Chapter 89 How (I)

Lily Parker always harbored an inexplicable fear of hospitals, with their stark white walls and the pungent smell of disinfectant. The people moving in and out always seemed pale and dazed, as if a white fog enveloped them, leading them astray, changing them forever.

Her grandfather was in the late stages of stomach cancer. Towards the end, he couldn't eat and alternated between unconsciousness and pain. Even at her young age, Lily found it terrifying. On his lucid days, he was mostly silent, occasionally looking at her and sighing. Her uncle was infertile, making her the only grandchild. People said her grandfather adored her to the bone, partly because she resembled her grandmother. During those days by his bedside, she often heard him murmur "Blossom," her grandmother's nickname. It was then she first understood what enduring love meant.

Eventually, her grandfather didn't survive that winter, as cold as the one now. Her father had just been moved from the emergency room to the IC