Even After Death by Lilting Champ

Olivia shot Keith a grateful look, and he nodded at her in acknowledgment before turning around to help her with the hospitalization matters.

The nurse patiently explained the process to her, “Ms. Fordham, you will need to receive treatment over the long term. We will inject the chemo drugs into your body each time, but all the injections and the drugs will further harm your veins.

“In some serious cases, you will experience exosmosis. Just so you know, the drugs used are corrosive. To avoid those complications, we’d recommend inserting a medical port in your arm. We usually insert the port in advance to make sure that the drugs travel through your veins and into your organs.”

She continued, “The good thing is that the nurses won’t struggle to find your veins down the road—it’s convenient and safe. But on the flip side, you can’t lift heavy weights with this arm in the future.”

Olivia agreed with the nurse and went under a minor surgery to insert the port in her arm. As she was allergic to anesthetics, she turned down anesthesia. When the blade slit through her thin skin, she merely frowned without so much as making a sound.

The doctor couldn’t help but comment, “It’s rare to see someone who can take the pain.” To that, she sighed. “Well, it’s not like I have anyone who would care if I was hurt anyway.”

The conversation brought her back to a year ago when she had to undergo emergency surgery after falling into the water and suffering premature labor. Even after she was given anesthetics, she could vividly sense the pain when the blade sliced through her abdomen.

That day, she fainted from the excruciating pain, only to wake up to the same sensation. Throughout the ordeal, her screams fell on deaf ears because Ethan chose to stay guard in front of Marina’s delivery room.

From then on, she learned not to make a sound even when she was in pain.

The second day after chemo, she was besieged by an array of side effects. It was Keith who helped her to get discharged.

gasp for breath, resulting in multiple breaks in between. Any slight movement would make her dizzy and nauseous, and

and got down on his knees to scoop her into his

on helping. “Your body is weak now. If you refuse my help, I will have no choice but to call your family for your safety. And right now, Ethan Miller is your only

divorce papers, Ethan remained legally her spouse and the only family

him know about

about her diagnosis. The last thing

her, “Olivia, you need a caretaker. You can’t even take care of your

you still need to work your shift, don’t you? I shouldn’t take up too

to work since he had some major surgeries

her body. As she fought her dizzy vision, her abdomen roiled, and she was

it with. To her dismay, the

snow. Still fussy and squeamish, she cried when she was wheeled into

expression when he soothed her.

a month. Ethan was next to her the entire time and was attentive to

taking care of the children

to forget all the lovely memories she had of him. Fighting the debilitating pain, she stumbled down the bed and gritted her teeth, telling herself that she could do this. She would not let death

onto the pasta she took out to boil. The worst pain wasn’t physical—it was the pain that he

blades were cutting through her body,

she was glad to find that the pain had

window curtains. It was Keith, who had regularly dropped by after work to

brought some fresh produce and a bag of chips that she had been craving. His black wool coat was a little damp when he showed up in a hurry. Even his hair was a