Chapter 1Fading Echoes: The Day I Left

On the day I was diagnosed with stomach cancer, I sat outside the hospital clutching a positive pregnancy test, staring blankly for a very long time.

My phone buzzed. It was Julian, my boyfriend of eight years.

“Lily, about getting the marriage license… can we hold off for a bit? Give me some time to think it over?”

“Sure.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to marry you—”

He paused, clearly stunned that I had agreed so easily and without a fight. He quickly added that he wouldn’t be home for dinner and hastily hung up.

* * *

Julian and I had been dating for eight years. We were supposed to be getting married soon.

We started our own business right after college, and last year, it finally took off.

We bought a car, put a down payment on a new house, and were getting ready to renovate.

If I hadn't gotten this disease, maybe next year I would have had a soft, sweet little baby sleeping in my arms.

Since Julian wasn't coming home for dinner, I made myself a simple bowl of vegetable noodle soup, hesitating over how to tell him the news tonight.

After all, we had agreed last year that we would get our marriage license by the end of this year.

My doctor was a young woman, only a few years older than me. She gently advised me not to keep the baby and to focus on aggressive treatment. She told me not to be afraid—I was young, and the cure rate should be high.

Honestly, I wasn't that afraid.

Because I had Julian. He would always be by my side.

The doorbell rang. I wondered why Julian was ringing the bell instead of using his keys.

When I opened the door, Julian was standing there, heavily intoxicated. Supporting him was Mia, a new hire from our PR department—a fresh college grad.

“Hey, Lily. We were out entertaining clients, and Mr. Vance had a bit too much to drink. His car is parked downstairs,” Mia said. She was wearing a cute, floral slip dress, her cheeks slightly flushed, as she brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I just brought him up. I’ll catch an Uber back.”

Julian, eyes glazed over with alcohol, stumbled onto the couch and immediately fell asleep.

I took his suit jacket from her. It carried the faint, sweet scent of orange blossom perfume—Mia's perfume.

“Thanks, Mia,” I smiled. “It’s too late. Let me drive you home.”

Mia politely declined at first, but I insisted.

“I wouldn't feel comfortable letting a young girl like you take an Uber alone at this hour.”

“So, Lily, when are you and Mr. Vance tying the knot?”

On the drive, Mia asked the question tentatively.

I froze for a second, thinking of the phone call from Julian earlier that afternoon. I forced an awkward smile.

“We’re going to wait until the company is a bit more stable for another year or two.”

…Wait until my condition stabilizes.

“Oh, I see…” Mia looked out the window, seemingly lost in thought. Suddenly, she lowered her head and smiled sweetly. “Got it.”

After dropping Mia off, I parked the car. I suddenly remembered that I had left a bottle of Vitamin E supplements I bought last time in the passenger-side glove compartment.

I opened the passenger door, but my eyes caught something wedged in the gap of the seatbelt buckle. It was a torn, small, square wrapper.

Oil from the wrapper seeped onto my fingers. I froze.

Suddenly, I thought of Mia’s slip dress and her flushed cheeks when I opened the door.

I thought of Julian’s phone call that afternoon, and how he used his drunkenness to look away, avoiding my eyes.

I sat blankly in the passenger seat.

So many things had happened in a single day. For a moment, I didn't even know where to begin.