ever loved me is gone. Should I have told you, Mr. Cooper? If I remember correctly, back then you were busy with Miss Gianna.”
“I’ll never forget how you stood by watching while Gianna humiliated and set me up time and again. Nor will I forget how you tormented me. So spare me the act of deep affection–I find it disgusting.”
Zachary froze, his eyes reddening, then fell to his knees, sobbing, “I’m sorry. I should have realized my feelings sooner.” This proud and dignified man now wept like a child.
“And what good would it do, even if you realized it now? I will never love you.”
I listened quietly to the cicadas chirping outside the window, knowing my heart had been buried with Zack in the sea that summer long ago.
I refused all treatment, lying quietly in bed, waiting for the end. At this stage, any more medical intervention would only add to my suffering, and I wanted to reunite with my parents and Zack as soon as possible. Zachary knelt by my bedside, pleading tearfully,
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Chapter 10
“Camila, please get treatment, please don’t do this. I’m begging you.”
I replied softly, “Zachary, you know my illness is incurable.”
He insisted, “Not necessarily. I’ll take you to Switzerland; they have advanced medicine. They can save you.”
“Is it meaningful to deceive yourself?” I looked at him seriously. “I don’t want to be covered in tubes, dying painfully in a hospital. If you have even a bit of genuine feeling for me, then Hease, let me go.”
As
my illness worsened, large bruises appeared on my body, and the pain kept me awake every night. The doctor had to increase the dosage of my painkillers.
Hector learned about my condition and came to see me. When he saw how thin and unrecognizable I’d become, his voice nearly broke as he said, “Camila, how did you end up like this?”
I forced a smile at him. “Do I look terrible? Tell me, if he saw me like this, would he still love me?”
He turned away to wipe his tears, choking back his words, “Of course he would. He once told me you were the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.”
I smiled, tears trailing down my face. I had no family, and Hector had his own family to care for, so he couldn’t visit me every day. It was Zachary who stayed by my side most of the time. I would never have dreamed that in the final days of my life, it would be him by my side.
When we first met, he was a powerful, elite figure, and I was just a down–and–out girl insignificant as dust. He rescued me from the nightclub, and because of his face that so closely resembled Zack’s, I willingly became the ivy clinging to him. But all dreams have an end, and the only one I have ever loved is Zack.
I began to wake up less and less, and Zachary ended up moving into my hospital room. Whenever I slept for a long time, he would anxiously watch the heart monitor, only able to relax a little when he saw my heart was still beating.
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Chapter 11
D
