Chapter 1949:

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And it was all because of him. He knew that she had always been slim, but her face used to be soft, full, and pleasant to touch. Now, beneath his fingers, he felt nothing but bones.

In caring for him, Stella had lost more than ten pounds. At five foot six, she now weighed barely a hundred pounds. That was why she looked so frail.

Stella held his hand and said gently, “I was just thinking about losing weight before. Now I don’t even have to try. You’ve helped me a lot.”

She intentionally let out a small laugh, trying to ease the heaviness so he would not blame himself.

𝘑𝗈𝗂ո 𝘁𝗁𝘦 𝘤𝗼m𝗆𝗎𝗇𝗶𝘵𝗒 𝖺t 𝗀aln𝘰𝗏𝗲𝗅𝘀.𝖼о𝘮

William fell silent for a while, then looked at her again. “Stell… if I don’t make it, promise me that you’ll live well, okay?”

Stella felt her chest tighten painfully. He had mentioned this before. It looked like she had no choice but to nod.

As the toxins spread through William’s body, he endured relentless agony every single day. It was like millions of ants biting into him all at once, a suffering that could not be put into words. He had always believed that Arlo’s poison would only blur his mind before taking his life. He never imagined it would bring such overwhelming physical suffering. The pain was far worse than being hit by a bullet.

There were moments when he tried to fight the pain, but it was too intense to be fought. He began to have a different thought. If this torment was going to continue without end, perhaps it would be easier to simply end it himself.

But every time he had that thought, he would see Stella’s worried face. He could not bring himself to say those words. She was giving everything she had to care for him each day. If she was still holding onto hope, how could he give up? To speak of giving up would only worsen her pain.

And so, time continued to pass. Half of the two weeks Jewell had spoken of was already gone. If his estimate was correct, then William had just about seven days left.

Stella tried not to think about it, but the thought clung to her, haunting her and stealing her sleep. She wanted to do something for him, anything at all, but there was nothing she could do. That crushing helplessness was becoming harder and harder to endure.

“Do they really have no other option?”

She looked out at the blue sky outside the window, whispering to herself. Was fate truly set on tearing her and William apart, leaving them separated forever?

Just as these thoughts overwhelmed her, a familiar voice came from behind.

“Stell, are you alright?”

Stella turned, startled, and saw Sharon standing there. “Sharon? When did you get back?”

Sharon had been overseas, busy handling the expansion of a new branch of her beauty business. She wasn’t even able to make Josie’s wedding. Now that everything there was finally sorted, she had returned as soon as she could. The moment she landed, she heard about Stella and William’s situation. Immediately, she went directly to the hospital.

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