Archer bristled like a cat with its tail stepped on.

“I’ve told you countless times, there’s nothing between Ruby and me. I’m just taking care of her. Can you stop making unfounded accusations?”

I laughed, the taste of blood lingering in my throat, feeling nauseous.

“Taking care of her to the extent of sharing a bed?”

My words were sharp and unrelenting.

Archer didn’t realize that when he lies, he has a subconscious habit.

His eyes instinctively look downward.

I watched him fabricate lies to deceive me.

I believe our relationship has come to its end.

I cannot waste any more of my limited time and energy on him.

My Paige.

She is still so young.

After Archer left, I dragged my aching body around the house, tidying up the mess.

Paige would be home from school soon.

I couldn’t let her see this.

Paige was picked up by the nanny.

The moment she arrived, she rushed to hug me.

“Mommy, I missed you so much~”

“Mommy, Mommy, I was so good at kindergarten today~”

“Mommy, the teacher gave me this little star, and I want to give it to you~”

Paige has always been closer to me, and with Archer’s minimal presence over the past two years, she has become even more attached to me.

Holding Paige, my eyes welled up, nearly spilling tears.

Paige, my Paige.

I cannot even begin to imagine what will become of Paige after I’m gone.

I’m so reluctant to leave my Paige.

I need to make sure everything is arranged for her.

After soothing Paige to sleep that night, I called a lawyer I had worked with before.

She had handled numerous divorce cases and was quite experienced in this area.

After scheduling a meeting with her, I returned to my room to watch over Paige.

The little girl was sleeping soundly.

I gazed at Paige’s face with longing, wishing I could spend more time with her.

Despite it being the early hours, I couldn’t sleep.

My phone buzzed with a message alert.

I opened it to find an unknown text.

The content was a picture.

Archer was asleep at a desk.

But the background wasn’t an office.

It looked more like the cozy home of a single girl.

[“Sister, Mr. Rogers drank too much tonight and won’t be coming home.”]

It was from Ruby.

I expressionlessly turned off my phone, my abdominal discomfort and pain intensifying.

I got up to retrieve the painkillers I had kept in the drawer and swallowed a few.

After a while, perhaps the medication began to take effect.

The pain gradually subsided.

My body was drenched in cold sweat, feeling sticky on my clothes.

Since the diagnosis, the previously subtle symptoms had become more pronounced.

These days felt ethereal, like a dream.

I wished it were just a dream.

But this is reality.

A harsh reality.

The countdown to death looms over me.

I feel like a condemned prisoner awaiting execution.

The bullet that will eventually pierce my skull and bring me down feels imminent.

Only now do I realize, with a delayed awareness,

That I am truly nearing the end.

Lying in bed, unable to sleep,

A seemingly insignificant memory from about a year ago suddenly resurfaced.

At that time, Archer and I were still quite affectionate.

Ruby had just started working with Archer as his new assistant.

She was said to be a top graduate from Hopskin.

My impression of Ruby was simply that lively young girl who sweetly called me “sister-in-law.”

Archer’s company had found its footing.

He would always ask me to pick him up for the monthly company gatherings.

He called it asserting his claim.

I laughed at his childishness but still went to pick him up each time.