He Proposed to Her, I Planned My Death

Synopsis

The day I was told I was dying, Ethan was planning to propose to Audrey. "Summer, your heart failure is end-stage. At most... you have only one month left," the doctor said. I calmly tucked the diagnosis report into my pocket and returned to Ethan's apartment. The bedroom door was slightly ajar. Audrey's gasps drifted out from inside. "Ethan, be gentle. It hurts." Then came a man's low, husky chuckle, filled with satisfaction. "What, afraid Summer will hear? You're the woman I love most. What is there to be afraid of? I only see Summer as a maid." As the "maid," I stood outside the door, enduring the pain in my heart, still clutching the bouquet of roses he'd had someone deliver that morning, asking me to pass them to Audrey. 999 roses. The card read: "Audrey, marry me." I lowered my head, looked at the flowers, then at the diagnosis in my pocket, reminding me of my expiration date. A month later, the day he married her. That would also be the day I had chosen for my own passing. Summer POV New York City's main library, top-floor VIP reading room. I stood before the shelves, carefully wiping down precious, out-of-print books and re-shelving them. I was a librarian. The pay was minimal, the work tedious, but I'd been here for three whole years. Because this reading room, on this very floor, was once built specifically for me by Ethan. "This floor has the best lighting. Let's clear out all the old books." Audrey spoke softly, her eyes slightly reddened as she looked at the man beside her. "Ethan, I want to turn this into a memorial gallery for Zach, to display his favorite models and paintings from when he was alive,