Chapter 2

It was the special ringtone I set for my mom.

Hope flared up inside me again.

If they knew what was happening to me, they would agree to the surgery.

The monitors started blaring again as my emotions surged, setting off another round of alarms.

The doctor and nurse rushed over to check on me.

Grant turned around and leaned over the bed.

He gently stroked my face, his eyes full of tenderness. "Emily, don't get worked up. I promise, I'll never leave your side."

Nothing about it moved me. All I could do was cut my eyes toward the phone, trying to get Grant's attention.

This time, Grant finally understood.

He picked up the phone and paused for a moment, staring at the screen in shock.

Guilt showed on his face. "Emily, I was so focused on you that I never thought to call your parents. Something this big, and I didn't say a word to them. I'm sorry."

Then he answered the call and put it on speaker.

My mom's anxious voice came through right away. "Emily, are you okay?"

I couldn't answer.

Grant took a deep breath, his voice choked with emotion. "Mom, we got into a car accident on the way. It's all my fault. I couldn't protect her."

"How could this happen? My poor girl," my mom sobbed, her voice breaking.

Then my dad's voice came through, shaky with worry. "Where are you right now? We're coming over right away."

"We're at Central City ER," Grant said, glancing at me, his face full of sorrow. "I don't think Emily has much time left."

That sentence completely terrified my parents.

"What do you mean she doesn't have much time left? How is Emily right now?" my mom asked, her voice trembling.

"Grant, answer the video call. We need to see her with our own eyes," my dad demanded.

Soon, the video call came through, and Grant pointed the phone at me.

"Emily."

"Emily."

My parents kept calling out to me again and again through the video.

But I couldn't respond. All I could do was stare at the screen, tears streaming down my face.

Grant leaned in, shaking his head at the camera. "Mom, Dad, Emily's not doing well. The doctors say her chances of making it are really slim."

"Where's the doctor? Why aren't they doing surgery if it's this serious?" my dad demanded, his voice full of urgency.

Grant shook his head again, sighing. "The doctors said the chances of the surgery working are extremely low. Rather than letting Emily die on the operating table, it's better not to do it. That way, she won't have to suffer as much."

As soon as he finished speaking, the image on the phone started shaking.

I saw my mom stumble, nearly falling.

My mom, who was always so put-together, was now completely falling apart, sobbing uncontrollably. "How could this happen? Emily is still so young. Her life is only beginning."

My dad's face turned ashen, the color draining away right before my eyes.

He looked over at me, his eyes bloodshot and desperate. "Is there really nothing else we can do? Is my daughter supposed to lie here and wait to die?"

The man who had always been my pillar, the one I leaned on all my life, now seemed to have lost all his strength and spirit. There was nothing left in his eyes but pleading.

But now my parents had to watch their own daughter slip away right in front of them.

Dying alone would have been bad enough.

But now my parents had to watch their own daughter slip away right in front of them.

It was too cruel for our family to bear.

But there was nothing else I could do.

Grant sat there, clutching the phone, letting out a heavy sigh.

I couldn't hang up the video call, still unable to utter a single word. All I could do was stare at my parents on the screen, our tears falling together in silence.

As the grief was swallowing us whole, a voice suddenly broke through beside me. "Who says waiting to die is the only option?"