Chapter 2

Grace froze.

"All because I wouldn't buy you a star?"

"It's not that I can't spare a few hundred bucks. I just think it's a scam. There's no point."

The corner of my mouth twitched up.

"Right. Birthdays, no point. Anniversaries, no point. Valentine's, no point. Every little occasion, no point... none of it worth the trouble."

Her brows drew tighter and tighter.

"You're not in a stable state of mind right now. We'll talk once you've calmed down."

I shook my head.

"No. Let's break up."

Right then her phone rang, shrill and sudden.

It was some cartoonish little tune, not the kind of ringtone I'd ever expect her to use.

She snatched it up.

"Hello?"

Whatever she heard changed her expression a little.

"Got it."

She picked up her coat and shot me a look.

"Something's come up. I have to go out."

"What you said just now, I'll pretend I didn't hear it."

And with that she walked out without looking back.

I pushed the window open. The night sky outside was pitch black, not a single star in it, just as I'd figured.

Cold wind hit my face, and the cold went all the way through me.

After a while a violent gust kicked up outside, and in an instant the rain came pouring down.

The drops struck my face, freezing to the bone.

I shut the window and lay down on the bed.

My head was full of all the little moments from these past years.

The first time I met Grace was in a park.

A girl was being harassed, and Grace stepped up and stopped the man.

That upright, decent side of her was what I fell for at first sight.

But even someone that upright could lie.

I drifted off in a daze.

I woke in the middle of the night with my forehead burning hot, and forced myself up to stick a fever patch on it.

I took out my phone and opened that young man's page.

Sure enough, he'd posted again.

"I told her I'm scared of thunder, and my girl came right over to keep me company. Being loved feels so good."

Morning came, and Grace still hadn't come home.

I went back into that young man's page again.

At six o'clock he'd posted, with a photo of breakfast sandwiches and a doughnut on the table.

"I want to eat so, so many meals with you."

My stomach suddenly heaved, and I bolted to the bathroom and threw up.

Even when there was nothing left to bring up, my stomach kept cramping.

My forehead was still burning, so I had no choice but to take a cab to the hospital.

While the doctor was examining me, he said, out of nowhere,

"You'd better go see the oncology department."

My face changed.

In oncology, the doctor looked at the scans, his whole expression grave.

"There's a tumor in your stomach. It has to come out as soon as possible."

Holding the test results, I walked out of the exam room, and my legs felt a little weak.

When I got to my own front door, I noticed a pair of men's sneakers on the shoe rack that hadn't been there before.

The door opened from the inside.

A good-looking young man poked his head out and gave me a smile.

"Hey there, I'm Daryl Henson."

He had a buzz cut, and he looked at me easy and unbothered.

His eyes rested on me for a second, then moved to Grace.

Grace started to explain.

"Daryl's the son of a friend of my dad's. He only came back to the country half a year ago."

Without thinking, I pinched the test results in my pocket. My fingertips felt cold.

Grace watched me for a few seconds, then chose her words carefully.

"So, um, tonight I'm going to see a play with Daryl, so I won't have dinner with you."

"I'll bring you back a cake."

There was a testing note in her voice, like she was watching for my reaction.

But I only looked at him, calm.

"No need. You forget, I don't like sweets."

She went slightly still, as if she hadn't expected me to be this calm.

Daryl chimed in from the side.

"Sorry to steal your girlfriend away, man."

"Tickets for this play are impossible to get. Took forever to snag them. I've had my heart set on it for months."

"She's just helping me make my wish come true, so don't read too much into it, okay~"

"Oh, right, man, let's add each other. What do you say?"