Chapter 3

Landon's expression darkened.

During our college days, I used to tease him for his soft looks. However, these days, he looked more like a gloomy thundercloud.

"Hazel, what are you smiling about? Do you think your life is a laughing matter?" He was furious.

"Well, should I be crying then?"

Taken aback, he didn't know how to respond for a moment. As a doctor, terminal illnesses were nothing out of the ordinary for him. The hospital ward had seen too many deaths and departures; too many sorrowful and painful things had happened here.

Yet, I was the only one who still kept a smile on my face.

"Accept the treatment, alright? I'm begging you," Landon said imploringly as he stood before me.

However, he and I both knew that my health was deteriorating with every passing day. It had already reached a point where ordinary medical treatment could not keep my illness under control any longer.

Chemotherapy would be too hard on the body, and it wouldn't be a pretty sight to behold either. I didn't want to approach the end of my life in that state.

"I feel like having cake. Can I?" For my 29th birthday, this was probably the only wish that could come true.

"Promise me that you'll undergo the treatment, and I'll go buy you cake."

I nodded. Finally, Landon's fallen expression lifted.

During tough times, people always craved a little sweetness. Just like in the past, whenever I was feeling down, Jordan would do all sorts of things to cheer me up. He would buy me small cakes of a variety of flavors and ask me to make a wish each day. Then, he'd make each of those wishes come true.

He'd said that seeing me upset broke his heart and that he'd never want to see me cry.

Those days had been very sweet.

I'd always thought that the sweet feeling had come from the cake, but when Landon brought me a piece, I found that I didn't have much of an appetite.

"Does it not taste good?"

I shook my head. At that moment, I realized that it wasn't the cake I wanted, but the person.

Bitterness spread through my heart. With it, pain followed.

At midnight, I ran a high fever. The rain had left me dazed and confused, and I dreamed of Jordan.

"Hazel, why are you so skinny? Who did this to you? I'll never forgive him! Were you missing me? There, there. I'm right here."

The thunder woke me from my sweet dream, and my emotions plummeted to rock bottom. As though possessed, I dialed Jordan's number.

The line connected quickly, but the voice that came from the phone wasn't his.

"Hazel, are you calling to mock me again? If it wasn't for you, I would never have gone blind! Why must you keep messing with my life?"

I should have known Josie would be the one to answer.

Before I could reply, she burst into tears.

"Hazel, why are you stirring up trouble?" This time, it was Jordan who spoke. "Did anything I said to you during the day even get through your head?"

Tears pricked my eyes when I heard his voice.

"Jordan, I'm running a fever." My mind was all over the place, so this was the only sentence I could muster.

Whenever I got sick in the past, Jordan never left my side. I had gotten used to having him by my side at every moment, whether it was good or bad.

But now, all I received was his aloof response. "Hazel, you've already used this trick enough times. Every time I come to look after Josie, you kick up a fuss. The last time, it was a fire. This time, it's a fever. Do you think I am as cold and heartless as you are? Josie is blind; she can't live on her own. Don't you know that?"

As soon as Jordan said that, Josie began to sob. "I can't see. I don't want to live anymore. Just let me die—"

"Josie, no!"

The line went dead, and all that was left in the hospital room was the sound of my breathing.