Chapter 4

Liam's two words made me so furious I lost all rational thought. The evidence had been thrown right in his face. How could this bastard still not believe it!

I raised my hand to slap him, to snap him out of it, but Julian, standing beside me, stopped me.

Liam looked at me, and his voice trembled as he explained. "When I walked away this morning, it wasn't to refuse you."

"I was going to file a flight plan."

That made both Julian and me pause. Liam continued, "The flight plan was approved. My private jet is on standby on an exclusive runway. We can take off in forty minutes, right here at this terminal."

I was at a loss for words. I stared blankly at him and asked, "Then why did you... run all over the place with me..."

Liam looked up at me, his eyes swirling with complex emotions I couldn't decipher. Deep and turbulent. "I really didn't believe it."

"But even if I didn't, as long as she wanted to see me, I would go."

Hearing that, tears immediately welled up in my eyes. My voice choked up. "I thought you had stopped loving her a long time ago..."

"You two really... missed out on so many years..."

Liam seemed struck by my words. He forced himself to look away from me, staring out the window at the dark night sky.

He took a deep breath and said, "The pain has already started for me. But the good thing is, I have many years ahead to make up for it."

"No, you don't," I interrupted him softly.

Liam whipped his head around to look at me, his hand at his side silently clenching into a fist. "Is she very sick?"

For a moment, I didn't know how to answer. I had originally gone to this euthanasia clinic in New Zealand as an intern for my psychology degree, and also to volunteer, providing emotional support to people in pain.

My professional ethics told me I had to keep a patient's secrets. But my reason kept urging me otherwise. As Evelyn's friend, my heart ached. It ached that even at the end of her life, she was still bearing all the misunderstanding and loneliness alone.

I wished she could live. In that moment, my mind was made up. To hell with it. I decided to come clean to Liam.

"I mean, there are no many years. Evelyn, she..."

Before I could finish, my phone vibrated violently in my pocket. It was the name of the clinic director. At this time, it was already late at night in New Zealand.

An ominous feeling instantly flooded my heart. The moment I answered, the director's frantic voice burst out. "Athena, the situation is critical!"

"Evelyn received a package this afternoon, shipped from the US. The sender was listed as Chloe, saying she was her sister. We passed it on to her. After Evelyn read it, she didn't have a major reaction at the time."

"But we just discovered that Evelyn swallowed a whole bottle of pills!"

A buzzing sound filled my ears, and my mind went completely blank. My vision went dark, and my legs turned to jelly. I would have collapsed right there if Julian hadn't caught me.

But I still couldn't stand steady. I could only stare blankly at Liam in front of me and mechanically repeat the director's words. "A package from Chloe Hayes."

"Evelyn overdosed on pills."

"She's in the hospital being resuscitated. The doctor said... the situation is very bad."