Chapter 1

The day I was told I was dying, Ethan was planning to propose to Audrey.

"Summer, your heart failure is end-stage. At most... you have only one month left," the doctor said.

I calmly tucked the diagnosis report into my pocket and returned to Ethan's apartment.

The bedroom door was slightly ajar.

Audrey's gasps drifted out from inside. "Ethan, be gentle. It hurts."

Then came a man's low, husky chuckle, filled with satisfaction.

"What, afraid Summer will hear? You're the woman I love most. What is there to be afraid of? I only see Summer as a maid."

As the "maid," I stood outside the door, enduring the pain in my heart, still clutching the bouquet of roses he'd had someone deliver that morning, asking me to pass them to Audrey.

999 roses.

The card read: "Audrey, marry me."

I lowered my head, looked at the flowers, then at the diagnosis in my pocket, reminding me of my expiration date.

A month later, the day he married her.

That would also be the day I had chosen for my own passing.