Dr. Quinlan studied her for a long moment, then smiled. "Of course, I can also tell you love him very much."
"You’re just two little fools who haven’t learned how to properly declare your love for each other."
Mia Grant’s eyelashes fluttered, and she offered him an easy smile in return.
"Did he say something to you?"
’She’s so perceptive.’ Dr. Quinlan smiled and shook his head. "Not exactly."
"A while back, he was spouting nonsense like a madman."
"Regardless of whether what he said was true, as a psychologist, I could sense how wound up he was."
"I don’t know what happened between you two, but he feels incredibly guilty toward you now."
"At first, I thought he was blaming himself for that car accident, but I later realized that wasn’t it."
"You weren’t seriously hurt in that crash. And yet, his guilt toward you has pushed all his other emotions to a breaking point."
"I tried to probe, but he’s too guarded and wouldn’t say more."
"I even joked, asking if he’d cheated on you, since he felt so indebted. But he just shook his head and said nothing."
Mia Grant didn’t have to guess the source of Yates Donovan’s guilt.
"Anyway, enough about him. What about you? When is your surgery?"
Mia Grant had spent the past few days in the hospital in a daze and had long since lost all track of time.
But when Dr. Quinlan asked, she didn’t hesitate for long. "The day after tomorrow."
Dr. Quinlan nodded. "I hope everything goes smoothly."
Mia Grant didn’t respond.
He quietly observed the girl leaning against the headboard.
The last time they met, they had been walking side by side across the grounds of Jynsia U.
The night air had been cool and refreshing. The girl hadn’t rested well in a long time, and her face was slightly haggard.
But she was in even worse shape now.
He knew Yates Donovan had the family estate’s kitchen send a variety of nutritious meals over every day, but clearly, they weren’t having any effect.
For the girl before him, a bouquet of flowers by the bed would do more good than any nutritious meal.
Dr. Quinlan now understood why Yates Donovan had asked him to come.
’Sickness can strike as suddenly as a collapsing mountain,’ and this was a young woman suffering both mentally and physically.
"How long have you been in the hospital? A week?"
"Mhm."
"Have you been in this room all week?"
"Mhm." She paused, then added, "They say the air quality is poor."
Dr. Quinlan glanced out the window at the bright, sunny day. "The weather looks nice today. Would you like to go for a walk? I see there’s a small park just downstairs."
Mia Grant followed his gaze toward the window, but unfortunately, she could only see a corner of the white sheer curtain.
"I’d rather not."
She quickly looked away.
Dr. Quinlan couldn’t insist, so he simply adjusted the curtain, gathering it to the side to give her a better view outside.
Mia Grant looked over again and saw that the flowers on the trees below had already wilted.
’It rained all night a couple of days ago. They must have all been knocked off.’
Mia Grant felt a pang of regret. She had been planning to take a picture of them.
Seeing her staring out the window, Dr. Quinlan thought for a moment, then ventured, "Those are flowering crabapples."
"Their blossoms don’t seem to last long."
Dr. Quinlan replied, "Usually about ten days."
Mia Grant nodded. ’That really isn’t long. It feels like I only saw them for a moment before they disappeared.’
"It’s all right. They’ll bloom again this time next year. You can see them in many places around Jynsia."
"You’ll be able to see them again."
Mia Grant was silent for a long moment before finally sighing. "But what if I can’t see them next year, either?"
"If not next year, then the year after, or the year after that." Dr. Quinlan’s smile was strikingly similar to Yates Donovan’s. "Life is long. You’ll see them eventually, and someone will always be there to see them with you."
They seemed to be talking about flowers, but both knew, deep down, that their conversation wasn’t just about flowers.
"Is that so?"
Dr. Quinlan gave her a subtle wink and lowered his voice. "I can’t make any promises about others, but the one at the door will definitely come whenever you call."
Startled, Mia Grant instinctively glanced toward the door.
A figure was faintly visible through the small glass window on the door.
On closer inspection, the color of the visible shirt was identical to the one worn by the person who had just come inside.
Mia Grant pressed her lips together.
—
The night before her surgery, Mia Grant lay awake, unable to fall asleep.
Yuri Sinclair had visited during the day. Even her uncle, Miles Sinclair, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, had made a special trip back to the country.
Miles Sinclair’s return to the country was a risk in itself, let alone his coming to Jynsia.
In fact, on her first day in the hospital, Yuri Sinclair had come with Julian Sinclair.
After not seeing him for just a few days, her old father looked much more haggard. When he learned she was going into the operating room tomorrow, his eyes, for once, turned red.
Her father wasn’t good at expressing himself, but Julian said he had been staying at a temple praying for her.
The people of Portia were particular about feng shui and believed in gods and spirits. Yuri Sinclair had once been an exception.
But ever since his wife passed away and his daughter disappeared, he had begun to place his hope in the divine.
Every year, without fail, he donated a large sum of money to the temple for its upkeep. He hoped the gods would watch over his daughter.
After finding Mia Grant, he felt relieved, but he also couldn’t help but wonder if her years spent adrift, living so precariously with the Grant Family, were his wife’s punishment.
This thought grew even stronger when Mia Grant was diagnosed with cancer.
That was why he had been staying at the temple for the past several days, observing a vegetarian diet and chanting scriptures, praying to the gods and hoping his late wife might find it in her heart to be merciful.
He knew his wife hated him. If she still held a grudge, he was willing to go with her in exchange.
All he asked was that she bless their daughter with a long and healthy life.
—
「The night deepened.」
Mia Grant blinked her stinging eyes and turned her head toward the companion bed.
Many people had wanted to stay with her tonight.
In the end, only Kian Keller remained.
She didn’t know how Kian Keller had "triumphed" over the others to convince them.
Nor did she want to know.
At this hour, Kian Keller was still awake as well.
"Still can’t sleep?"
His cool, clear voice pierced through her memories. Mia Grant met his eyes as he sat up, and she couldn’t help but recall things about his past.
’In the previous world, of all the male leads, I had the least contact with Kian Keller.’
’Silas Grant and Hayes Hughes shared a false sibling relationship with me, so I saw them all the time.’
’Felix Sinclair and Ian Sinclair were in my class at school, so we were always running into each other.’
’And Yates Donovan... he was simply unavoidable.’
’So when it came to Kian Keller, it was as if my memories had never been updated; they were pitifully sparse.’
’After my death, Kian Keller’s life trajectory didn’t seem to change much either.’
’We were like two parallel lines.’
Now, Mia Grant couldn’t help but ask, "Kian Keller, if I hadn’t sought you out back then, would you be engaged to Serena Grant by now?"
Her question was sudden.
Kian Keller’s jet-black pupils locked onto her gaze, and after a moment of calm, a faint ripple seemed to stir within them.
"Don’t let your imagination run wild."
"That was never a possibility."
He was firm.
But Mia Grant smiled, clearly not believing him.
He frowned slightly, whether out of displeasure or uncertainty about how to prove his point, she couldn’t tell.
After a long moment, he said, "Once you appeared, it could never have been anyone else."
"Is that so? What if I told you to be with her?"
"Then I would make her disappear."