Facing the cold wind, I gradually woke up and remembered my mother’s final words before she passed away.
She knelt in front of my father’s tombstone and burned the paper money that would never be used up in the next life.
Dry eyes could no longer squeeze out a single tear.
“Gabriella, why did your father, a man with no future, come to provoke me? Why provoke me and then not accompany me through this half of life? Why leave me alone in this world.”
Back then, I was confused and couldn’t understand the meaning behind. my mother’s words.
Just hugged mom for comfort.
“Mom, you still have me and my sister, we will always be here.”
She looked at me, her eyes suddenly becoming sorrowful, and she seemed to want to say something but stopped herself.
He kept apologizing to me.
“I’m sorry, Gabriella. It was Mom’s fault for letting you and your sister down.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please forgive me, Mom…”
After dad got sick, the family was burdened with a huge debt, and all of this eventually disappeared with mom’s death.
Looking at us two pitiful sisters, no one came to ask for the money back
anymore.
It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with bone cancer that I found out the reason why my mom had been apologizing to my sister and me all along.
Hereditary bone cancer is like a sword hanging over my and my sister Jaslyn Rochon’s heads.
We always had to be prepared to be chosen.
And now. I can’t give anyone an answer either.
I couldn’t be so selfish as to tie Hubert’s future possibilities to myself.
I didn’t want him to be as sad as my mom.
***
After thinking all night, I decided to drop out of school.
I remembered the numbers for the next lottery draw. Although it was a gamble, at least it could earn enough money for me and my sister to afford the medical treatment.
I don’t know if the length of my life is the same as it was in my past life.
But at least I wanted to try again.
I wanted to go abroad to explore the possibility of surviving. As long as I intervene in advance, maybe there will be more hope for me to survive.
A little more.
The next day, I told Alicia about it.
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This time, I didn’t want to hide it from her. She was right, there shouldn’t be any secrets between good friends.
And the last time she looked for me, she had a car accident on the way.
This made me realize even more how precious this feeling was.
I didn’t want Alicia to worry about me.
Little did I know that Alicia did not burst into tears as I had imagined when she learned about it.
Instead, he said calmly, “Don’t worry, I’ll lend you the good luck of my later years. You definitely won’t be chosen by the genes.”
“Gabriella, you were healthy and lived a long life.”
Okay, good.
I answered with a smile, “Live to be a hundred years old!”
After saying goodbye to Alicia, I went to the teacher’s office and completed the dropout procedure.
The reason I dropped out of school was due to family reasons.
Last time, during the years when I was separated from Liam, I was seriously ill, and I felt the pitying looks from others.
They were thinking: “How pitiful this little girl is, so young and already without parents.”
I didn’t like that pitying look.
I hoped that I could overcome the illness, if not at once, then I would try a second time.
I believe I could always overcome it.
When I had the dropout surgery, the counselor patted my shoulder with at serious and heartfelt tone.
“Gabriella, this was your choice, the school doesn’t interfere.”
“You have been getting along with your classmates for so long, take the time to say goodbye properly, don’t leave any regrets.”
Regret?
The only people I thought of were Hubert and Liam.
One whom I once loved, one whom I once betrayed.
The best farewell should be leaving without saying goodbye.
If we could meet again, I hope that by then I had already defeated cancer.
As I was about to leave the office, I collided with Liam, who was being called into the office, in surprise.
The moment I was hit, the dropout book in my hand suddenly fell to the ground.
