Chapter 7
Sophia sat down again, ready to tell me the fairy tale she’d been repeating all week.
I couldn’t help but cut her off.
“The studio is so busy, yet you still come here every day. Do you think you’re made of iron or something?”
At My words, she pouted and dropped her head, looking really upset.
It was like she was making up for all the tears the heroine never cried in the original story.
Sophia’s eyes were always red these days.
I struggled to lift my hand, the medical equipment still hooked up behind me.
Seeing this, she immediately reached out and held my hand tight, worry all over her face.
“Do you need to go to the bathroom?” she asked.
“No,” I said softly.
I shook my head.
“I just want to touch you,” I said softly.
Without hesitation, she pressed my cold hand against
her cheek.
“Okay,” she whispered.
As our eyes met, she couldn’t hold back anymore.
Hot tears splashed onto my cold hand.
“Sophia, while I still have the strength to speak, there’s Something I need to tell you,” I said softly.
Sophia nodded, her eyes wide as she struggled to hold back her tears.
“I’m listening,” she whispered.
I blinked, fighting back my own tears.
I said, “When I’m gone, don’t cremate me. Just let the
sea have me…”
“Don’t say stuff like that,” Sophia blurted out, cutting Me off. “Don’t jinx it. That’s bad luck!”
“Come on, just let me finish…” I pleaded.
My fingertips trembled as I held her hand.
I could feel the state my body was in.
I knew.
I probably didn’t have many days left.
Actually, I overheard the doctor talking to Sophia yesterday.
The doctor said my condition had gotten worse.
“The studio is yours now. And… could you help me pack up my things?” I said softly. “And the divorce papers…”
I was out of breath after saying all that.
“I’ve already signed them. Please give them to Cameron for Me,” I managed to say.
I kept telling her, one by one, all my wishes for after I
was gone.
Sophia just listened quietly, not saying a word.
When I finished, the only sound in the room was the steady beeping of the machines.
Sophia bit down hard on her lower lip.
That silly girl, biting her lip until it bled, still tried to
give me a smile, one that looked even more painful than crying.
“That smile is a mess,” I joked.
“Yeah, ugly as always,” she shot back.
We joked around just like we always did.
The sunlight felt so warm.
But everything else was so cold.
When I was down to my last breath, there was no way to keep it from Cameron anymore.
He showed up in the ICU wearing protective gear, and the Moment he saw me, frail, barely breathing, my head shaved and my body just skin and bones, he dropped to his knees.
He couldn’t hold back, sobbing uncontrollably as tears poured down his face.
I didn’t have the strength to keep pretending for him
anymore.
If he really wanted to see me, really wanted to find me, who could stop him?
It was just that he never really cared.
So I just turned away, refusing to look at him.
But I never thought that even just turning my head now would drain every bit of strength I had left.
“Babe…” Cameron’s voice shook as he called out to
Me.
He reached out, wanting so badly to touch me, but his hand hovered in the air, unsure where to begin.
He was so overwhelmed he couldn’t get a word out, struggling to breathe even more than I was.
Since I didn’t even have the strength to turn my head, I just let my eyes drift shut.
As soon as I closed my eyes, Cameron’s sobs grew frantic, desperation written all over him.
He tried to get me to open my eyes, but he was helpless. There was nothing he could do.
All he could do was keep saying “I’m sorry” again and again, like it was the only thing left in the world.
He just wouldn’t stop crying.
He was driving me crazy, My head was spinning from
all the noise.
Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and met his tear–stained, red eyes.
I wanted to say something.
But I really didn’t have the strength anymore.
With all the effort I could muster, I slowly raised my
hand.
Miraculously, Cameron caught on right away to what I
Meant.
He picked up the pen and paper from the bedside and handed them to me.
He stood there, waiting for me to write something, hope practically glowing in his eyes.
With every bit of strength I had left, I dragged the pen across the paper, scrawling out two crooked words.
He grabbed the paper, still full of hope.
But a second later, he stared at me, completely
stunned.
On that sheet, in shaky, messy handwriting, were just two words. [Get out.]
His knees buckled, and he fell to the floor in front of
Me.
This was only the second time he’d ever knelt before
Me.
The first time was when he proposed.
But what about now?
Was he really begging me not to die now?
But wasn’t dying the only way I would never hurt Sophia again?
What an idiot Cameron was.
Truth was, from the very start, it would’ve been easier if he just killed me.
He could’ve buried me in some unknown place, where no one would ever find me.
Why did he have to choose the most painful way?
He made me fall for him, but I never got to call him Mine.
He bowed his head, completely losing himself in his
tears.
“Katherine, please, don’t die on me…” he choked out. “If you just stay with me. I’ll do anything, anything you
want.“